Just when you thought you were having a productive week, a Perth man has successfully patented a design that forever unite the world’s most beloved fast foods – hotdogs and hamburgers. The ‘Hamdog’ will be rolled out nation-wide and will be available, hopefully, at a Bunnings sausage sizzle near you shortly.
Mark Murray first rose to public attention last year when he appeared on Channel 10’s Australian-branded Shark Tank programme. It was here that he pitched his “combination hamburger hot dog bread bun”, obviously to shock and awe.
As the story goes, the brilliant idea entered its creators mind back in 2004. Coming in at AU$8, the Hamdog features a meat patty cut in half, a sausage down the middle and a variety of salads and condiments.
Speaking to News Corp Australia, Murray explains it wasn’t all love throughout the process; there were plenty of haters.
“Everyone told me it wasn’t possible, because you’d need a patent lawyer and it would cost millions of dollars. 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,” he says.
Doubt it, mate. More like drinking them. But we digress.
Murray successfully patented the design in the US back in 2009, but now he will be spreading the goodness throughout his homeland. Currently, the Hamdog is only available in Perth, which might be a bit of a logistical nightmare in terms of delivery (i.e meat spoilage), but he’s hopeful to expand.
“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,” he says.
Until then, the Hamdog marquee, launched two months ago, is the only place you can get your hands on one.
“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,” Murray says.
However, there is now an option to get amongst the action as a “reseller”. For a cool $10,000, you can be given the designs to for your own Hamdog marquee. But before you open one in Sydney’s Surry Hills or Newtown, please keep in mind that there aren’t any gluten free, vegan or vegetation options… yet.
Bask in the glory of the Hamdog, below.
Image: News.com.au
