Fast Casual’s Only Hot Dog Concept in 2014’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers List Announces Top Ten Hot Dog Toppings Just in Time for Fourth of July
JJ’s Red Hots has some advice for anyone planning to serve Hot Dogs this Fourth of July: pack some Mustard.
The Charlotte-based Hot Dog King, which recently raised some national eyebrows when it made Fast Casual’s 2014 Top 100 Movers & Shakers list, today released its study, based on two years of the brand’s sales data, of the Top Ten Hot Dog Toppings, just in time for July 4th. Mustard topped the list.
JJ’s, the smallest and youngest brand on the Fast Casual list, the only Charlotte-based brand and the only Hot Dog/Sausage concept to make the cut, says America loves their Hot Dogs with the following toppings, in order of preference:
- Mustard
- Onions
- Chili
- Slaw
- Ketchup
- Relish/Pickles
- Bacon
- Sauerkraut
- Cheese
- Hot Relish
“Mustard and Onions and Chili…well those just make sense.” said JJ’s owner and founder Jonathan Luther when he looked at the data. Luther said the study backed his own anecdotal perspective, although he did take exception to #5: Ketchup. “Only Dirty Harry hates Ketchup on a hot dog more than me, but the people have spoken and it’s their list,” conceded Luther.
JJ’s recently won its second Voters’ Choice Best of the Best award from Charlotte Magazine and is featuring the The Mac Daddy, a virtual Fourth of July picnic on a premium Hot Dog, with Mac & Cheese, Cowboy Beans and Onions, specially priced at $2 all week at JJ’s two locations in Charlotte: Dilworth and Ballantyne.
Regarding Luther’s ketchup pet peeve, “He’ll get over it,” said JJ’s director of marketing and brand development Brandy Newton. “Our goal is to create joy here with our world-class Hot Dogs. Whatever the people want, Jon and JJ’s will deliver.”
JJ’s Red Hots is the premier purveyor of “hand-crafted” char-grilled hot dogs and sausages in the Charlotte metropolitan area. The restaurant concept is built on solid, hardworking values and is modeled after venerable establishments like Ted’s in Buffalo, NY, Gene and Jude’s in Chicago, and many others. Still, JJ’s is a true American original featuring house-made, scratch prepared sides and toppings served alongside time tested, revered American brands like Tabasco, Weber’s Mustard, Martin’s Rolls, Coca-Cola and Mt. Olive Pickles. Perhaps most proudly, JJ’s Red Hots serves smokehouse hot dogs from Sahlen’s Meat Packing Company in Buffalo, NY. Sahlen’s is a 143 year-old company that remains family owned and operated, and makes, in our opinion, the best hot dogs in the world.
