Perth – After sitting on the idea for years, Mike Murray, an Australian auctioneer, decided to push his new product at a university market in Perth in Western Australia in July.
His idea, the Hamdog, features a circular hamburger patty with a hotdog sausage running through it, placed between a bun made in a special mould to look like a flying saucer.
It also contains the other usual ingredients, such as lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheese and sauces.
Murray, 51, came up with the idea for the hamdog one night in 2004 at a Nashville bar in the United States.
“It was late and I was hungry. I grabbed a hamburger from a street vendor. I was still hungry, so I also got a hot dog,” Murray said.
“That is how I came up with the idea.”
Mark Murray, invento of the hamdog, a combination of hamburger and hot-dog (Photo:Mark Murray / dpa)
Two years later, he applied for a patent in the United States for “a combination hamburger, hotdog and bread bun,” which was granted in 2009.
Last year he participated in Shark Tank, an Australian reality TV show judged by businessmen and venture capitalists. The show funds business ideas.
“It gained some exposure, but the judges hated it. They said it was a stupid idea. They did not take it seriously,” he recalled. “But I bet they must be eating their words now.”
At the Edith Cowan University open day, his 8 Australian dollars (6 US dollars) hamdog was an instant hit.
He had specially designed buns from a local bakery. He used local beef patties with frankfurter wurstchen sausage, giving it “a unique, different flavour,” he said. “The combination works quite well.”
“We sold around 500 hamdogs in less than five hours, averaging at more than one a minute. By 2 pm we were sold out. We did a couple more and each time the response was better than the previous time.”
Encouraged by the response, Murray planned to set up shops and sell licenses, until the BBC picked up the story earlier recently.
“All of a sudden it went viral. Our YouTube video got a quarter-million hits in one day. Now the whole planet wants to be involved,” he said.
Murray said he is now looking for ways to automate the production, including coming up with the mould for the bun. They are having to “enlarge the operation quickly, massively due to high demand.”
“This is extremely overwhelming. You could have never prepared for this. For this volume of interest. And you can’t buy this kind publicity even with marketing,” he said.
“We are getting thousands of inquiries every day. For festivals and parties. People from Egypt, Mexico, Dominican Republic, US, UK, Germany, asking if they can be involved in selling the product.”
Murray said there has been no interest from big burger chains yet.
“In early days I tried to offer them the product. But now if they are interested, they better act quick and with a good offer,” he said.
“And then there are thousands of fans who say they want to taste it.”
But the fans might have to wait for a bit, since they are not going into mass production right away, Murray said.
“Everyone missed the boat to taste it. They should have been in Perth.”
