Feltman was born in 1841 to a Lutheran family in
Germany and emigrated to America in 1856, at the age of fifteen. He was familiar with the frankfurter, named for
Frankfurt-am-Main in his native land. Feltman's operation began operating a
pushcart pie wagon at the
Coney Island beach in 1867, selling fresh pies to beachfront hotels. When his customers began asking him to add sandwiches to serve as well he added a small charcoal stove to his cart and began selling pork sausages on rolls which he called "red hots" and later "hot dogs."
Henry Collins Brown, a New York historian, explained its attraction: "It could be carried on the march, eaten on the sands between baths, consumed on a carousel, used as a baby's nipple to quiet an obstreperous infant, and had other economic appeals to the summer pleasure seeker". In 1871, Feltman leased land and began building his restaurant complex. It achieved its heyday in the 1920s, serving nearly 5,250,000 people a year, being a large restaurant complex with several restaurants, two bars, a beer garden, a famous carousel, and other attractions, and offering many types of food beyond hot dogs.
Nathan Handwerker was working at Feltman's as a roll slicer when he quit to found
Nathan's. Handwerker undersold Feltman, offering hot dogs for five cents instead of ten, at a more downscale operation than Feltman's, but eventually Nathan's became the
Coney Island hot dog purveyor and a nationwide brand which thrived into the 21st century. ==Family and business after his death==