Last week on July 14, a group of ambassadors, heads of various chambers of commerce, and government officials got together in a Kyiv gas station for hot dogs.
The American fast-food chain Nathan’s Famous had invited them to celebrate the hot dogs’ arrival to Ukraine.
Nathan’s Famous, a New York City Coney Island staple and one of the United States largest producers of hot dogs in the United States, sells 20 billion hot dogs annually. The iconic Coney Island hot dog stand, around since 1916, also sponsors the international annual Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, attended by an estimated 40,000 people every year.
“We like to say that Nathan’s Famous is the flavor of New York. We are New York,” James Walker, the company’s senior vice president, told the Kyiv Post.
In April, the company entered Ukraine. Six restaurants are already serving customers at Socar gas stations, four of them in Kyiv, and has plans to open up more restaurants in the future.
When Walker joined Nathan’s Famous in 2019 after leaving the sandwich chain Subway, he decided to switch the company’s business model to make the brand more “exportable internationally.”
With this model, Nathan’s Famous decided to partner with Socar, an Azerbaijani state energy company operating in Ukraine, to bring the hot dogs to Ukraine through franchise deals.
“At first they told us to give up on this idea,” Oleksiy Dronov, project manager at Socar told the Kyiv Post. “But after some personnel changes, the answer was immediate: ‘yes, let’s do it.’”
“They made a call at the absolute right time,” said Walker.
Even though there are already cafés at Socar gas stations, the Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Ukraine Elmira Akhundova believes that adding Nathan’s Famous hot dogs to the menu “develops a food culture in the country, continuing to introduce Ukrainians with the best world brands.”
Being unique isn’t cheap
Although the price for the Nathan’s Famous hot dog in Ukraine is close to the American one, around $4.50, the cost simply cannot be less, Walker believes.
Since the company’s strong position is to offer the “best hot dogs” on the market, the ingredients must be the same high quality.
For Ukraine, for instance, pure beef sausages are produced at the Damhus plant, a German meat-product manufacturer; the buns made in France; even the French fries, which are also made from “a specific type of potato,” are imported from the Netherlands.
Most of the toppings as well as the century old ‘secret spice recipe’ invented by the founder’s wife are imported from the US to keep the original taste.
“It is never going to be a discount hot dog,” said Walker.
Plus, it is also about Nathan’s Famous “premium texture” of hot dogs, something that Walker was unlucky to find in Ukraine. Visiting one grocery store after another in Kyiv, he observed the same picture: hot dogs were too soft and clearly made not with beef, but rather of chicken, pork and lard.
“If you can tie your hot dog in a knot, it’s probably not a hot dog I want to have,” he said.
For Walker, customers’ suspicion of whether it’s going to be the same product as in the US is still among top issues. “But it’s exactly the same recipe we use in America,” he said.
Moreover, he was pleasantly surprised to see that the price of Nathan’s Famous hot dogs was even lower compared to other Kyiv’s restaurants serving hot dogs.
“That is a fantastic place to be, where you’re on the top of the market but your market price is still competitive,” he said.
Beyond expectations
Although Socar would not disclose the average number of hot dogs sold daily at its gas stations, Walker told the Kyiv Post that Nathan’s Famous had to rescale the amount of sausages made in Germany to “satisfy the need of gas stations” in Ukraine.
Walker says that Ukrainians will see more Nathan’s Famous restaurants open across the country, as well as the appearance of hotdogs on shelves of grocery stores. “We are looking at a very aggressive growth strategy,” said Walker.
The company also plans to launch restaurant in the southern city of Odesa.
Plus, he is sure that Ukrainians will see more Nathan’s Famous products, which are unavailable now, like burgers or cheesesteaks.
Currently, “it’s a tiny piece of the menu, but certainly the most famous.”
Hot dog eating contest
Every year on the Fourth of July, contestants from around the world gather at the Nathan’s Famous on Coney Island to compete to see who can down the most hot dogs the fastest.
The defending men’s champion is Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, who ate 76 hot dogs in the 2021 contest, a world record.
Walker says he is sure that Ukrainians can try their best to participate in the contest. The chances for this are high since “Ukrainian people love events and are very competitive.”
Moreover, depending on restrictions, the company might set a regional qualifying match for the contest in Ukraine, so winners may at least enter the final battle of the big eaters in New York.
“We want this contest to be as exciting as possible,” said Walker.
