Frankly Speaking

Emergency room doctor Andrew Tisser (D.O. ’14) and his wife were considering ways to improve their social lives when she suggested throwing a wine-and-cheese tasting for friends.

Running the idea by a longtime pal, Ryan Lazarus, Tisser and his friend reacted with mock indignation. The idea didn’t cut the mustard, they decided.

“We thought, ‘Well, we’d like to have a hot dog and cocktail tasting for our friends,’” says Tisser, of Buffalo, N.Y.

So he and Lazarus did just that. And they did it again. Year after year, the gatherings became bigger and more eccentric. Guests feasted on such odd creations as a dog topped with balsamic jam, blueberries, and pretzels. The less adventurous could nosh on a creation that would later come to be named The Devil’s Tale: a spicy jalapeño-cheddar bratwurst, spread with garlic aioli, and paired with a tequila cocktail to balance the spiciness.

Attendees stopped treating the events as a joke.

“People said, ‘Could you host parties for us?’” Tisser recalls. “That’s when we started thinking, ‘Hey, there might be something here.’”

In August 2025, Tisser, Lazarus, and a third friend, Shane Hunt, launched Franks & Dranks, which throws periodic gourmet hot dog and craft cocktail parties for clients in western New York. But the business’ bigger bark is a mail-order operation that delivers hot dogs and select toppings—sans fresh condiments—across the continental United States. Franks & Dranks also provides drink mixers, but not the alcohol.

The kits come in retro-style boxes that evoke smoky, jazzy speakeasies. Boxes contain a dozen bratwursts and hot dogs, as well as three recipes apiece for dogs and drinks. Customers receive detailed tasting cards explaining not only how to prepare each pairing but why the flavors work together. The box’s contents are adorned with the company mascot, Franklin von Drank, an anthropomorphic wiener clad in a bow tie and fedora.

The irony of a physician building a gourmet hot dog company isn’t lost on Tisser. Hot dogs, after all, are nowhere to be found on the food pyramid.

“I think everything in moderation,” he says. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with enjoying a good hot dog and a cocktail or a mocktail once in a while.”

Tisser’s entrepreneurial streak came about largely by happenstance. “I always liked business and learning about money and finance,” he says. “When I got done with my medical training, I decided to learn more about business.” He’s scaled back on emergency medicine, picking up shifts a couple of times a month at Sisters of Charity Hospital in Buffalo. He also works for medical insurer Humana, reviewing payment appeals and disputes.

With the dog days of summer approaching, he expects Franks & Dranks to be the talk—and taste—of many a backyard gathering. It’s not Tisser’s only side business. He also runs Case Veritas, a pre-litigation medical case screening company that helps attorneys determine whether malpractice claims have merit before investing in expensive expert witnesses.

Tisser didn’t grow up dreaming of medicine or of hot dogs. Raised in Queens, N,Y., he studied psychology as an undergraduate at SUNY Geneseo and worked as a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician while trying to determine his future. A conversation with a fellow paramedic changed everything.

“He told me that you don’t try things in life, you just do them,” Tisser says. “So, I decided to be a doctor.”

He’s applied that same logic to the hot dog business. Tisser is already thinking of what’s ahead for Franks & Dranks. “My hope was always to make this more of an in-person thing,” he says. “I’d love to host exclusive pop-up events in different areas, where it’s like a speakeasy. You get to some back room where jazz is playing and people are serving you hot dogs and drinks. That’s always been my dream [for Franks & Dranks].”

By Andrew Faught