Hi to all the slingers, all over the world, from the Hot Dog King, down under, in Australia.
My name is Steve, which seems to be a good thing in this place. I live just outside of Sydney, Australia. Its about 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the landmarks, like the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. Aussies haven’t been educated in the world of hot dogs like Americans, in particular. Steve’s reference to “the shrivelled green weenie” would be a high point to many Aussies. Our buns are way too big, so the ratio of sausage to bread is all wrong.
All my life, I wondered why Americans loved hot dogs and Australians did not. I have not visited America yet but look forward to the “Trip of Discovery” in the not too distant future. For many years I had the vision of a 1950’s diner style, complete with jukebox, selling hot dogs and milkshakes called “Hot Dog Heaven”. I was lucky not to be locked up when I told Australians of my dream. I learned to keep my mouth shut, until now. (PS. If you take my idea and run with it, Steve has my address for the royalty checks!)
To satisfy my Hot Dog dream, I searched the internet and found two important things. Steve’s Hot Dog Profits and a company in China that builds Hot Dog carts. I bought Hot Dog Profits. I read and I listened and learned so much. I bought a hot dog cart from China. When the Hot Dog cart arrived, it was in a packing crate and needed some assembly. I wasn’t over the moon with the build quality of the chassis (trailer bits) and indeed it broke before we got the cart home. The cooking body was pretty good and looked great so the decision was made to get it mounted on a custom built chssis. One thousand Dollars later, my girlfriend is giving me even stranger looks than before and wondered about my sanity, once again.
Now, we have a trailer. While waiting for the trailer to be built, shipped and rebuilt, I have been trying all the hot dogs and buns on the market but haven’t found anything that really excites the taste buds. Then, Sydney’s very first Costco opened. Went to have a look along with 3 million other people and while waiting to get in, had a hot dog. All this talk about getting supplies from Sam’s and Costco made sense now. This was a hot dog like no other. NOW I understood why Americans get excited about Hot Dogs. Now we have a product to put our name to.
Hot Dog King is the home of “The Great American Hot Dog.”
The response to “our” product has been amazing. We have sold The Great American Hot Dog to American tourists and they agree that it is a great American Hot Dog. I think our advantage over Costco is that we cook with love and pride.
Some things of interest.
We sell the Great American Hot Dog for $5.00. This compares to a Big Mac here in Australia at $5.45
We sell drinks (regular cans) for $2.50. Some other vendors (not Hot Dog) are selling cans for $3. About the best we can buy them for is 65 cents per can for Coke products and 50 cents for Pepsi brands. Water we buy for 35 cents.
Packets of chips here wholesale for just under $1.
The package looks like this – 1 Great Dog, chips and drink for $7.50.
-Steve Wilkins
Sydney, Australia
Congrats Steve. I know quite a few aussie’s from spending lots of time in the Philippines on Siargao island, a great surfing spot. anyways I was always talking the greatness of hot dogs and none of them understood hahah. well Good on ya as they say.
Bubba – you’re into surfing, hot dogs, and Caddyshack. I knew I liked you!!
$5.00 for a Costco dog yeeeha! Best I could do is maybe $4 but to stay competitive probably $3.50! Not knocking the taste great dog but for $5 you can get an organic seiner in downtown Vancouver so you are doing well Steve all the best from British Columbia Canada 🙂
Great story!! It kinda hit me funny that Americans go to Australia and eat hotdogs and Aussies come to America and eat hotdogs because I have had Australians come to my cart in Beautiful downtown Waynesboro, Georgia. I like the cart even if it was made in China. I would by choice only buy American made carts but I am an American. Steve enjoy the hotdog business and always make it fun.
DUGGS DOGGS
GOOD!! GOOD!!
Those Aussie’s came to see the best looking hot dog man in Georgia. They must have heard about you down under. 😉
GREAT STORY!!!! Great looking cart! You, mate, are one who has pursued the Great American Dream all over the world! VERY inspiring story! And it’s great to hear how people do things all around the world. I didn’t know hot dogs would be so hard to find down under. But then, when we went to Ireland, you couldn’t beg, borrow or steal a simple sandwich. They just didn’t exist. Sounds like you’re in on the ground floor of a great enterprise. Good work, Mate!
