Flavor Trailblazer: Hagop Giragossian
A conversation with Dog Haus’ co-founder about agility and the creative process
Flavor Trailblazer: Hagop Giragossian
A conversation with Dog Haus’ co-founder about agility and the creative process
By Katie Ayoub
February 29, 2024
By Katie Ayoub
February 29, 2024
Dog Haus is a fast-growing fast casual that specializes in flavor-forward builds. Since opening its first restaurant in 2010, it has expanded across the country, now boasting more than 60 locations with plans for further growth. Its brand story is firmly rooted in playful irreverence, served up in the timeless comfort of hot dogs, sausages and burgers. Culinary craftsmanship and daring fuel innovation, grounded in a savvy understanding of its core customer. This chain is as nimble as a pop-up, with an impressive ever-changing roster of new menu items and LTOs. We sat down with Hagop Giragossian, partner and co-founder at Dog Haus, to talk through his menu development process and offer inspiration.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus A robust pipeline of LTOs showcases the brand’s diverse portfolio. The Bad Mutha Clucka Bowl features crispy fried or grilled chicken tenders, pickles and miso ranch, served on mixed greens.
Katie Ayoub: You’ve described Dog Haus as a “craft casual.” How do you define that for your brand?
Hagop Giragossian: We follow the fast-casual format, but we’re really not fast so we had to figure out a better way to describe Dog Haus. We prepare a lot of our food from scratch—even now that we’re at 60 units. We still make most of our proprietary sauces and a lot of our sausages are made by us. So that’s where the “craft” part comes in. Although we follow the same order format as a fast casual, we are pushing up against casual dining, but in a craft-casual way.
KA: Dog Haus is known for trend-forward builds and for a fast-moving rotation of LTOs. What is your biggest challenge today in flavor innovation?
HG:I think our biggest challenge is execution. We’re not really challenged with the complexities of coming up with the new builds—that’s the fun part. That flavor innovation work is the stuff that I probably spend way too much time on because it’s the coolest part of what we do. The challenge is on the execution side. It’s making those builds consistently across 60 units and working with the supply chain to ensure that ingredient consistency. Can we get that product in Chicago and in Barboursville, W.Va.? It’s our biggest challenge, but we’re navigating it pretty well for a brand that’s growing.
KA: What’s your process for developing new builds?
HG: We come up with fun ideas, then we taste, taste, taste, taste, taste. We usually provide the tasting as lunch for the staff. When the food disappears, we feel like we’ve created something. That’s the process that we follow.
Hagop Giragossian
KA: How often do you run LTOs and add new core items?
HG: We run an LTO once a month, so we do a lot of our innovation and testing through that. And then we do a menu revamp once to twice a year where we add new items to the menu.
KA: That’s an aggressive strategy. How do you manage that?
HG: I’ve always said that what we lack in experience, we make up for in effort. We punch above our weight class. All of our innovation efforts are 100-percent supported by our franchise community. Our franchisees love the culinary element. So if we didn’t do these things, this would not be the brand that they would’ve chosen. I almost feel like it’s a necessity to try different things and have fun. Last year we created 10 unique sausages. Out of the 12-month LTO cycle, 10 of them were unique sausages specifically for that month. Everybody wanted to kill me—except the franchisees. They’re all happy. But it was a lot to put on our team. It’s worth it though.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus Guests could order the Chicken Tikka Masala Sausage, a recent LTO, in a few different iterations, including “the breakfast way” with three sunny-side-up eggs, tots, American cheese, caramelized onions, spicy basil aïoli and cilantro leaves, wrapped burrito-style in a grilled flour tortilla. The chicken sausage was flavored with cumin, garam masala, ginger, onion, garlic, tomato, cream, cilantro and Serrano chile.
KA: Tell us about one of your more recent LTOs.
HG: Last year we put out a bunch of sausages that are unexpected and original. Our Corned Beef and Cabbage Sausage featured an all-beef sausage with cabbage, garlic and corned beef spices in the actual sausage. We also did a Korean BBQ Sausage, an all-beef sausage flavored with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil, and in the sausage itself: white rice, napa cabbage kimchi, sesame seeds and scallions. In the fall, we did our Oktoberwürst Sausage, a smoked bier bratwurst made with pretzels, cheddar cheese and whole-grain mustard. Customers really liked that.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus The Korean BBQ Sausage cleverly incorporates the flavor system within the casing—white rice, napa cabbage kimchi, sesame seeds and scallions are included in the sausage, flavored with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil.
