Japadog definitely has a USP – Unique Selling Proposition.
In other words, they have given people a reason to buy from them instead of the all the other “same old” hot dog carts. The USP allows them to sell at a premium price point.
You can tell by the long lines that people will pay for a quality dog and and a unique customer experience.
Do a little experiment with me. You’re not a hotdogger. You’re a customer.
Think hard about how you would feel standing in line at Japadog for the first time. I bet you would feel…
Excitement. Anticipation. A sense of adventure. A feeling of novelty. Extreme curiosity. Exclusivity. Luxury. Perhaps even decadent in a culinary way…
How many people would you tell about your street food experience over the next several days? What would make you talk about it so much?
How would you feel being the guy or gal that turned all their friends on to this new kind of hot dog? Do you think your friends would thank you for discovering this for them?
Yeah. They would. A lot.
That’s the power of a USP.
OK – come back to earth. Put on your business hat. Check out Japadog’s menu (click for a big picture). Pay attention to the price points – we’re learning something very important today.
Q: Do you have an awesome-can’t-fail-kick-ass-great-super-cool-
wowee-neato-keen idea for a hot dog cart, but don’t know where to start?
A: I cover everything you need to know at www.HotDogBiz101.com. I’ll show you how to make your dream a reality. That’s what I do.
What is your USP? Tell me about it in the comments!
-Steve
Pocono Hot Dog
// Apr 15, 2010 at 12:54 am
jigyoun
Pocono Hot Dog
// Apr 15, 2010 at 1:09 am
Steve,
Meant to say Hottodoggu Jigyounushi. Very inspiring as to bring out the creative side in all of us. Theme is as important to branding sport peppers are to a Chicago Dog. Once you have your own identifiable brand you can command top dollar for providing not only sustanance but an entertaining experience. You have to sell both the Sizzle and the Steak not one or the other. As always, GREAT VIDIO, GREAT ADVICE, GREAT JOB!!
POCONO
Stosh
// Apr 15, 2010 at 4:34 am
You guyz have the best site for research and lotz of new great ideas
Tony/ Hot Dogs U Relish
// Apr 15, 2010 at 6:03 am
all I can say Steve is WoW, I mean really Wow, who would think of selling all those toppings. I would say with out a dout it is a great idea thou.
Tony
rick
// Apr 15, 2010 at 6:15 am
very cool — thanks
duggsdoggs
// Apr 15, 2010 at 6:21 am
Cool idea, I hate to kick a dead horse but were are their gloves, food safety. You can have the best hot dog in the world, charge the best price and make lots of money but if you don’t pratice food safety what do you have! Prices in other cities, countries and even location are different. You can buy a hot dog on my cart for $2.00 but you can also by a house for under $75,000, a very nice house. You can go a block or so in any direction of my cart and buy a hotdog for .50 (yes that’s 50 cents). Go overseas and see what you get for the same prices. I may only have the plain old All American Hot Dog but what else could you want. The plain old All American Hot Dog will be here when the Japdog and the other fads are gone. Duggs Doggs “good good”
Rick
// Apr 15, 2010 at 6:39 am
The Photo Menu is GREAT It makes you hungry just looking at it
What a way to increase sales
Teri
// Apr 15, 2010 at 6:39 am
Lovely to see the different styles of dogs out there! I love the creative ideas that flow, thanks for sharing that one Steve.
. Great job sharing information.
I did notice that they weren’t wearing gloves either, but they weren’t touching the food directly either, so it doesn’t matter if the gloves are on or not. You can spread germs with gloves on as fast as skin, but they didn’t seem to have a problem, they had it down
Douglas
// Apr 15, 2010 at 6:54 am
KISS…Keep It Simple Stupid….Lol Don’t do overkill..Geeeeee ;0)
John
// Apr 15, 2010 at 7:26 am
Very inspirational, I can just see the look on my Health Inspectors as he is written the citation, but inspirational and outside the box.
DabberDave
// Apr 15, 2010 at 7:32 am
nice looking menu they have…but whats a “Pepusi” soda?
Jimmy Brown
// Apr 15, 2010 at 7:36 am
I also looked at the lack of gloves for food service and was told by a few health departments that they would prefer me not to us them as they feel that without gloves we are more likely to wash are hands more
Jeff w w
// Apr 15, 2010 at 8:51 am
Just made me more confused?
