Hamburgers and Hotdogs in Taiwan

Well, there was a young fella that tried Texas Chili Dogs in RaoHe, but soon switched to Deep Fried Oreos or some such venture.

The “meat” sourcing seems to be the problem for hot dogs as we remember them. Costco comes close, but not quite. Then there is the problem of the bun. Bread here is notoriously poor as well.

I don’t think Andrew would like being called a cave man. I mean he’s got the muscles but still hey

Not so much.
Find the thread where me & brother @super_lucky talk about that lady that used to sell them at Tunghua Night Market.
Florida Bakery makes hot dog rolls that will make you cry, they’re so nice.

As has been discussed ad nauseum, local people don’t consider hot dogs to be real food (as in costing more than NT$30 to NT$50 per), As with many other things, an increase in the quality of ingredients wouldn’t be considered worth it. Gilding a turd, as it were.
Imagine opening a restaurant in the heart of Manhattan selling gourmet artisanal Twizzlers and gas station beef jerky for 25 bucks a pop.

7-11, Taiwan’s #1 hot dog seller (just as it is in the US, FWIW), they only sell about half of their dogs in rolls anyway, local people just as often as not would rather just eat them on a stick.

I’d be interested in knowing what the OP’s background is in the restaurant/food service industry?

He’s still trying to figure out if they are going to be pork or beef burgers. Give him time to get there.

That’s far from the goofiest thing about his plan, actually.
We don’t eat the cow at my house, but even Rebel Burger has options that are pretty good, man.
They got a Thai green curry chicken burger and a tonkatsu pork one that both kick mucho ass.

Doesn’t Evans Burger do that

Not yet in Taiwan, but I was in Okinawa during CNY and the A&W places did that.

Rocket, I’m in the retail industry. I cook at home and while I’m no Gordon Ramsay I’m good enough to where I’m constantly not impressed with what restaurants here have to offer – meaning a lot of the time now I feel disappointed that what I pay for at restaurants is something I can make at home.

I’ve been working at a burger place for a couple of weeks now, just to learn and see if this is something I really want to do.

Good discussion guys. Lots of great ideas.

Andrew’s idea of the buffet style topping is interesting. I don’t think I’ve really seen it done anywhere (at least where I’ve been to) here in the U.S.

My plan was never to do a stand alone hotdog place like Pink’s in Los Angeles but a Burger and Hotdog place.

And yes, I am planning a trip to Taiwan in the fall. Looking forward to it!

It doesn’t necessarily have to be buffet style, but maybe once the burger is cooked and they get called up to the toppings station and the customer can choose what they want in it. Almost like subway if you know what I mean. One Thing about burgers is, toppings makes a world of difference. I guess there are people who are cool with the standard toppings they give you. But I’m sure many people would like more of something, less of something or none it at all. I’m sure I’m not the only one who hates tomatoes and pickles in my burger and love jalapeños or many other combinations to be had.

We did frozen mugs at Mayan.

Now that I recall, this sounds like Burger Ray…

Didn’t Andrew say that Burger Ray was his favourite burger restaurant…:what a coincidence!

A lot of burger joints does this. Burger ray is the only one in taipei that I know that has the same concept. Fuddrockers, one of m favorite burger places does this as well as many others.

I’ve actually never been to the standalone Burger Ray store, only the one in Shinkong Mitsukoshi A11 (or was it A8) food court. Where you pick your toppings and the employee adds them on for you, like at Subway. So, I’m not quite sure what the atmosphere is like around the topping bar.

However, my first thought would be, it could be costly. You’ll (once in awhile) get those Ah Yi Ah Bei that come in with their kids that realize, it’s “free refills” on veggies! Next time I’ll bring my bento box to fill up. Don’t believe me? Sit in the Costco food court area and see how many people go in there to load up on radish and onions.

Fuddruckers, now that’s a name of a restaurant I never thought I’d hear again. Damn that place was awesome.

I’m sure you can easily prevent that by having a employee that has common sense to catch that.

Food trucks / vans. They are starting to pop up around Taipei, New Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung. That is another idea that could work. Build up your reputation online through FB / Instagram etc. and show up at venues like ball games, concerts, etc.

Although there’s not many concerts and ball games. I know that many of the venues are government owned. And they have a no food and drink policy went I ran events at these places. We were not allowed to sell food inside the venue, or the government took a huge cut of any food sales so we didn’t even bother. Most people walked out to 711 to get stuff. But I can imagine if a food truck showed up, especially if you had alcohol as well since you can’t sell them at events.

Speaking from personal experience, the reason why the vast majority of resto/food service staff here refuse to get confrontational like that with customers taking advantage is their “I ain’t getting paid enough for that shit” perspective.
Which is pretty much based on them actually not getting paid enough for that shit.

While we’re on the topic, next time someone gets to ragging on local hospitality workers for not providing a level of service and/or attentiveness one might expect from an equivalent situation BITW, you’d do well to remember that, in the vast majority of cases, they’re pulling down something in the neighborhood of US$3.95/hr.
Let’s just say that again, shall we?
US$3.95/hr.

With no tips, mind you.

Think about that for a second.

You know whats worst than 3.95/hr, 0.00 a hour which is what they will get if have this bullshit attitude. And they will probably continue to get 3.95/hr jobs if thats their attitude.