Nathan’s hot dogs gives back $1.2M in coronavirus small business aid

Nathan’s is famous for its foot-long red hots. But the weiner-maker is way too big to get coronavirus small business aid from the feds.

The legendary Coney Island hot dog company is giving back the $1.2 million it received as part of the so-called Paycheck Protection Plan designed to keep small businesses afloat.

The Long Island based company is a sprawling $250 million operation with 250 locations nationwide.

But it only has 150 employees because most of the eateries are franchises that are not company-owned.

The company announced that it was returning the cash in an April 21 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CNBC first reported.

The PPP has been dogged by controversy as it emerges that big-bucks businesses sought to exploit loopholes to cash in.

Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Tuesday he was “outraged” that the high-flying Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA got money from the program.

The program quickly burned through the first $350 billion and has nearly exhausted an additional $250 billion.