Discuss Detroit » Archives - July 2007 » Fail-safe business idea. No, really « Previous Next »
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Gdub
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Username: Gdub

Post Number: 1133
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, August 03, 2007 - 10:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Okay, having recently left Detroit after six years of D-town residence, I'm seriously jonesing for a coney. Beyond that, I'm thinking this city (Chicago) would be wayy well-served with even the simplest of coney stands. There are so many Michigan folks here, and the only dog you can get is the salad-on-a-tube Chicago style. For like $3 a pop. Anyway, if anyone has access to capital, and is looking for a sure thing, I'll do whatever it takes to facilitate the opening of a Coney in this fruitful foreign territory. Gangbusters guaranteed. Profit margin? Huge. Space needed? Minimal. Food/labor cost? Ditto.

Invest globally, and you'll be that much more able to spend locally. And a hell of a lot of expatriates will worship the ground you drive on.

I'm totally serious, by the way. 'Feed'back?
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Rhymeswithrawk
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Username: Rhymeswithrawk

Post Number: 832
Registered: 11-2005
Posted on Friday, August 03, 2007 - 10:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Sorry, Detroit development would get my money before Chicago.
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Lilpup
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Username: Lilpup

Post Number: 2552
Registered: 06-2004
Posted on Friday, August 03, 2007 - 11:05 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

you might want to really look around for potential competitors - I'm sure there are a few places there. I know there's a dog place a block or two behind the Mich Ave Borders but I don't remember the different fixin's they offered.

I'd hate for it to turn out like for my boss, where he and his partners didn't start seeing all the other shops around until shortly after they opened theirs.

(Message edited by lilpup on August 03, 2007)
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Gdub
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Username: Gdub

Post Number: 1135
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Friday, August 03, 2007 - 11:35 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Believe me, they don't exist here. It's all Vienna dogs. Any 'chili dog' variation you might happen across at the 24-hour diner is a sad substitute.

Rhyme, my post alluded to that concern. Invest globally, and the money will go back to Detroit. go where the population with money resides and you can take in more than goes out. That's how Chicago does it. And, apparently, that's how GM suddenly became profitable again.
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Focusonthed
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Username: Focusonthed

Post Number: 1200
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 4:26 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'd buy a coney here in Chicago. About the best substitute you can find is a chili dog at Portillo's, but it's not the same.
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Terridarlin
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Username: Terridarlin

Post Number: 27
Registered: 02-2007
Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 6:19 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Here in Raleigh, NC I stumbled on Kloos Coney Island. A former Detroiter that weekly ships his hot dogs and chili here from Detroit. So the "manufacturing" money is staying in Detroit! It's a fun place, always crowded with Detroit people and college students.
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Steelworker
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Username: Steelworker

Post Number: 946
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Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 8:31 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Ive thought about this idea puting one in any bar district in canadas cities. All my friends from canada want to go to coney islands when they visit here.
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Gannon
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Username: Gannon

Post Number: 9803
Registered: 12-2003
Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 9:59 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

This is exactly the sort of idea to turn our area around economically, take something 'native' and sell it outside our geographic area.

These stores could sell t-shirts and other Detroit stuff, like those candles from that Russell Industrial group. (I'm not awake enough to remember names, please forgive me)


This is the sort of idea I'd encourage to help meet that two-hundred jobs in eighteen months goal, a hundred directly under sparks of mine...another hundred by tens under the ideas of others. Paying it forward towards job creation and economic sustainability for the metro area.
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Lilpup
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Username: Lilpup

Post Number: 2557
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Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 11:29 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

What kind of capital are you talking about? And does Chicago allow cart vendors?
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Jelk
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Username: Jelk

Post Number: 4524
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 11:40 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Just as long as this doesn't take money away from the Grand Circus Park ski hill.
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Bumble
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Username: Bumble

Post Number: 269
Registered: 11-2004
Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 12:26 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You can eat a Chicago dog on the go, standing up, walking down the street. A coney dog, not so.

Could be an expensive lesson that Chicagoans don't treat street food like a sit-down dinner.
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Tomoh
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Username: Tomoh

Post Number: 308
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Posted on Saturday, August 04, 2007 - 11:34 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I'd pay for Detroit-made Coneys here in Chicago. But where would the stand be? I can't remember seeing any hot dog stands in the loop or really anywhere on the north side but vendors can be found in Hispanic neighborhoods.

