Bill’s Hot Dog Factory
503 Military StreetRemember a week or so ago when I was talking about cupcakes in Battle Creek? Well, I had to go back to Battle Creek to pick up my 4-Month Old Mower that wouldn’t start from Sears. Before another trip to B.C., I asked the two co-workers who told me about these elusive cupcakes exactly where they found them.
They both knew it was a pizza place across from the ANG Base, but didn’t know what the name of the place was. Co-Worker #2 and I got on The Google and figured it out. It was Bill’s Pizza Factory. Before I went, I got on to the Facebook page for Bill’s and found the cupcakes were actually at Bill’s Hot Dog Factory.
The hot dog restaurant used to be out on B Avenue North in a Shell Station next to Harper Creek High School. That closed back in January and they’ve been selling the dogs out of the pizza place on Helmer Road. A couple months ago, the hot dog place got a new place.
Bill’s Hot Dog Factory recently opened a new shop inside the Springfield Farmer’s Market which is in Begg Park off of Military Street just west of Dickman Road in Springfield.
The Hot Dog stand is open 6 days a week even if nothing else in the building is open along with them. The restaurant isn’t much more than a cutout order window and some tables set up in the common space of the Farmers’ Market.
Even with the odd location, there was quite a few people in the Market when I rolled in around 11:30. I grabbed a menu off the counter and started looking it over. I found my cupcakes in a glass display case on the counter, but that’s going to be another blog. This blog is going to be about Bill’s Hot Dog Factory because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for lunch.
I’m not much of a hot dog eater. For whatever reason, I’ll eat them in Corn Dog form, but that’s about it. I guess I had some bad hot dog experiences when I was kid.
No worries though. In addition to almost 20 hot dog choices, they have both hot and cold wraps as well as salads.
I didn’t have a menu to leave J and her mom, so I did my best to guess what they would like. I ordered three wraps off the cold wrap side of the menu.
For myself, I ordered the Spicy Italian. For J and her mom, I got both The Gobbler and The California. Both are turkey wraps which I knew J would like so I ordered both then let the ladies decide which one they wanted.
In addition to the four cupcakes I bought, the three wraps came out to almost exactly $30. I made sure to ask if they took credit before I put the order in because I didn’t see any signs that said they did nor did I see a swipe machine near the cash register. I was assured they’d take any payment I’d give them.
With the line in front of me, it took around ten minutes to get the wraps. Since I bought lunch for my wife and Mother-In-Law, I had them wrapped up to go although there is quite a bit of seating should you decide to dine in.
The wraps were put in to a plastic bag and handed to me and it felt really heavy. Not what I was expecting when I took the bag from the cook. When I got home, I figured out why it was so heavy. The wraps were huge.
All three were wrapped in a flour tortilla although they did have other options. The Spicy Italian included ham, cappicola, pepperoni, salami, white cheese, onion, banana peppers, lettuce, tomato and Italian dressing. The bulk of the wrap was the white cheese (no idea what kind of cheese exactly as the menu only says “white cheese”), but there was a pretty hefty portion of meat too. I left the onion and tomatoes off the wrap, but left the banana peppers and lettuce. On bread, this sandwich would have been incredibly delicious. On the wrap, it was ok, but I’m not a super huge fan of flour tortillas. I would have loved this exact same sandwich between almost any two slices of bread.
J and her mom sort of split the other two wraps. They each took half of half for lunch then put the rest away for later. The California is turkey, white cheese, guacamole, alfalfa sprouts, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo. The Gobbler is turkey, cheddar cheese, alfalfa sprouts, onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayo. On both wraps, I left the onion and tomatoes off because I knew J doesn’t really like either and I didn’t know which one she was going to eat. The only thing I really heard about either sandwich is that the sprouts really dominate the wrap.
Bill’s Hot Dog Factory really delivers on size. I’m still amazed by just how big our wraps were and how much of it is filled with actual ingredients and not just lettuce. The location is a little odd, but it looks like people are finding it. If you like hot dogs, I would say you need to check Bill’s out. If you just want a filling lunch at a good price, yeah, you should definitely check Bill’s out…..oh yeah, and there’s cupcakes. 
The Spicy Italian
The California
The Gobbler
SW Michigan Dining 