French Fries on el conde

bigbird

Gold
May 1, 2005
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Last year there was ONE place specialianing in selling French fries on el conde. They were doing a booming business. Usually 10 or more people in line. Now a year later and there are six, maybe more, French fry places and none of them are doing any business.

One person had an idea so every one follow suit now no one is making money.

I think the next boom and bust will be do-nuts. A new place I think called JD Donuts just opened and doing decent business. Let's see if do-nuts becomes the new el conde craze...……….
 

alexw

Gold
Sep 6, 2008
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NYC-SDQ BABY!
There was a black American guy who began with like a slushie shop and then he turned it into a homemade french fries spot. The next thing you know they surrounded his business with two other french fry shops and added more on the farther end of the Conde. They would never do that to the Chinese. I walked by last week and he's no longer in business and like the original poster said the other spots aren't making any money anymore either
 

caribmike

Gold
Jul 9, 2009
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That's always the same with them geniuses, over and over again, doesn"t matter what it is, copy copy copy until nobody makes a decent income.
 

Auryn

Well-known member
Apr 22, 2012
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It gets frustrating to watch that cycle.  But it’s sort of expected and accepted amongst locals. What? An original, difficult to copy business idea? Pffffft!  Who has time for that when we can hack someone else’s attempt?  Let’s make money for 2 months instead of long term. 
 

cobraboy

Pro-Bono Demolition Hobbyist
Jul 24, 2004
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That's always the same with them geniuses, over and over again, doesn"t matter what it is, copy copy copy until nobody makes a decent income.
Which is why one should never start a bidniz that can be easily replicated by locals.
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
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There was a black American guy who began with like a slushie shop and then he turned it into a homemade french fries spot. The next thing you know they surrounded his business with two other french fry shops and added more on the farther end of the Conde. They would never do that to the Chinese. I walked by last week and he's no longer in business and like the original poster said the other spots aren't making any money anymore either

many years ago, i posted about an old lady who started selling hot dogs on a stick on the Duarte in SD. she was doing a roaring business. three months later, every other guy on the street was selling them, and she was long gone.

if you need to see the Dominican entrepreneurial mindset at work, then drive up the hill from LaVega to Jarabacoa. there are places that sell this corn thingy, like cornbread. at least thirty of them, side by side.
 

Tamborista

hasta la tambora
Apr 4, 2005
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There was a black American guy who began with like a slushie shop and then he turned it into a homemade french fries spot. The next thing you know they surrounded his business with two other french fry shops and added more on the farther end of the Conde. They would never do that to the Chinese. I walked by last week and he's no longer in business and like the original poster said the other spots aren't making any money anymore either

Nobody ever tried to copy "Big D" 's chicken-n-ribs, go figure!
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
13,368
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There was a black American guy who began with like a slushie shop and then he turned it into a homemade french fries spot. The next thing you know they surrounded his business with two other french fry shops and added more on the farther end of the Conde. They would never do that to the Chinese. I walked by last week and he's no longer in business and like the original poster said the other spots aren't making any money anymore either
People probably notice that the Chinese are not playing by the rules. Guess who's the owner of this Chinese shop in La Vega. Government went there this past April to shut the place down after they found counterfeit clothes on sale as if it was legitimate. Similar surprise visits and closures are taking place in Santiago and perhaps in other towns.

[video=youtube;CBCkA_jniVU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBCkA_jniVU[/video]

If anything, Dominican business owners fear the Chinese merchants. Dominican small business owners will tell you directly that the last thing they want is for a Chinese to put up shop near them selling the same thing, it's a guaranteed death sentence for their business.
 
Feb 7, 2007
8,005
625
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People probably notice that the Chinese are not playing by the rules. Guess who's the owner of this Chinese shop in La Vega. Government went there this past April to shut the place down after they found counterfeit clothes on sale as if it was legitimate. Similar surprise visits and closures are taking place in Santiago and perhaps in other towns.


