16-04-2025
Fast-growing Charlotte startup strives to be the "official hot dog of sport"
It all started with a terrible hot dog at a really nice golf course. That moment is when Gleezy founder, Bryce Rech, came up with the idea to create "the official hot dog of golf."
Why it matters: Just six months after launching, Charlotte-born Gleezy is serving up its double-smoked brisket hot dog well beyond the local country club.
The dogs are increasingly on the menus of movie theatres, sports arenas and restaurants across the country, all without a dollar spent on paid advertising.
Gleezy may actually be — as the company's quickly learned — the official hot dog of all sports.
Locally, you can find a Gleezy at Bojangles Coliseum or restaurants like Platform Sports Bar. Statewide, they're the official hot dog of Gastonia Ghost Peppers and Chapel Hill's baseball team.
Flashback:"Yes, early on, this was an excuse to build out something in the golf space that I could then be around golf and play golf," Rech admits to Axios.
Two years ago, Rech was celebrating the 15th anniversary of his and his wife's law firm and thinking about his next move. That's when he had the disappointing hot dog experience at a reputable golf resort.
Inspiration struck: "I bet you hot dogs are the number one product consumed in golf," he recalls thinking. "and 100% of the time I eat one at a golf course, it's typically a really average to below-average experience. Someone should fix this."
The idea resonated with potential investors. The company grew to seven co-founders and over a dozen advisors, all who hail from the worlds of golf, food and marketing.
Dig in: The appeal of Gleezy is that the dog is premium yet approachable. Rech and his team spent about two years on the recipe, testing different dogs shipped from the hot dog capital of Chicago.
Some dogs were too chewy. Others? Not chewy enough. One batch was too juicy. Another, too dry.
When the team finally landed on a recipe they liked, they handed out 5,000 free dogs at country clubs in exchange for feedback.
Gleezy shipped out its first hot dog in September 2024 to Five Iron Golf — a golf simulator chain with locations nationwide. All major food distributors then had to start carrying the dogs.
"Instantly, we had national presence," Rech says.
The intrigue: When you go to a sports game, you know your beer of choice or go-to Dippin' Dots flavor, but the same loyalty doesn't exist in the hot dog world. Gleezy aims to fill that void through masterful branding.
"Anywhere that sells a hot dog — it's like they didn't realize it, but they were wanting something new and different," Rech says.
By the numbers: A Gleezy dog typically costs around $8. At a Checkers game, they're priced at $6.
"They raised their price $1 very reluctantly this season to bring us on," Rech says, "but we can say that their hot dog sales have increased mightily."
During a survey of 3,000 golfers, most perceived the value as $10.25.
Between the lines: The dogs, ideally, should be drizzled with Gleezy's Carolina Dog Sauce, its signature condiment — a tangy, vinegary, mustard-based sauce developed with a culinary team from the southeast. The sauce is made just outside of Beaufort, South Carolina.
Pairing the dog with a packet of Gleezy's sauce isn't just for the taste. It's a strategic move to boost brand recognition, Rech says.
Zoom in: The name "Gleezy" came to Rech in a dream. Presumably, it's a derivative of "glizzy," slang for "hot dog." During one presentation with a golf entity, the boardroom was split. Half loved the name, the other half hated it.
Local golf legend Gary Williams turned to Rech afterward and said: "That's the name," Rech remembers.
"If they hate it, we love it even more. Because they'll never forget it."
The startup has raised just over $1.4 million and is about to wrap up a pre-seed round of funding. It will open up a Series A this fall, aiming to raise $10 million quickly to expand nationally.
Over the next three to five years, Gleezy aims to get into grocery stores and solidify more partnerships in the sports world, from football to pickleball.
What's next: They have the dog. They have the sauce. But no bun, yet.
"We are in communication to try to figure the bun out," Rech says.
