A PERTH man has successfully patented and will soon begin selling a cross between a hamburger and a hotdog - dubbed the “Hamdog” - across the country.
Mark Murray first pitched his idea on Channel 10’s Shark Tank program last year, after successfully securing a US patent for the “combination hamburger hot dog bread bun” in 2009.
“Everyone told me it wasn’t possible, because you’d need a patent lawyer and it would cost millions of dollars,” Mr Murray told news.com.au.
“Even [Boost Juice founder and Shark Tank judge] Janine Allis told me that it was impossible to patent. She’ll be eating her words now,” Mr Murray said.
Conceived in 2004, the $8 Hamdog consists of a Bunbury beef patty cut in half, with a Hunsa frankfurt inserted in the middle. It’s topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles and three sauces - American mustard, tomato sauce and mayonnaise.
The bun is created in special made-to-order moulds by hand in a Perth bakery.
“We use all local ingredients. The only thing that’s not from WA are the pickles,” Mr Murray said.
“At the moment there is a fair bit of labour involved in making the buns because they’re made by people, not machines. We’re still developing a way to semi automate production.”
The Hamdog marquee will appear at events such as local markets, shows, races in Perth. Mr Murray says so far, the response has been “incredible”.
“We launched our marquee two months ago and we had people come from everywhere just to experience the Hamdog. At one stage the crew were knocking out about one every 15 seconds. It was amazing,” he said.
He’s currently inviting people to buy into his business so the Hamdog can be sold around the country. For $10,000 you can become a “reseller”, similar to a franchisee, with your own Hamdog marquee.
