Diehard Sausage Fans Camped Overnight to Eat at Chicago’s Beloved Hot Doug’s Before It Closes Forever

The last month at Hot Doug’s, Chicago’s famed “encased meats emporium,” has been hectic: Very long lines of first-time customers and newcomers have been the standard every day outside the 14-year-old restaurant, leaving proprietor Doug Sohn no choice but to preemptively put the kibosh on the kraut, and everything else. For its final day in business, fans set up tents and camped out overnight, so this morning, Hot Doug’s had to shut down the line at 6:45 a.m., pretty much four hours before opening time.

Here are some photos from the scene.

On its last day, Hot Doug’s closes line just after 7:30 a.m. http://t.co/ykokmjanXi pic.twitter.com/j5iI0HuLro— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) October 3, 2014

Here's a scene from inside a customer's tent.

At 1 a.m.

4AM Friday morning in the pouring rain…adios Hot Doug’s. @hotdougs #hotdougsline #encasedmeats pic.twitter.com/bENXP53VSX— spongerob17 (@Spongerob17) October 3, 2014

Live update: Hot Doug’s line closed at 6:45 AM. Staffers have already turned 57 people away #hotdougslastday pic.twitter.com/qnkQqJ7MF7— Joe Engleman (@JoeEngleman) October 3, 2014

And the very end of the line.

.@hotdougs line closed at 6:30AM! pic.twitter.com/LvZrbgLc1b— CW (@chrisxwhaley) October 3, 2014

This really is the meaty end, my friend. Good-bye, Hot Doug’s.

Related: People Are Waiting 9 Hours to Eat at Hot Doug’s Before It Closes for Good