Hungry and handheld: Two Hands Corn Dogs proves popular in Albuquerque

Korean corn dogs will be even easier to find in Albuquerque thanks to the first New Mexico Two Hands Corn Dogs location, at 2529 San Mateo NE, Suite 9.

Franchise location owner Jason Lee is no stranger to the grind of running a small business. Lee has experience on the other side of franchising: as a franchiser instead of a franchisee, with his business Hi Boba. Boba has grown even more popular over the last several years, and while it’s meant more competition as new boba shops open, he is happy to see more people falling in love with Taiwanese milk tea.

Lee’s original boba shop is a few blocks down Menaul from the new corn dog shop. There’s also a Hi Boba in Rio Rancho and a franchise location in Hobbs.

Now Lee is learning what it’s like to be a franchisee, with his Two Hands location.

Two Hands offers made-to-order corn dogs. Customers can choose their filling: beef sausage, mozzarella, plant-based sausage or a combo. They can also choose the batter and toppings. Korean corn dogs are made with a rice flour batter, while American corn dogs are made with a cornmeal batter. Both are on the menu at Two Hands.

Lee’s favorite menu items are the potato dog and the spicy dog with half mozzarella, half sausage.

“I love the corn dog and then especially the Korean corn dog,” Lee said. Lee also loved Two Hands’ Korean street food concept.

Unlike most restaurants, the corn dog joint has no tables or seats. It’s designed to be a walk-up only business, where customers order their corn dogs and take them to go, a direction Two Hands seems to be headed, Lee said.

“I think after the pandemic, they changed their style,” Lee said.

And business is bustling, with long lines at the lunch hour, and people peeking in before the shop opens at noon to see if they can snag a corn dog. Judging by the business’ early online reviews, the long wait time is the biggest drawback of picking up lunch there.

A neon Two Hands logo brightens up the space, while a diner-style order clock is mounted on the wall, flashing the order number that’s up.

The business presents some new challenges for Lee. Two Hands needs 20 workers — twice as many as the boba shops. The corn dog business needs a staff of seven or eight in a day, while the boba shops can run with just three or four.

And there’s a learning curve to ordering. The first week, Lee ran through his order of ingredients much faster than expected. Health inspections for a food-based business are also a little harder than for a beverage-only business, Lee said.

While running his own business is a challenge, it’s also worthwhile.

“It’s so hard. It’s stressful. But I’m lucky. I have a lot of employees help me right away,” Lee said.

The best parts of owning a business are a flexible schedule and creating new jobs, Lee said. His advice for aspiring business owners is to prepare for failure, because opening a business can be hit or miss.

“It’s not like 100%, when you open, this will be successful,” Lee said. “Don’t think (it’ll be) 100% successful, but you have to prepare. Try your best.”