How about Navy Pier? They already sell fudge there.
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 839
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 2:59 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There must be 300 or more hot dog places in Chicago and environs. Portillo's operates at least 50 places and I know one can buy a coney dog at several if not all of them. People line up (not for very long) in up to three drive-in lines at some stores at lunch and dinner.

A basic business tenet is to "find a need and fill it." My guess is that the demand for coney dogs in Chicago is being filled more than adequately.

The restaurant business has the greatest 1st year failure rate of all businesses. Starting one without a lot of experience will result in almost automatic failure.

There is no such thing as a sure thing in business, any business.
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Charlottepaul
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Username: Charlottepaul

Post Number: 1361
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Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 3:12 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yeah, but seems that they don't have "coney dogs":
http://www.portillos.com/porti llos/menu/items.asp?SID=32&MID =23

Seems actually that very few hot dogs are "coney" unless they were made in Detroit...
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Ccbatson
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Username: Ccbatson

Post Number: 1778
Registered: 11-2006
Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 9:09 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

A cousin of mine has been toying with the same idea for Florida. The likeliest location is one where there are a fair number of transplants from here (like yourself) to spread the word.
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 840
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 10:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Charlottepaul: Portillo's calls them "chili dogs." It's a big seller. I've had them at 2 or 3 different stores and they are identical to "coney's."

They did not even serve "coney's" at Coney Island. I was there in the late '50's and the identical hot dog we call a "coney" was called a "Michigan Red Hot."
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Focusonthed
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Username: Focusonthed

Post Number: 1208
Registered: 02-2006
Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 11:02 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Portillo's, as I said earlier, is not the same. For one, their chili has beans. For two, it's not the same hot dog. You can get a "chili dog" in any city--that doesn't make it a coney.

Sorry 3rdworldcity, they are not the same. Close, but no cigar.
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3rdworldcity
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Username: 3rdworldcity

Post Number: 841
Registered: 01-2005
Posted on Sunday, August 05, 2007 - 11:13 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

You can get the chili w/ or w/o beans. I say they're as close to the same as one can get. There is no such thing as a uniform coney. The ones at National are better than the ones at Lafayette or American in my opinion. They don't use the same dogs either. (I do believe that most hot dog places around here buy the chili from National, in one variation or another.)

What we need is a blind folded taste test.

This is not a topic on which reasonable people may differ.
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56packman
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Username: 56packman

Post Number: 1596
Registered: 12-2005
Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 11:05 am:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Quick question: are you Greek?
Is there someone named "Nick" working the grill with his wife working the cash register?

Do you have a relative from the old country that doesn’t really speak English and looks slightly scared to bus tables?

Will the wait staff shout the orders to the grill cooks?

Will you make a good, cheap breakfast?

Will the place be kept spotlessly clean?

Will you have to walk through the back prep kitchen to get to the bathrooms?

Can you get Vernors in Chicago?

Will you have faded pictures of the Parthenon and the Grecian isles, or a wallpaper mural of ancient Greece?

Will you have a bowl with little butter mints by the cash register?

It is about the dogs and the beef-heart chili, but you need the other things above to get the ambiance right. I have only been to a couple of Coneys run by average white Joes that work.
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Gdub
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Username: Gdub

Post Number: 1138
Registered: 10-2003
Posted on Monday, August 06, 2007 - 12:25 pm:   Edit PostDelete Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I know Portillo's has a certain variation, but the only location I've seen is the one in River North, amid all the theme restaurants. I've not seen a passable chili dog available in the neighborhoods where people actually live (on the north side, at least). And I don't think it would have to be a Disney-fied replica of Lafayette to satiate the longings of me and my fellow expatriates--or anyone else looking for an alternative. I can't imagine it would be too difficult to get the same dogs, chili, fries and buns to serve up in Chicago.

The most popular place on the north side is Hot Doug's, on Western Ave. (not the most convenient to Lakeview or Lincoln Park residents), and it's because his menu is a lot more creative than the typical Chicago style, offering interesting variations on the same old thing. So, even non-Detroiters are evidently looking for something new in the way of quick-serve hot dogs.

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