Jim
// Apr 15, 2010 at 9:39 am
Definitely a good point about the USP.
Regarding the wearing of gloves, many foodservice people wear gloves well past when they should have been changed. They are in essence working with contaminated gloves when handling food. The gloves don’t end up being “cleaned” as often as the person would have washed or cleaned their hands in some way, which is the point being made by the health dept as noted by Jimmy Brown.
Lucky Dawg
// Apr 15, 2010 at 9:52 am
I feel that as long as your hands do not touch any food item it should be OK. I only wear gloves when I am handling food, but people watch me carefuly as I make their “dawg”.
No one has had a problem.
Those Japadogs look very interesting, I would have to try one of each, eventually. Great idea and awsome photos of their product.
I am sure these folks are making a ton of $$.
Yank's Franks
// Apr 15, 2010 at 8:55 pm
It also has to do with taste. One big thing Japadogs has going for them is the worldwide exposure they received during the Olympics. They were on TV and all over the net.
Hopefully the Olympics will soon be coming to Southern Maine.
duggsdoggs
// Apr 16, 2010 at 1:23 am
I must be a nut because I change gloves on every customer, the cost is about 1 cents per glove but I feel safer and my customers do too. I can afford the penny for peace of mind.
Jim
// Apr 16, 2010 at 4:22 pm
duggsdoggs—that is the way it should be done.
dannydogs
// Apr 29, 2010 at 3:00 am
Can’t tell you my USP just yet. I have been doing some reasearch and plan to be operational by the Spring of 2011. I guarantee that you guys are going to flip when you see my cart and your heart strings pulled by the things my business stands for. I can’t wait to unveil everything here soon. Thanks for the venue.
Funky Trader
// May 10, 2010 at 9:48 am
Re: Gloves…. of course we’ve all seen someone in gloves sneeze into them, or pick/scratch/dig while wearing the gloves and not changing them…
If the glove wearer truly doesn’t understand hygiene and germ theory, the gloves become irrelevant… years ago in one of the restaurants I worked for (which specialized in chicken wings), I asked where the disinfectant was for cleaning, and the gloves- there were no gloves (I bought my own), and the machine that mixed the cleaners was a pile of pieces in a corner (needless to say I put it back together and would use the cleaner…and change rags when they got covered with chicken blood, even after the kitchen manager yelled at me for “wasting” too many towels…)
BIGDAWGS DOGHOUSE
// Jul 15, 2010 at 12:43 am
I have only been in the dog business for a month now, and only on saturdays so far,, 5 days selling,, at farmers market for three days, a soccer tourney, 60 teams that day, and hooked up with a Pro Calibur Motercycle , doing all there rallys now,, made lots of money those days.. My secret is that i also serve gourmet dogs.. My island dog is the most popular,, cream cheese, small amouth of shredded lettuce, polish or reg frank, pineapple,mandrian oranges, onions, top with a pomegranted mango chipolte sauce, sells great,, have a SHAGGY DAWG, lettuce,cucumbers,onions,tomatos,vidiala onion sauce. and just starte a SILLY CHEESEDAWG, saute peppers, orange and red w, onions, 4cheese sauce, philly never had it so good….so,just try new things,, it works
Happy Hippie Hot Dogs | Hot Dog Cart News // Aug 27, 2010 at 9:10 am
[...] USP Part One – Japadogs [...]
mark
// Sep 6, 2010 at 10:09 am
DuggsDoggs,I think sub-way changes gloves every time.could be wrong.i have not started yet but plan on doing this.
How To Display Your Menu On Your Hot Dog Cart | Hot Dog Cart News // May 2, 2011 at 12:06 am
[...] P.S. The menu at the top is one of my favorite examples of taking it to the next level. It’s a work of art. You can get a larger view in one of my previous articles by clicking on this link: Hot Dog Cart News: Japadog Video [...]
James L
// Dec 15, 2011 at 10:00 pm
I don’t know why so many people are getting worked up about them not wearing gloves. If you watch the video you will see that tongs were used even to open the bun. At no point did bare hands come into contact with the food.