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Whistler Dawg maker has big plans

Vancouver outlet to open next month
food_epicurious1

If you haven't ever had bacon on a hot dog, imagine now what it might taste like.

Bacon is one of those foods that magically pairs well with almost anything, so it only makes sense that Duran Bodasing and his team would put it on the exotic extras menu at Dinky Dawgs in Whistler, and the new Vancouver Dawg shop set to open in April at the Granville Skytrain Station.

Now that you have imagined bacon on your hot dog check out this exotic menu option: marshmallows.

No surprise here, Bodasing says kids love it.

"Bacon and marshmallows is our top exotic seller," says Whistler's hot dog hawker.

Bodasing says kids, and the adults that come along with them, are central to the Dinky Dawg marketing plan.

"No one in the genre of this hot dog thing is doing that," says Bodasing from Vancouver ahead of a day to be spent preparing the new Granville Station space. "Japadog is going for celebrities and tourists. Dougie Dog on Granville Street, the Dragon's Den guy, is going for people who want to buy a $100 hot dog and people after the nightclubs. No one is going for the little kids and the straight families, the normal people."

Dinky Dawgs was born in Whistler late in 2011 at its current location on Main Street. Bodasing's gourmet hot dog operation in Whistler apparently wasn't making anyone wealthy so the entrepreneur has his sights set on other avenues for selling organic wieners in what he calls "100 per cent gluten-full" buns. In addition to opening a second Dinky Dawg location Bodasing has plans for a hot dog cart that he'd like to roll out at Lost Lake, Rainbow Park and at special events in Whistler. He says he's seeking support and approval from the Resort Municipality of Whistler to launch a zero emission food cart. The cart comes complete with a mix of solar and battery power sources, seating for eight, LED video screens and music.

The expansion plans have come about after Bodasing brought in some investment partners. He says he connected with Doug Janzen and Curt Sikorsky, two Whistler guys helping to finance the expansion.

The larger space in Vancouver will feature a few additional menu items not available in Whistler.

"It seats 50," Bodasing says of the second Dinky Dawg location. "It's a big kitchen. We've expanded the menu to include French fries — B.C. organic potato French fries — and B.C. organic flour onion rings."

The new location will also feature an ice cream machine and a dessert dog.

"It is a donut bun, like a Long John, cut in half with a frozen banana dipped in chocolate in the middle with a strip of two-tone vanilla-chocolate ice cream, whipped cream and sprinkles," says Bodasing. "It's a sweet hot dog."

The truly adventurous and sophisticated hot dog fans will substitute bacon bits instead of sprinkles.