having grown up in the midwest to me coney island dogs always tasted like sloppy joes on a hot dog …
I was going to mention Dog Haus as an upscale sausage onna bun chain that I have frequented when the mood strikes. While not in every state, they do go coast to coast, and it’s a toss up if you consider the beer or the sausages the primary salespoint.
I think though, that it’s the cost factor that prevents hot dogs / sausages from being a chain focus. If you’re going cheap, mass-produced ‘Purina in a bun’ level dogs, you’ll probably not be able to make enough of a profit in selling them to justify it. And if you’re going to sell $10 a piece bespoke ones, a large number of shoppers are thinking ‘for that price I can get a pound of quality sausages from my deli/supermarket/whole foods’ and buns and just do them at home.
Which is why I think they are most successful at venues that we, for some reason, associate with hot dogs. I still remember eating truly, godawful boiled dogs when I went to see a baseball game with family when I was younger, or other sporting events. These days, when you’re paying 10 dollars for a plastic cup of beer, you’re not blinking at paying 7-8 bucks for a $.30 of Oscar Meyer level hotdog in a cheap bun. It’s part of the experience.
And in a baseball park, the strolling hot dog vendors have them wrapped in foil and toss them to the customers. which is very convenient.
I’m a fan of the Food Truck Race program, where contestants try to outsell each other. People are certainly open to paying a lot of money for a variety of dishes. But brick and mortar is a different game.
I’ve read that the worst thing to order in a restaurant (i.e. the most overpriced thing) is pancakes. Yet we have IHOP etc.
I’d love it if Portillo’s would open one in the Raleigh-Durham area. I’m tired of having to fly up to Chicago to get my Maxwell St Polish/Italian Beef fix.
I have to laugh at the “all you can eat” pancake deals. All I can eat of those frisbee-sized things is about three, tops.
All the marketing I’ve seen for Sonic has been burgers and shakes. Did they start as a hot dog place? Or are they still, but their ad agency never actually ate there?
By the way, best sign I ever saw was in the window of a hot dog joint:
SIT.
STAY.
GOOD DOG.
That’s definitely true.
I think the point that he’s trying to make is that it’s hard to screw up a hot dog, and it’s really easy to produce a hot dog every bit as good as one you buy commercially. There’s precious little skill involved in cooking them- you can boil them, microwave them, grill them, air-fry them, or whatever, and they mostly taste the same. Assuming a good quality hot dog to begin with, the main distinguishing thing is the condiments and bun, which I agree with @Horatius, isn’t much of a foundation to distinguish yourselves from anyone else serving hot dogs.
Hamburgers aren’t hard to make at home, but they do take seasoning and cooking raw meat with enough skill to not mess it up. And there’s a lot of variation in meats, grinds, sizes, etc… as well.
I mean, I’ve had Oscar Mayer plain franks on Wal-Mart buns with no-name mustard, and I’ve had this guy’s hot dogs cooked by him and with his special condiments at the farmer’s market several years back. While Luscher’s hot dogs are indeed excellent hot dogs, they’re still hot dogs. I was actually kind of let down a little, in the sense that I had read the literature, seen them cooking, and so on, and then when I actually had one, it was a hot dog. A very good hot dog, but still only a hot dog.
It’s almost like there’s a sort of reverse of the “Pizza is like sex, even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.” concept going on where even a fantastic hot dog is still in the end, just a hot dog.
A new hot dog joint opened up down the street and from its name “Chicago Hot Dogs”, I figured it was a chain. Just checked their website and that’s the only location. Haven’t gone there yet; thing is there’s two taquerias and a Korean BBQ place in the same tiny strip mall. So I’ll probably never go for the hot dog place. Which tells me why there’s no national hot dog chains; if you’re spending $$ to eat out, there’s always a better option.
That being said there’s some food trucks doing crazy things with hot dogs that are worth a visit.
But, in the end, hot dogs are still pretty good. Just got back from watching a pretty good owl paly football at the pub. they had hotdogs and chili at half time, and this is pretty much the only time I eat hotgods anymore. And dog damnit, they’re still pretty tasty.
Oh, I’m not arguing that hot dogs aren’t great! I happen to like them just about any way they’re served.
The thing is that a relatively low-rent homemade version is 80% of the way there for a lot less cost.
For example, these guys have stellar hot dogs and sausages- they’re not too far away and I’ve gone there a time or two. But they want $7.99 for a chili dog.
Meanwhile, I can go to Wal-Mart and for about $1 more, I can get enough hot dogs, chili, buns and shredded cheese to make eight chili dogs that are frankly (heh) 80% as good as the frou-frou one.
I think that’s why people are somewhat averse to hot dogs as a fast food option- they don’t seem like you’re getting your money’s worth. I mean a chili dog costs you maybe $1.12 or so if you buy it all yourself, and even Sonic, who seems to be the cheapest of the bunch, still wants a little more than 2x that.
Hamburgers aren’t really that much different price-wise, but I think there’s a perception that there’s more effort and expertise that go into cooking them properly, and that you “get your money’s worth” with a burger in a way that you don’t with a hot dog.
That is a good point. I have a similar example – there’s a food truck around here that serves hot dogs, and apparently pretty high quality hot dogs. At one point they opened an actual brick and mortar location in a food court walking distance from my office. I never went there, because I always decided I’d rather go to one of the other places in the food court than the hot dog place. That place has since gone out of business (as far as I know the food truck is still going, though) and has been replaced with a taqueria.
A few years ago Burger King had some specialty hot dogs on their menu. I tried both varieties, but this Mashed.com review was pretty much my experience. At least they tried.
In So. California, you have to work your way through the maze of bacon wrapped hot dogs carts after any event. OK, I exaggerate a bit, but they’re a pretty ubiquitous night time presence.
Can I get this translated?
(From “North of London”-ish, or SpellCheck-ish?)
If you regularly watch owls play football, we need to know if it’s European or American (which would be more challenging, what with the passing and the tackling…) And where can we watch?
It’s such a good owl it’s superb.
I was going to pop in and post about a local (Hollywood) hot dog stand, the legendary Pink’s (it’s on their sign, so it has to be true), but when I was on their website I discovered they have 11 restaurants in southern California plus restaurants in Connecticut, New York, and the Philippines of all places.
It occurs to me that gas stations, especially bigger ones (QT, Race Trac) have the roller hot dogs, which tarnishes their appeal a bit.
I could definitely see myself going out of my way for fancier sausages. But wait…the gas stations also have breakfast sausages and bratwurst. They have a bunch of condiments, including french fried onions like you have on green bean casserole. Take a brat, add ketchup and those onions, some brown mustard, OMG.
I’m Wienerschnitzel’s target audience. It’s true that hot dogs aren’t as exciting as other sausages, but c’mon. Kolaches/pigs in a blanket have become a big thing, so they could offer breakfast as well.
Still, the gas stations sometimes carry a burger in the shape of a dog on the roller. And little tamales. That’s odd, something you would expect to get in a restaurant. But also hot dog sized chicken…things. Buffalo and Monterrey Jack varieties.
Random memory—remember this?
We got one when they first came out in the '70s. Yes, it worked, though it easily became gross if one wasn’t scrupulous about cleaning it.
Sorry, double post