When Donald S. Habich first opened a franchise of Jr.’s Hot Dogs in Oak Forest in 1977, he was worried whether he could make ends meet with a wife and young children.
“Oh, he was so afraid it wouldn’t make it,” said his wife, Jean. “But it took off from the minute he opened it. He did a great business right from the start.”
Three years later, he opened another store in Orland Park.
“That also had a brisk business,” said his wife, who he married in 1969. “I think it’s because he just loved his customers, and he made sure that they had the best service and the best product.”
In 1998, the eateries became known as Don’s Hot Dogs. Today, only one eatery remains open in Orland Park and it is run by his son, Joel.
Donald Habich, 69, of Vandalia, Mich., died May 12 in Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich. from complications from a fall, said his son, Joel. Habich was formerly of Blue Island and Orland Park.
Greg Roady recalled he was barely a teenager when he rode his dirt bike regularly through the parking lot of the Oak Forest eatery. But each day Habich would ask Roady to stop riding in the lot.
“And every day, promised I would stop and the next day I went back, and he asked again and the next day I went back and did it again,” Roady said. “Finally, he decided that he would give me a job to make me stop.”
Roady worked for Habich from the time he was age 13 all the way through high school, but Habich remained in his life even after he left the store.
“He was a second father to me,” Roady said. “He was always so gracious and kind. He was like that to all the kids that worked there. He believed in second, third and fourth chances. I think I was fired 15 times.”
Roady added: “He was always in a good mood and had this big belly laugh. He was always gracious and kind and just a great role model for every kid that worked there.”
Habich was born and raised in Blue Island. After he graduated from Eisenhower High School, he attended Southern Illinois University for two years. He returned to Blue Island and went to work for W.C. Richards in Alsip.
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It was there a co-worker told him about the franchise opportunity and he seized it, his family said.
“He saw the potential and he really wanted the opportunity to open his own business,” said Joel Habich. “He had the drive and the motivation and he was always willing to take a risk. But he insisted on quality and service. And with that we just continued to grow.”
The family moved to Orland Park in 1979. Habich sold the stores to his son in 2000. Eight years later he retired and Habich and his wife spent more time at their summer home in Michigan. But the yearning to get back in the business took hold, his family said.
With his son Andrew, he opened a Culver’s Restaurant in Elkhart, Ind., in 2009, which is 15 miles from the family’s summer home.
“He was a total people person,” said his wife. “He loved to talk to people and spend time with them. Where ever we took him he started a conversation with strangers.”
His wife added: “But the focus of his life was his boys and doing things with them. They were his life.”
His son, Donnie, died in 1988.
Other survivors are three grandchildren.
Visitation will be 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday in Colonial Chapel, 15525 S. 73rd Ave., Orland Park. A funeral service will be 11 a.m. Friday in Colonial Chapel.