I’ve known about this for a little over a year now, but frankly I wasn’t sure whether to tell you about it or just keep it to myself. But recent events have convinced me to spill the beans, so here goes. I just hope this doesn’t come back to bite me…
About a year ago I was contacted by HCDN reader Matty Zamofo who told me about a guy in Ames, Iowa who was doing low to mid six figures a year with a single hot dog cart (sorry I can’t divulge the actual numbers for legal reasons). I was pretty skeptical, but every few weeks Matty would email me and tell me some new story about how this guy was just KILLING it.
He told me the guy had semi trucks delivering stock to his house. He said he pulled his hot dog cart with a brand new Porsche Cayenne. Stuff like that.
Last July I finally had to see for myself, even though Iowa is not exactly my choice of summer vacation destinations. Don’t get mad at me Iowans – I used to live there. When I got to this guy’s location I was floored. He was set up on a city sidewalk and there were people lined up down the block, people waiting on park benches, people all over the place.
I sat on one of the benches for about an hour, just watching, trying to figure this out. Was it his hot dogs? His signage? His condiments? No, no, and no. Nothing special. Nothing out of the ordinary that I could see.
And then I noticed something strange. About once every few minutes, everyone walking down the street would move their head at the same time, almost imperceptibly. A lot of them immediately checked their wallets or purses and then got in this hot dog guy’s line. I mean the majority of them. It was weird. Weird enough to freak me out a bit.
I actually caught this on video. Watch what happens. Everyone kind of jerks at the same time and takes a little shuffle step toward the cart, even though first guy in line hadn’t even been served yet. The line hadn’t moved but every two and a half minutes these folks lurched forward like zombies, checking their wallets and purses for the fifth or sixth time, desperately making sure they had enough money for the dog.
This happened every 150 seconds on the dot. What in the world was going on here?
Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and a guy in a red and white checkered shirt introduced himself. It was Matty Zamofo. Doctor Matty Zamofo. Turns out Matty is a professor of neuroscience at Iowa State University’s college of Veterinary Medicine.
As Matty explained it to me, the local turkey farmers had been complaining of low weight in their turkey populations and approached Dr. Z about it. After two years of research, his team at ISU developed a transmitter that emits a super high frequency tone on a specific wavelength. Humans can’t hear it, and neither can turkeys, but this frequency stimulates the vagus nerve in warm blooded animals. I had no idea what he was talking about so I asked him to explain it in terms that even I could understand.
The vagus nerve runs from the brain to the stomach and it is very good at detecting blood sugar levels in the body. When it detects low blood sugar, it signals the brain which then triggers stomach pangs. We get hungry, we eat, our blood sugar goes back to normal, and we stop feeling hungry.
Creating hunger on demand. These scientists had discovered how to make any warm blooded animal feel excruciatingly hungry with one pulse of this device. Pretty astonishing stuff. The farmers put one of these tone generators (now known as “The HungerVibe”) in their barns and in three weeks the turkeys had increased their body weight by 36 percent. In other words, this thing worked.
As if waking from a dream, I realized we had reached the front of the line and even though I had eaten just an hour earlier, I was absolutely starving. Then Matty introduced me to the guy behind the cart. It was his brother, Donny.
All of a sudden I understood. These guys were using the HungerVibe to make humans hungry. They had installed it in the side of Donny’s cart.
Matty said that it was completely harmless and that there were no side effects. All I knew was that I had to have a hot dog before I killed someone.
Then the Zamofo brothers made their pitch. They knew I had the ability to reach of thousands of hot doggers with my newsletter. They also knew they had an invention that could change the hot dog vending industry and make all three of us rich if only they could get some exposure. Maybe we could come to some sort of understanding…
But I had ethical problems with it. What about the obesity epidemic? Never mind, I could live with that. However, I wasn’t sure it was right to use this technology to sway the odds so heavily in our favor. No one could resist this thing. In the end it was the mind control aspect of it that made me pull out of the venture.
Until Matty Zamofo made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. It seems that one of my closest readers had sold the Z brothers some pictures of me wearing a pink duct tape cowboy hat while chopping onions with a piece of bread sticking out of my mouth. The shame hit me like a five gallon bucket of sport peppers. Dammit! They had me. And they knew it.
