The Flint Coney: A Savory History

A Vehicle City Success Story

The history of Flint’s food culture has always been largely overshadowed by the stories of its industries. But the origins and rapid expansion of the number of Macedonian Coney shops in Flint paralleled the explosive growth of the city’s automotive industry throughout the twentieth century. Born of an immigrant escaping the war-torn Balkans in the early 1900s who combined his idea for one dish with the skills of butchering and meatpacking experts from Wisconsin and Germany, the simple Flint Coney became an institution among the city’s autoworkers, tradespeople, and families. Mainstays such as Flint Original Coney Island, Angelo’s, and Atlas were frequented by regular patrons for decades, with others such as Capitol and Starlite carrying on those traditions today.

Genesee County native Dave Liske explores these global origins and the cultural history of the Flint Coney.