No sandwiches? Not even corned beef?
Plenty of corned beef and cabbage, but nope, no one over there knew what a sandwich was at the time. That was back in ’82. I understand things have changed a bit since then.
Way to go mate !! Run with it indeed !!
You should do well from this point on.
Best of luck to ye matey….
1St Mate Jim.
Steve…Best of luck to ya! I guess we don’t know how well we have it price wise. I pay 27 cents for my all beef hot dog, 27 cents for Pepsi products, 15 cents per bun, and 21 cents for chips at Sam’s Club.
I’m paying .32 for a custom locally made 100%black angus dog. My other costs are the same as yours Jack.
Good luck with that great looking new cart. Steve now has a reason for a .
Down-Under vacation or business trip.
Hmmm…. I LIKE that idea Paul!
I thought this story was great. What even made it better was the fact that the man (Steve) had NEVER had a real American hot dog and WHAM MO!! A Costco opens up.
I really like the cart and best of luck to to the Australian Steve and “our” Steve for helping open his eyes and the eyes of many new customers.
Thanks, I’m having a ball! I enjoy teaching this stuff is as I enjoy as doing it. In fact I just got my E-Z Built cart spruced up for my annual HD permit renewal. Heading into my 8th year slinging dogs, hard to believe!
Welcome aboard Steve! Always nice to see a new face! I love the prices your charging ! btw- I notice my “bun to sausage ratio” isn’t what it used to be either ! Ha!
LOL!
Wow! Most of us here from what I read get $5 for a 2 dog, soda and chip combo. Unless you’re paying $6-8 a gallon for milk, $7-8 for a gallon of gas, $5-6 a loaf for bread and $4-5 for a dozen of eggs, I’d say you you’ve got it made.
Anyone have an idea of what these products cost “Downunder?” I understand he’s paying .60 cents for a can of soda that I pay .22 to .32 cents a can for, but I only get $1 and he’s getting $2.50 and his competitor is getting $3.
We all need to move “Down Under.” Lol!
Man, I can hardly give chili away here. From 5 years old to 85 years old they want mustard and ketchup. I’m trying to get em hooked on Slaw dogs. I’ll do anything to get repeat customers and build up the business. Other than my buddy at Home Depot, I’m the only other Hot Dog Cart Vendor in the game here.
There are a few trucks and vans selling burgers, burritos, tacos etc. but we have a couple of hundred restaurants in town and it seems like 185 of them all sell tacos and burritos. Ha ha!
Oh well, I’ll continue to chase Auctions, Horse shows and other events. That’s the way to go here in Western Colorado I beginning to think.
Go where the money is. That’s why we have wheels under our restaurants, right?
Cart looks great. Great story.
That is a nice looking cart Steve. To bad about the trailer though. An extra thousand! OUCH. Maybe an American Steves’ ez-built is the way to go instead of going all the way to China for the next one. I know it will be for mine! Best of luck from all of your new American slinger friends.
hi guys, looking at opening a similar style stand in aus could some people email me please and discuss some options and some idea. would love it.
Very nice hot dog cart! I haven’t tried hot dogs in NZ or Australia yet, but I can tell you from experience that all hot dogs I’ve tried in Asian countries have just been horrible. I’ve lived in Malaysia 5 years & visited Japan,Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, & Philippines. The flavoring ingredients are just all wrong. I’m from the American northeast where people are serious about their hot dogs. If you want to try a good hot dog while visiting the states it has to be a Nathans, Sabretts, or Hebrew National. After that you’ll know how a good hot dog is supposed to taste.
Right on Charlie!
Costco in Adelaide, South Australia, only seem to have Tibaldi hot dogs in packs of 15 for around ?$6.50. We like their smoky flavour and team them with the Costco bulk pack of hotdog rolls which are pre-cut and have four x 6 packs in each bag. Perfect size dogs for rolls. We have choices of Tomato, BBQ, or Chili sauce and American style mustard. Grated cheese is also offered, and Heinz Onion relish, which is quite popular. We operate from a marquee with a saucepan on a hotplate to cook the dogs, and a Bain Marie to keep warm for sale. The difficulty we have is keeping the rolls warm without them drying out or getting soggy! LOL Would love a “special” cart but working the markets space is prohibitive. Love your story.