Long time Tulsa restaurant employee awarded Distinguished Service Award

TULSA, Okla. — After serving up Coney dogs for more than four decades, 73-year-old Joe Bear has been awarded with the Distinguished Service Award from the Oklahoma Restaurant Association.

Bear, who has served in the restaurant industry for fifty years, has spent the past forty-four years at Coney Island Hot Wieners in downtown Tulsa.

FOX23 News had a chance to talk with Bear on Wednesday afternoon and learn more about his work ethic. We learned he never had to fill out a job application; he received a call from his owner’s dad back in 1979. And the rest, as they say, is history.

“So they called me up and I thought, ‘Well, okay. I like hot dogs. I like Coney’s,’” Bear said. " I’ve been eating Coney’s since I was a kid.”

He began working behind the counter making chili dogs, and today he’s the operations manager. The downtown institution has moved locations several times, and Bear is in many of the photos that now line the walls of the Boulder Avenue location.

“He’s willing to do anything, always,” said Vicki Economou, the owner. “If you ask him, he’ll do it, and sometimes he’ll do it just because he sees it needs to be done and that’s an amazing quality.”

Bear says in 44-years of employment, he’s never had to call out sick.

“Whenever I get sick,” Bear said, “it’s always on my weekend, my day off.”

Economou nominated Bear, writing about his contributions, which included delivering Coney’s to fire fighters during the pandemic.

“I just wanted to find a way to really let him know how special we really think he is and how appreciated he is,” she noted.

Now the entire state knows just how special Joe Bear is. He said he has no plans to retire and he shared his secret to longevity with us.

“So I still eat three hot dogs every day,” Bear said.

That, and the desire to work and help others, has served him well.

“That’s how you stay around a long time, you just have to enjoy everything you do,” Bear said.

Bear was formally recognized at a ceremony in Oklahoma City on Monday night.

This is actually the second time Coney Island Hot Weiners has taken home the prestigious honor. Back in 2018, Costas Tsilekas won the distinguished service award.

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