HDU

     The results are in from Martinsville.  Kyle Busch in his Toyota won the opening event in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.  What is not known is exactly how many Martinsville Hot Dogs were consumed during the weekend.

   And I'm also wondering just how many of those vendors have learned their craft from Hot Dog University.  Yes, it's true there is such an institution of higher learning sponsored by the Vienna Sausage Manufacturing Company, based in Chicago.  The two day course is taught by Mark Reitman who proudly proclaims, "We are the nation's college of encased meat knowledge."

     With a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on cart experience Prof. Reitman instructs students how to successfully launch a career in the mobile food service business.  Hot Dogs 101 includes information about business practice, product knowledge, permits and licensing, set-up and break down.  A HDU manual is also distributed, containing important information and worksheets.  And of course there is behind the cart training with real food and live customers.  That's when the theoretical becomes practical.  It's quite literally The Art of the Cart.

     The registration fee to attend HDU is $699.  Graduates are awarded, in addition to a diploma, $350 in rebate coupons and an additional $350 in marketing materials and signage from the sausage company.