For Joe Quinn, a former Army captain who spent his childhood summers on Coney Island, hot dogs are not just a passion.

They are now his family business.

“Feltman’s is a very American story,”  says Quinn, who is now CEO and Co-Founder of Feltman’s of Coney Island. “Charles Feltman was an immigrant that invented the hot dog in 1867 in Coney Island!”

The original Feltman’s restaurant closed in 1954. Five years ago, Quinn and his brother Michael came up with the idea to bring back the frankfurter that their grandfather would often talk about.

“And to now be able to walk into a store and buy a pack of hot dogs and having our headquarters here in Brooklyn, it gives me goosebumps,” Quinn says.

Quinn’s military service includes two tours in Iraq, and he makes a point of trying to hire fellow veterans.

He began his military career as a cadet at West Point. He was there when the 9/11 attacks occurred and changed his life forever, and not just because he would eventually be deployed to war.

His 23-year-old brother Jimmy was working at Cantor Fitzgerald in the World Trade Center and was killed.

The Quinns say they’re determined to succeed to honor Jimmy's wish.

"Jimmy’s idea was to start a business of brothers,” said Quinn. “That was his idea, to go to Wall Street, make some money, and with some money, we’d start our business.”

Quinn says his time in Iraq was filled with challenges.

“You’re just dropped in a village in Iraq,” he says, “and you don’t speak the language.”

But he believes the experience, in some way, has prepared him for the challenges of running Feltman's.

“Without bullet flying and mortars flying, it’s very similar in an entrepreneurial environment,” he said. “There’s no right answers. It’s all about problem solving.”

Feltman’s hot dogs can be found on restaurant menus citywide and are sold in more than 3,300 supermarkets nationwide.