So now I have no choice but to offer you the chance to get a new and improved HungerVibe 3000 to use in your own hot dog business. It’s not cheap, but total market domination carries a pretty stiff price tag. It comes with a money back guarantee and Dr. Z has agreed to provide technical support for one year from the purchase date. It comes with a quick start guide, mounting hardware and a stainless steel speaker grill.
Customers Not Hungry? We Can Fix That.
Introducing the HungerVibe 3000.
Just 4 easy payments of $59.99
This is an April fools joke…..right?
Lets see……….. April 1 ……….. Trukys…………
Besides treating the customers like turkys I get the feeling I could end up being a turkey.
April Fools
HAR!
THANK YOU STEVE, YOU GOT ME.!!!! (*_*)
Lets see……….. April 1 ……….. Trukys…………
Besides treating the customers like turkys I get the feeling I could end up being a turkey.
April Fools
april fools
What no comments, unheard of…come on people letts sell some doggies!!! Wow Steve you really are the king now. We are in!
That’s a good one Steve!
Ok, Steve, you got me good on that one, I even Google Chromed it to see more about it. Would be a wonderful invention. It is not to far from what Disney does with food smell sprayers through out their theme parks.. I bet a few readers were seeing dollar signs running through their heads. lol
An interesting story to be told on APRIL FOOL’S DAY.
Hey Steve,
Very cool invention but you did not mention one ethical problem that could possibly kill someone. How about diabetics? They have to keep their blood sugar levels under control. If they think they are hungry or eat at the wrong time it could mean a diabetic coma or just plain old dead. Can you live with that? Or how about the possible lawsuit that could come up in this sue happy world we live in? And you know if a vendor gets sued they are going to come back at you as you supplied them with the mind control device that killed aunt Betty or uncle Joe.
But you could start calling your hot dog cart business “Pavlov’s Dog’s” and your slogan could be “Our dogs are to DIE for..!”
Just something to think about but I will pass on this one. I just couldn’t stomach it.
Have a good day,
Fred West
Hey I don’t have a hot dog cart (or any other kind of cart) but if I did I would buy one NOW! This is facinating stuff and, when you said it was expensive (before I got down to the price), I was wondering how many thousand dollars it was going to be. Folks, this is dirt cheap even if it works just a little. BTW I’m a subscriber because I’ve always appreciated good marketing. Steve you the man!
Steve,
Man I sure wish I could get one of these, but I’m still trying to pay off that bridge in NY City that I bought from a fellow at this time last year.
Gotta get doggin’.
Steve,
Man I wish I could get one of these, but I’m still paying off that bridge in NY City I bought from a fellow at this time last year.
Gotta get doggin’
Just checked the calendar. I want the Australian rights for this one. I will be number dog slinger down under. A cart on every corner!
:+-). April first, thanks guys
Thanks Steve, I ordered one and can’t wait for it to get here.
Steve is this thing for real? where can i read more
Nothing about this invention, the ‘Dr’, the study anywhere on the internet – scam????
Let’s say you have your concession set-up at a special event with other vendors next to you. And you trigger this “vibe” for effect. How does one know your not helping the other vendors out. All the potential customers decide to buy a hambruger instead a dog ? What do you do ? Charge the other vendors next to you “Rent” space ?
LMAO…The Hunger Vibe 3000…most excellent
Sounds a little off the wall to me. What about the poor vender that has to eat dogs all day because of this thing?
Got to hand it to Steve, he comes up with some great “breakthroughs” every year around the first of April….Cheers to you Steve and Happy Grillin’-Pete at IAN’s Grille-Exeter NH.
Ah April 1 I always relish the new inventions that are available .
Good one Steve !
I was ready to buy until I remembered what today was.
April Fool Steve! Luv ya, mean it.
HA HA HA ! APril Fools to you too!!
Mike
Nice one Steve! I just spent over an hour researching this article. Now I’m an expert on the Vagus Nerve in both animals and humans. And I thought maybe that Dr. Z might be an alias so I checked out all of the profiles of the Professors at Iowa State University’s college of Veterinary Medicine and found nothing on the studies of turkeys and hunger. Then my son asked me what day it was, I said Sunday. He said what’s the date? I didn’t know. Then I checked. D’oh!!! April Fools Day! Ugh! Thanks Steve!
