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Comment by icantdrive55 | Hacker News Reader

If someone held a gun to my head, and told he to open a restaurant with my meager saving; I always felt it would be a take-out burrito place.

I don't think I've ever met anyone who didn't like a burrito, or pizza.

My point is I think a clean burrito joint would go over practically anywhere.

It needs to be clean, and the portions need to be generous, and the owner needs to keep an eye on the business.

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In many parts of Europe kebab shops have taken the role that burritos and such occupy in Americas; the dishes are a bit different in ingredients and taste, but they're similar enough in the business details & way of consumption to be pretty much replacements for each other.

In some places, there's pretty much a kebap shop over-saturation, at least in Germany.

Luckily these past years a lot of the "US food" has become way more popular. Tons of "artisan burger" restaurants and burrito/taco shops popping up. US-style food trucks, with all kinds of different offerings, also have become very popular.

The BBC covered the kebab situation in Germany last year. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170203-germanys-favourite-...

From the article: "But it’s not just the taste, large portions or affordability – costing anywhere between €4.50 to €14."

I haven't seen a 14 Euro Doener anywhere, but I'm sure they exist. But 4.50 is definitely not the cheapest. 2.50-3.50 is actually the most common price I see around Berlin.

A proper one with some kind of meat in it? Or just a bald one with maybe some lettuce in it?

"Some kind of meat", yes. I can't imagine it to be of high quality, so hesitate to call it "proper". AFAIK the main noticable difference is whether the kebab is made of ground meat or not. The latter being more expensive and supposedly of higher quality. But in the end it's mostly going to be factory meat so it makes no difference, IMHO (there are exceptions of course: https://www.meraba.de/).

>Tons of "artisan burger" restaurants and burrito/taco shops popping up. US-style food trucks, with all kinds of different offerings, also have become very popular.

More upmarket segment and pricing though, not really in the category of kebap shops.

Kebap shops already have had burger competition, in their price category, for quite a while with McD/BK.

The US is ready for a kebab invasion. It will almost certainly happen in the next five years.

The peak will hit when a franchise chain of kebab places goes national.

I'd keep my eyes on Chicken & Rice Guys (3 locations around Boston, plus a truck), but they really need ten million dollars or so to win the domestic market.

And after trying to steal my countries idiotic politicians statement about smashed avo and millenials, you’ll be stealing our HSPs [0] next!

[0] Halal Snack Pack, served originally by west Sydney kebab shops, it’s literally the greatest food to eat drunk. Which I find amusing — we do love our irony down here!

Oh dear lord I love HSPs. Nothing like shovelling 2000 calories of meat and potatoes down your gullet after a boozy night.

For everybody wondering: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal_snack_pack

Basically french fries/chips covered with kebab meat and liberally doused with various sauces.

Halal Guys from New York is already national, and actually has international locations: https://thehalalguys.com/locations/

But the whole idea of the kebab shop or chicken shop is that it is not a franchise chain, except from nandos. The beauty of it is that each kebab shop differ a little bit from the other creating a landscape of discovery and awe. We wouldn't have the pengest munch if not for this diversity of cheap chicken shops.

It's only the case while kebabs are rare and niche - as soon as they become one of mainstream fast food types, kebab franchise chains will appear and will be popular with people.

>The US is ready for a kebab invasion. It will almost certainly happen in the next five years.

Absolutely true. At least at our truck, our kebab sales are second only to fish & chips - people go absolutely nuts for kebab, especially if we're posted up somewhere with alcohol. Munchy Box adoption is similarly high.

I'm that person.

The main reason being that I prefer food that start life on my plate separately, so that I can choose to take a bite of each in turn. After that I don't especially like cheese, which spoils a lot of these types of dishes. I find that a lot of people agree with my first point, it's rarer to find people that aren't into cheese.

IMO I think a lot of people feel the same, which is why you end up with so many mediocre Mexican restaurants.

There’s an independent burrito place right next to my office (big tower block, so just being there guarantees them customers), and it has good prices (for London), good sized portions and is clean, but the taste is mediocre at best.

in my experience the Japanese more often than not don’t like burritos or in particular don’t like Mexican style beans.

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