I’ve been really interested in started a hotdog business in Tokyo but haven’t been able to find much on a precedent.
Most commonly I find information on Kitchen cars or Yatai. Both or too bulky and complicated for what I’d like to do as I’d just like to have a small wagon and heat some hotdogs out of it – New York style.
I remember there was a black guy from America a few years in Shibuya who would do just that – but I haven’t seen him lately.
Anyone knowledgeable about mobile food vending in Japan?
7 comments
Isn’t it exactly a yatai??
Sorry I don’t know anything about starting a hot dog stand.
I’m just here because I’ve been looking for the brother with the hot dog stand.
Haven’t seen him in months.
Have you run a business or cooked professionally before? Decided on a menu?
I highly recommend doing some trial runs and market research before, maybe even potentially renting “pop-up store” space for a few weeks/months to see if you can actually turn a decent profit in a venture before dedicating sweat, money and tears.
I used to hear that if you wanted to set-up something like a yatai or a foodtruck (or anything related to mobile food vending) that you would need to deal with some shady characters and pay protection money.
Now I have no experience in this field and this might just be hearsay of practices long gone, but sometimes I do wonder if that’s truly the case?
you should just follow people to there homes in a hot dog costume, then proceed to invade their house and throw hot dogs at them whilst they scream in terror, fear, and confusion
Of course it depends on where you live, but you can start with these for some idea:
https://www.fukushihoken.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/shokuhin/kyoka/kyoka_3.html
https://www.fukushihoken.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/shokuhin/kyoka/files/2019idougyousyou.pdf
Notice the outdated warning but I couldn’t find a new PDF.
Rules vary from place to place, you will be best off checking with your local government. That said, just a hot dog stand without a licensed kitchen to work out of would not be possible where I live (which is not Tokyo)