HELL NO, if this is ok then so should be putting “roofies” in someone’s drink. Won’t take the food nazi’s long to get on this. Remember subliminal frames of popcorn they use to put in at the movie theaters? That ain’t nothing compared to this. What’s the next feeling/emotion we’re going to control?
APRIL FOOL!!!!!! YOU NEARLY GOT ME!
The pink duct tape and cowboy hat while chopping onions with a piece of bread in your mouth was a dead giveaway! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
It’s wrong just because it’s legal doesn’t make it write.
I realize the economy is bad but this is a new low.
I’ve got the hunger vibe 2000 and seems to attract alot of animals, cats, dogs birds, ect. I try not to work in remote locations for fear of attracting wild animals. Is the 3000 a redesign that works only on humans?
Oh man… I hope this site hasn’t gone from being a good source of legitimate cart info, to a snake-oil sales site….
How bout a little more proof that this thing does what is claimed, than a few seconds of video showing people standing in line doing nothing that appears out of the ordinary to me. Links to actual research papers or info on the turkey farm? Any real science discussions on this “phenomenon”? I spent a few minutes googling around and can’t find any other info, except that stimulation of the vagus nerve has been used as a treatment for epilepsy. Can’t find any references to hunger… and why sell it to so, sorry- essentially obscure hot dog cart vendors, instead of showing it to someone like McDonalds?
Happy April Fools Day to you Too !
Good one Steve,
Mark
DAMMIT MAN, YOU GOT ME GOOD! I HOVERED MY MOUSE OVER THE “BUY IT NOW” BUTTON AND SAW THE LINK.
DOHHHH!!! Good one… good one!
Steve,
I want to buy 10. I am 89 pounds overweight and I want to reverse the polarity of the motor so I EAT LESS, not more. Please send them quickly.
Lol! 😉
nice…you got me
So let them show off your pretty pink hat their are many breast cancer survivors/ fighters that would greatly appreciate it. Did anyone ask those people how they felt about being tricked? And why if the hotdog cart business is SOOOO good does one need to resort to trickery? Shame on all of you for turning the hotdog business into cut throat. I am new to this business and wish to have my customers become repeats because of my service not because I cheat.
Hmmmm…sounds great but the fact that today is April 1 makes it a little suspicisious to me:-)
wait a minute just realized its April 1st I suck if in fact this is a joke which I hope.
Just a quick question, would it not also make the hot dogger hungry also? Would there be some sort of protective clothing to keep us from eating our profits?
WOW! THAT’S CHEATING!
However, I like it….. Once, you leave the cart and go back home, in your mind your stuffed! What away to get the word out on your hot dog cart!
Everyone, will tell anyone. Next thing you know, you can’t run out of dogs, you can’t go home, you can’t go to the bathroom. The only thing your allowed to do is to sale HOTDOGS!
LOL! LOL! LOL! All the way to the bank. (If, your allowed to do that, even? Talk about a ball and chain!)
This is unethical. And most likely illegal.
How far does the transmitter go? do the people have to be next to your cart.And does it run on batteries.
Okay, Steve! You are a funny guy!
Yeah? So how do I get it?
Will this work for cars going by,20 feet away from my cart.
Yeah, yeah, yeah…
April fools.
I’ll take two.
your bad steve,,
Happy April Fools, Steve….King of April Fool Jokes!
Dixie
Steve the USDA tested this extensively in the south & found only works with beef. & beef by products Pork didn’t react at all.
Ha Ha! Dr. Z I presume?!
Good April Fools Joke!
that is what I get for reading your blog before coffee!
btw I go for inspection of my cart tomorrow,, wish me luck!
Almost got me then i looked at the calender.
WOW what a night, I am so hungry… What day is it???
What if you are at a festival and are surrounded by other food vendors and use this device or parked across the street from a McDonald’s? Have you used it yet Steve? You have never steered anyone of us wrong and I really would’nt mind putting it to the test.
ok ok is this April 1st? lol damn u
Nice one, Steve. Seemed too far fetched to be real. But was very entertaining!
never gonna read ur blog hungover and without coffee again
pay backs r a bitch Brother lol
Thanks for letting us all in on this. I ordered two!!!
