By Elaine Thompson | Worcester Telegram & Gazette | June 24, 2008

The former Edgemere Diner, which sat vacant for three years, reopened in the spring as The Edge, and business is booming.

The owner, David Kupstas, an Auburn native who lives off Lake Avenue in Worcester, said between 1,000 and 1,500 patrons pop in each week. He estimates that he sells about 2,000 hot dogs — his specialty — each week. The bulk of his business is people who work in the area who come in for lunch.

“We turn the lunch-hour crowd over four or five times. A lot of days, there’s a line going out the door between 11:30 (a.m.) to around 1:30 (p.m.),” he said. “We’ve really just been going on word of mouth. It’s phenomenal. Once somebody comes in they bring back friends.”

The classic-looking 1940s-era diner car at the southern end of Flint Pond sat vacant for three years before Mr. Kupstas’ winning bid to purchase it in October. He purchased the diner from the town for $5,000 and is renting the Route 20 property on which it is located for 20 years. The monthly rent will be $1,500 and will escalate annually with the consumer price index.

A 1991 graduate of Auburn High School, Mr. Kupstas, a married father of two, previously worked as a financial adviser, including seven years for Fidelity Investments. Before that, he worked in the food industry as general manager for Panera Bread and assistant manager for Host Marriott. He said he has always had a passion for cooking and that he comes from a long line of lovers of food and cooking. As a child, he ate at the Edgemere Diner.

Mr. Kupstas said he, his brother, Christopher Kupstas of Auburn, and their father, Robert Kupstas, also of Auburn, who run the business, thought long and hard before deciding the menu. The kitchen has been changed around a little, but the diner car has been kept as nostalgic as possible, he said.

In addition to a variety of Kayem hot dogs, the diner sells Italian sausage, bratwurst, chicken sausage, kielbasa, baked beans, pasta salad, chips, soft drinks and Maine-based Gifford ice cream.

Two popular dogs are the Aloha Dog with pineapple relish and barbecue sauce, and the Taco Dog with chili, lettuce, tomato and shredded cheddar. The Kupstas make pineapple, cucumber and jalapeno relishes, as well as the chili and barbecue sauces. There has been such a demand for the cucumber relish that the family started selling half pint containers for $4.

“We worked on the business plan for months to get it down. We weren’t sure what we were going to do initially. We’re going to be there for 20 years, we figured we’d be the best hot dog place around and it’s really taken off. So far, we’re way ahead of where we thought we would be at this point,” he said.

The Edge is closed on Mondays and opens the rest of the week at 11 a.m. It closes at 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and at 9 p.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

“A lot of times on Friday nights, we’re there till 10 p.m. with the ice cream crowd,” he added. “We’ve got a couple picnic tables outside with umbrellas. It looks like we’ve been there for a hundred years the way it’s set up.”

Originally published online here: http://www.telegram.com/article/20080624/NEWS/806240649/1008/NEWS02