KA: What’s your bestseller?
HG: There’s a bunch of core menu items that have been on our menu for a long time that franchisees wouldn’t allow us to pull off even if we wanted to. The Das Brat Sausage, the SoooCali Hot Dog or the Holy Aïoli Burger—these items have been on the menu basically from the beginning and are sacred cows.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus The SoooCali Dog is a menu mainstay, sporting wild arugula, avocado, tomato, crispy onions and spicy basil aïoli.
KA: Describe an LTO or menu rollout of an item that just didn’t get the traction you thought it would.
HG: We did a collaboration with Bruce Kalman of Union in Pasadena, Calif., in 2018 that I just think was ahead of its time. It was the Porchetta ‘Bout It with porchetta sausage and giardiniera and it was so good, but it just didn’t resonate for some reason.
QuickFire:
Something in your fridge that would surprise people:
I’m obsessed with American cheese slices. It’s my guilty pleasure.
Best bite you’ve had recently:
I went to a restaurant in Los Olivos, Calif., and I had the peel-and-eat shrimp, something that you might think isn’t too out of the ordinary. It was at a place called Bar Le Côte, and it was awesome—very memorable. The chef was super thoughtful in what he put out, and that one bite was like, “holy shit, this shouldn’t be as good as it is.” It was awesome.
Flavor/ingredient/cuisine you’re particularly excited to explore:
We had great success with our Chicken Tikka Masala Sausage—it was one of our top-sellers—so we’re excited to explore more Indian flavors.
Your go-to late-night snack:
If I’m ordering in, it’s the Vegan Ramen from Ramen Hood in L.A. It’s 100 percent vegan ramen made from sunflower seeds. You would not expect it to be nearly as good as it is. Or I’ll go for a breakfast burrito. It’s one of those things I usually only eat at night.
Dog Haus is a fast-growing fast casual that specializes in flavor-forward builds. Since opening its first restaurant in 2010, it has expanded across the country, now boasting more than 60 locations with plans for further growth. Its brand story is firmly rooted in playful irreverence, served up in the timeless comfort of hot dogs, sausages and burgers. Culinary craftsmanship and daring fuel innovation, grounded in a savvy understanding of its core customer. This chain is as nimble as a pop-up, with an impressive ever-changing roster of new menu items and LTOs. We sat down with Hagop Giragossian, partner and co-founder at Dog Haus, to talk through his menu development process and offer inspiration.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus A robust pipeline of LTOs showcases the brand’s diverse portfolio. The Bad Mutha Clucka Bowl features crispy fried or grilled chicken tenders, pickles and miso ranch, served on mixed greens.
Katie Ayoub: You’ve described Dog Haus as a “craft casual.” How do you define that for your brand?
Hagop Giragossian: We follow the fast-casual format, but we’re really not fast so we had to figure out a better way to describe Dog Haus. We prepare a lot of our food from scratch—even now that we’re at 60 units. We still make most of our proprietary sauces and a lot of our sausages are made by us. So that’s where the “craft” part comes in. Although we follow the same order format as a fast casual, we are pushing up against casual dining, but in a craft-casual way.
KA: Dog Haus is known for trend-forward builds and for a fast-moving rotation of LTOs. What is your biggest challenge today in flavor innovation?
HG:I think our biggest challenge is execution. We’re not really challenged with the complexities of coming up with the new builds—that’s the fun part. That flavor innovation work is the stuff that I probably spend way too much time on because it’s the coolest part of what we do. The challenge is on the execution side. It’s making those builds consistently across 60 units and working with the supply chain to ensure that ingredient consistency. Can we get that product in Chicago and in Barboursville, W.Va.? It’s our biggest challenge, but we’re navigating it pretty well for a brand that’s growing.
KA: What’s your process for developing new builds?
HG: We come up with fun ideas, then we taste, taste, taste, taste, taste. We usually provide the tasting as lunch for the staff. When the food disappears, we feel like we’ve created something. That’s the process that we follow.