Ok so what stops the dog slinger from eating himself to death? O” buy this new and improved anti Hunger Vibe XM-5000 for only 6 easy payments of $99.00.
Not bad if it all really works. Gotta love it!
Gitta have one. Does it come in THX surround sound or is it only in Dolby?
Happy April Fools Day Steve!
That would make this 1 April 2012…….
DUGGS DOGGS
GOOD!! GOOD!!
Happy April Fools Day!
HA HA agreat yearly tradition!!
Hahahahahaha!!!! That is funny and sinister! Where is the pink duct tape hat pic now?? I prefer using mind altering gasses and fumes from my cart or imaginary human fishing rods! HA!
WOW! I wish this was true!!! I would be all over this! Thanks Steve!
Now that is Gooooood April Fool. All work and no play makes the life dull. Whetter you are slinging Hot Dogs and any thing else.
Good One Steve!
I must admit, I was getting my wallet out !!! You are the undisputed KING! Happy April 1st everyone.
nice one buddy……now use my email and send me the real info. I promise not to say a word. 😉
You’re a piece of work Steve. Loved it!!!!!
Hey I don’t have a hot dog cart (or any other kind of cart) but if I did I would buy one NOW! This is facinating stuff and, when you said it was expensive (before I got down to the price), I was wondering how many thousand dollars it was going to be. Folks, this is dirt cheap even if it works just a little. BTW I’m a subscriber because I’ve always appreciated good marketing. Steve you the man!
Now that is Funny
Well one important thing, shows how many are reading your posts each day. I did before anyone even made a post. You got us all.
Jim
HAHA! And I’m an EEG Tech and I was intrigued!
You almost got me Steve… about half way through the article it dawned on me that I suddenly need to look at the bottom of my screen and check the date. Almost as if some electronic device were compeling me to do so! LOL
Good 1 Steve
i haven’t been blasted with an APRIL FOOLS blast in years. GOT ME GOOD!
I just WASN’T going to be the first one to comment when I read this this morning, now I’m glad I didn’t.
And I even thought of it ALL DAY today.
Happy April First Steve, you ARE da MAN.
NICE YOU HAD ME GOING!!!
YOUR THE BEST
I still want the device that turns water into fuel from last year.
Lets get ready for summer kiddos!
Happy Hot Doggin’!
Did Mom have one of those installed in our kitchen? Every time I walked in there…I wanted to eat!! Ha Ha Ha! Great April fools BRO!!!
Kind of thought it was a joke for April Fool’s. 🙂 Good one Steve! Very convincing!
However…
You know, I don’t think it’s so far fetched! We had subliminal messages in our advertisements (probably still do) and then there are CD’s out there that have the same that control emotions. (I have a couple of those.)
Watch out! An inventor who sees this post may be conjuring up something right now on paper.
Ha steve I just got done putting my own unit together going to sell the plans and give a cd with it for half the amount you pick up the base and speaker at harbor frieght well you know wear im going with this . have a good april 1th.
And he got me at 11:59pm on 04/01/2012. I thought I had actually made it through my first April Fool’s Day without getting punked! Nice Job!
I’m trying to find space, next to the ‘other’ piece of equipment I purchased on here, that converted water to propane…….LOL
Hi! That joke was to funny! Trust u got me on that on! Nikki
It is not real because these two guys were not noted for eating hotdogs on command!!!!!
sooooo… Is this a gag or what? If not, I want one of these things before I even purchase the trailer to build my cart on.
Uh… you mean it’s not real!?!
LLLLLOL ! You are one sick dog Steve.
Good one!! had me fired out for an hour!
Oh Man Steve, Team this one up with the “Water To Propane” device from last year and we’ll be rolling in dough!!! HAHA
I feel better now, I’m NOT the only one that fell for it,,
what about the poor hot dog vendor? and the over weigh issue he is going to have, man he will be hungry every minute of every day he is slinging dogs. JUST SAYING !!
There are special earplugs available for the vendor.