If anything, Dominican business owners fear the Chinese merchants. Dominican small business owners will tell you directly that the last thing they want is for a Chinese to put up shop near them selling the same thing, it's a guaranteed death sentence for their business.

Could you elaborate more on this NALs? Why do Dominican business owners fear Chinese? What exactly are the Chinese doing that Dominicans cannot copy and be successful as well?
 

caribmike

Gold
Jul 9, 2009
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Chinese getting chinese stuff cheaper from China because they know better sources over there than copying Dominicans? Maybe?
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
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Could you elaborate more on this NALs? Why do Dominican business owners fear Chinese? What exactly are the Chinese doing that Dominicans cannot copy and be successful as well?

there is a chinese owned ferreteria in PP city centre. small place, booming business. run and staffed mainly by the family members. open 7 days a week. open until very late at nigh. open at lunch time. open, open, open. dominicans do not want to work like that and cannot keep up.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
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yeah, coming back to french fries. the concept itself is ok. fast food that has a potential to be done right. but i did not like the dishes offered in the article i linked earlier. fries with meat, fries with cheese, fries with sauce. a bit boring, no? how about batata fries? yuca? even finely cut platano? DR has so many starchy foods that could be turned into interesting dishes.
 
May 4, 2018
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A friend of mine in the US sells poutine along with fries topped with cheese sauce. Lots of options for upgrades as a street food. $15 for his large fries topped with shredded Korean BBQ beef! I make spiral fries using a spirooli cutter. Great gizmo for here.

Dominicans copy start ups then go cheap on everything that creates value. If you start a pizza business using imported whole milk mozzarella, you get three guys open on the same strip using domestic "queso plastico".

The competition weakens the entire market. But the market drives the product. The knock offs make your customers howl about your prices even though you might be operating at a lower mark up.

It's not just here. Look at Dominoes and Little Caesar's in the US.

Yuca works pretty good in potato chip form, but it's a lot of work. I've done platinos as chips, but tostones are much better.

You need the right kind of potato to make a British chip, and ideally animal fat to fry it in. Fresh potatoes here are similar to Yukon Gold potatoes and good for frying in volume. Ask Frank12. Ironically, it's cheaper to import frozen fries than use fresh potatoes, and that's before prep costs.

If you want to ANY business here, be sure it's damn hard to copy, even badly.
 

2dlight

Bronze
Jun 3, 2004
970
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May 4, 2018
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Chinese getting chinese stuff cheaper from China because they know better sources over there than copying Dominicans? Maybe?

The Chinese business model is a whole different topic. A lot of what they sell is high markup. They can import by the container while many Dominican still import by the pallet. At least a dozen import stores here in Higüey all selling the same crap. Look at how much space they devote to women's shoes and you can guess where the money is.
 

Chirimoya

Well-known member
Dec 9, 2002
17,850
982
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if you need to see the Dominican entrepreneurial mindset at work, then drive up the hill from LaVega to Jarabacoa. there are places that sell this corn thingy, like cornbread. at least thirty of them, side by side.

Arepas dominicanas -

https://www.dominicancooking.com/949-arepa-corn-meal-and-coconut-cake.html
https://www.dominicancooking.com/15692-arepa-salada-dominican-savory-cornbread.html

- not to be confused with arepas venezolanas.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arepa
 

cbmitch9

Bronze
Nov 3, 2010
845
8
18
People probably notice that the Chinese are not playing by the rules. Guess who's the owner of this Chinese shop in La Vega. Government went there this past April to shut the place down after they found counterfeit clothes on sale as if it was legitimate. Similar surprise visits and closures are taking place in Santiago and perhaps in other towns.

[video=youtube;CBCkA_jniVU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBCkA_jniVU[/video]

If anything, Dominican business owners fear the Chinese merchants. Dominican small business owners will tell you directly that the last thing they want is for a Chinese to put up shop near them selling the same thing, it's a guaranteed death sentence for their business.

Guess who are coming to town? .:D The Chinese. You are 100% correct.