Love of Soda at Root of Hot Dog Pops Owner's Passion

Danny Yoo came up with the name for his Diamond Bar eatery in part from his enjoyment of a particular kind of drink. 

“I love pops,” said Yoo, owner of Hot Dog Pops.  “I had my first root beer in Chicago five years ago.”

The South Korean native said he didn’t have soda growing up and after that first taste of the bubbly, brown drink with a kick, he was hooked.

Yoo said he started asking locals in the states where he traveled where he could find the best root beer.  He once visited a mom-and-pop root beer microbrewery company in Tennessee where the owners made each individual bottle by hand.

Now he serves 150 kinds of root beer and soda, the majority of them the vintage variety in the bottle, not the can.  His favorite is Sioux City Sarsaparilla, billed on the bottle as “The Grandaddy of All Root Beer.”

He also serves 60 kinds of beer, many of them also vintage, and 50 varieties of wine.

Yoo opened Hot Dog Pops about four months ago at the Diamond Bar Boulevard location that was briefly a Thai restaurant and before that D’Antonio’s Ristorante for decades.

The U.S. Army reservist worked in the marketing division of an entertainment company in his native South Korea before immigrating to the United States six years ago.  With inspiration from his former boss, who owns a Bennigan’s franchise in South Korea, Yoo said he wanted to learn more about the restaurant industry.

He studied culinary arts at a school in San Francisco, but said he learned more from people he knew who owned restaurants.  He had a friend with a restaurant who baked fresh bread. 

Yoo learned to bake his Dutch country bread, giving it his own garlic-flavored glaze on top.  He uses that bread for his sandwiches and hot dogs. He also serves burgers and breakfast and bakes his own pastries.

She spent more than two months decorating Hot Dog Pops before he opened, placing every glass soda and beer bottle lining the shelves that divide the eatery.

“I like something that is a more unique place,” he said.  “I started putting bottle tops on the walls and now every day, the customers are doing that.”

Yoo said he has not done any advertising, preferring to build his business slowly by word-of-mouth.

“If they like the food, they will tell others,” he said.  “I feel like the customers are making this place with me.”

Regular customer Ronda Hampton said she cannot help but tell everyone she meets about Hot Dog Pops.  She took her daughter on a recent trip.

“The food was great and my daughter and her friend did not want to leave the place.  They had the best time choosing sodas and loved the different flavors that they never had before,” Hampton said. “The place is decorated in a very inviting way and I just can't stop raving about the place. My office is within walking distance so I will definitely be a regular.”

Yoo said while he cultivates more customers, he also plans to come up a recipe for his own brand of root beer.  Brewing the beverage is not easy because it needs watching and is very sensitive to temperatures, but his love of the pop won’t be denied, he said.

“It takes dedication and passion,” he said.  “It takes double time, but it’s double tasty.”

Business: Hot Dog Pops

Opened: December 2012

Location: 808 N. Diamond Bar Boulevard, Diamond Bar

Hours: Monday - Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday - Saturday 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Phone Number: 909-860-1235

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/HOT-DOG-POPS/317768738333478