Hagop Giragossian
KA: How often do you run LTOs and add new core items?
HG: We run an LTO once a month, so we do a lot of our innovation and testing through that. And then we do a menu revamp once to twice a year where we add new items to the menu.
KA: That’s an aggressive strategy. How do you manage that?
HG: I’ve always said that what we lack in experience, we make up for in effort. We punch above our weight class. All of our innovation efforts are 100-percent supported by our franchise community. Our franchisees love the culinary element. So if we didn’t do these things, this would not be the brand that they would’ve chosen. I almost feel like it’s a necessity to try different things and have fun. Last year we created 10 unique sausages. Out of the 12-month LTO cycle, 10 of them were unique sausages specifically for that month. Everybody wanted to kill me—except the franchisees. They’re all happy. But it was a lot to put on our team. It’s worth it though.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus Guests could order the Chicken Tikka Masala Sausage, a recent LTO, in a few different iterations, including “the breakfast way” with three sunny-side-up eggs, tots, American cheese, caramelized onions, spicy basil aïoli and cilantro leaves, wrapped burrito-style in a grilled flour tortilla. The chicken sausage was flavored with cumin, garam masala, ginger, onion, garlic, tomato, cream, cilantro and Serrano chile.
KA: Tell us about one of your more recent LTOs.
HG: Last year we put out a bunch of sausages that are unexpected and original. Our Corned Beef and Cabbage Sausage featured an all-beef sausage with cabbage, garlic and corned beef spices in the actual sausage. We also did a Korean BBQ Sausage, an all-beef sausage flavored with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil, and in the sausage itself: white rice, napa cabbage kimchi, sesame seeds and scallions. In the fall, we did our Oktoberwürst Sausage, a smoked bier bratwurst made with pretzels, cheddar cheese and whole-grain mustard. Customers really liked that.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus The Korean BBQ Sausage cleverly incorporates the flavor system within the casing—white rice, napa cabbage kimchi, sesame seeds and scallions are included in the sausage, flavored with soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and sesame oil.
KA: What’s your bestseller?
HG: There’s a bunch of core menu items that have been on our menu for a long time that franchisees wouldn’t allow us to pull off even if we wanted to. The Das Brat Sausage, the SoooCali Hot Dog or the Holy Aïoli Burger—these items have been on the menu basically from the beginning and are sacred cows.
Photo Credit: Dog Haus The SoooCali Dog is a menu mainstay, sporting wild arugula, avocado, tomato, crispy onions and spicy basil aïoli.
KA: Describe an LTO or menu rollout of an item that just didn’t get the traction you thought it would.
HG: We did a collaboration with Bruce Kalman of Union in Pasadena, Calif., in 2018 that I just think was ahead of its time. It was the Porchetta ‘Bout It with porchetta sausage and giardiniera and it was so good, but it just didn’t resonate for some reason.
QuickFire:
Something in your fridge that would surprise people:
I’m obsessed with American cheese slices. It’s my guilty pleasure.
Best bite you’ve had recently:
I went to a restaurant in Los Olivos, Calif., and I had the peel-and-eat shrimp, something that you might think isn’t too out of the ordinary. It was at a place called Bar Le Côte, and it was awesome—very memorable. The chef was super thoughtful in what he put out, and that one bite was like, “holy shit, this shouldn’t be as good as it is.” It was awesome.
Flavor/ingredient/cuisine you’re particularly excited to explore:
We had great success with our Chicken Tikka Masala Sausage—it was one of our top-sellers—so we’re excited to explore more Indian flavors.
Your go-to late-night snack:
If I’m ordering in, it’s the Vegan Ramen from Ramen Hood in L.A. It’s 100 percent vegan ramen made from sunflower seeds. You would not expect it to be nearly as good as it is. Or I’ll go for a breakfast burrito. It’s one of those things I usually only eat at night.
About the Author
Katie Ayoub serves as managing editor of Flavor & The Menu and content strategist for the Flavor Experience, an annual conference geared toward chain operators. She is president of Katie Ayoub & Associates, serving up menu trends expertise, content creation and food & beverage consultancy. Based in Chicago, Katie has been working in foodservice publishing for more than 20 years and part of the Flavor team since 2006. [email protected]
