Hot Dog U! It's all about the taste

PHOENIX -- Out of a job and thinking about going into business for yourself -- maybe owning your own hot dog cart? One Chicago vendor is in the Valley to teach people the "tricks of the trade."

Mark Reitman set up his hot dog cart in a Scottsdale classroom, saying that he comes qualified to teach with a Ph.D. -- "professor of hot dogs."

His love affair with them began when he was growing up in Chicago, where, he said, people get to know you by asking three questions: What high school do you go to, where to you go to church and where's your favorite hot dog stand.

"If somebody disrespects or insults your favorite hot dog stand, those are fighting words if you're a Chicagoan," Reitman said.

"One day I went in to get my blood tested and when the doctor stuck the needle in my vein, out popped all this neon green relish because it was just running through my system."

For the past five years, he's been teaching an "Art of the Cart" course for people interested in having a hot dog cart of their own.

"We talk about marketing, how to select the location, how to set up a menu, how to set up your books, how to find the insurance that you need," he explains.

Hot dog vendors in the Valley need to diversify because of the weather, said Reitman.

"I'll hit the hot dog part of it, but I'll also have a lemon squeezer and I'll be selling lemonade or I'll have an ice cream cart next to it because, on a day like today, people don't really want to have hot food."

But, he'll also teach how to make a great Chicago-style hot dog -- with all the ingredients.

"You're talking about a kosher dill pickle slice, a couple of slices of tomato, peopper, a shake of celery salt which complements the mustard and the relish, and then we have the neon green relish."

Reitman talks about the finished product poetically: "When your teeth break the skin, a tingling exhilaration bursts ecstatically upon your taste buds as the juices flow into your mouth and you can't wait in anticipation to take that second bite."

Preparing the bun is not forgotten.

"You'll learn not only how to steam the buns, there's a whole science and technique where these buns have to be placed on top of that steam tray -- and there has to be some sort of insulation between the bottom of the bun box and the steam tray or you're going to have 212-degree heat, which is going to make the bun hard on the bottom or crusty on the top," he warns.

Reitman said a new cart costs in the high $2,000 range, "but there's a lot of used equipment out there. One of my students bought a cart that was a $3,000 cart, one year old, very lightly used. The student just bought it for $1,800."

Reitman's "Art of the Cart" class started Wednesday. He'll offer it again next month.

Hot Dog University was featured on Chicago Business Today earlier this year.

For more information, visit www.hotdogu.com, or call 1-414-975-8580.