New Businesses That Are Carving Out a Niche in Southern California

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Hot dogs aren’t necessarily the entrée that most people would consider establishing a business around. Nevertheless, the foodies behind this Pasadena-based eatery sought to reinvent the gourmet American staple by adding high-quality ingredients to its creations, all at a cost-efficient price point that fast food junkies are eating up. The formula has proven to work, as Dog Haus’ expansion plan includes 11 franchises across the West Coast, with 52 planned locations sitting on the grill. Guess our bologna will have a new name in due time.

Considered the Uber of home services, HouseCall was formed by five former Qualcomm software engineers with the vision of bringing on-demand services directly to your front door. From handymen, landscapers, plumbers, and even auto detailers, the mobile app provides a variety of DIY options for its users, while offering “high-quality service providers” by accounting for background checks and existing consumer reviews. As the smart home market continues to expand, so will the need for on-hand experts seeking to make life easier for the construction-illiterate crowd.

The handcrafted, ready-to-wear men’s clothing brand has garnered mass appeal from hipsters and style mavens alike due to its unique design approach. Crow Thief outsources its fabrics from countries like Japan, Paris, and Turkey to ensure the finest quality and fastenings—bypassing standard materials such as plastics, nylon, and polyester blends to make signature outfits. On top of stocking limited-run pieces, it provides one-hour appointments for custom fittings that consist of a sizing session and selection of fabrics, too. It basically caters to your personal fashion perspective on every level.

We’ve witnessed a variety of businesses sprout during the send-a-box boom, though none are quite like Quarterly Co. The gift box subscription service relies on celebrities to curate packages that best suit their followers’ tastes. High-profile tastemakers like Arianna Huffington, Nina Garcia, Pharrell Williams, and yes, Bill Nye, handpick cool items that get sent to the subscriber. The service has grown exponentially and now has a well-established user base that loves its offerings.

Merging culinary with science, Nitropod is a high-tech ice cream truck that specializes in liquid nitrogen treats. How exactly does the Los Angeles-based mobile eatery accomplish this? By freezing organic ingredients at -321 degrees into unique flavors like Avocado Lime sorbet, Cotton Candy, and Maple Bourbon French Toast. Expanding its outreach to events and festivals, it’s only a matter of time before we’re all stuffing these flash frozen gelatos into our freezers.

Outdoor adventure gadgetry is a category on the rise thanks to the success of GoPro. One company carving its own niche in the market is Outdoor Tech, which sells a line of electronic, mobile, and wireless products catered toward the active lifestyle. Its Turtle Shell wireless speaker is a not only a favorite amongst expert audiophiles, but also bicyclists, delivering bass-heavy audio from an indestructibly shockproof design. Brand awareness only looks to grow from here as the company’s begun to sponsor professional athletes in the skating, surfing, volleyball, and Parkour circuits.

In Hollywood, a headshot is practically an actor’s calling card. Seeing how many of the traditional photo studios closed shop, one company saw the opportunity to revitalize the niche market. This mobile photography studio hosts a group of experts from makeup artists to wardrobe consultants, each one tailoring the portrait needs of any aspiring thespian who steps into the truck. At $250 for its basic package, The Headshot Truck charges nearly a third of what a professional studio does.

The concept of a cashless trading domain seems meaningless to those most accustomed to P2P commerce sites like eBay. However, the barter system is still popular with people who seek an even exchange for items or services. That’s what TradeYa offers—the opportunity to accept and trade goods through local in-person swaps instead of resorting to shipping methods. The service has been compared more to a social network instead of an E-commerce site, as bartering requires more communication and trust building between two parties, hence why it has established an ever-growing community of traders.

With the limo and taxicab industry expecting to grow at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the coming years, expect offshoot chauffeur services to become the next big thing in auto transportation. Your Car Our Driver looks to be at the forefront of the movement. The SoCal firm provides wealthy car owners who don’t want to drive their vehicles with a part-time driver to get them from point A to B, and vice versa. Owner Josef Wojtkow believes it’s more intimate for the client to be driven in their six-figure vehicle rather than jumping into a Lincoln town car, while charging nearly $15 less to rent a driver and vehicle from a third-party source.

The online artwork community has only just begun to gain notoriety for its massive user base and digital exhibit platform. Where sites like Pinterest and Tumblr allow users to post imaginative works from others, deviantArt serves as a definitive online portfolio for creative types looking to promote and share their works across the entire Internet. It remains the largest online social network for artists and art enthusiasts with over 30 million registered users, drawing users from across the globe and setting the standard for digital art display.