Jacques Driscoll opened Green Dot Stables four years ago after falling in love with a building at 2200 W. Lafayette Blvd in Detroit.
Through mutual friends, he was introduced to Les Molnar, a chef who is from Allen Park and went to culinary school in Chicago.
Molnar cooked for Driscoll and his wife one night and blew them away. Molnar quickly landed the executive chef job and became a partner in the business.
Originally, the concept was to have a taco and tequila bar.
"Not Mexican style tacos, but similar to what we do here, using them as a vessel," Driscoll said.
He quickly realized that the area was oversaturated with tacos since it was so close to Detroit's Mexican town.
"This had the horse racing theme. We were like, sliders are very approachable, very Detroit," Driscoll said. "I think it was the best decision of my life so far."
Success and long lines soon followed at Green Dot's unlikely location between Corktown and Southwest Detroit.
Driscoll got a great deal on the property and wanted to pass some of those savings on to the customers.
"The $2 and $3 concept was something I always wanted to do. A la carte, small portions. I know you can get $5 for a beer, but that doesn't seem right, you know," he said.
Driscoll and Molnar have been approached numerous times to expand and franchise over the years.
"We've said no. We like Green Dot the way it is. We like it being unique to Detroit. We like it being something special," Driscoll said.
That was until he got a curious email.
"I got an email and it was from a guy saying he wants to open up a Green Dot in Malaysia," Driscoll said.
His first thought was that it was a scam.
The emailer said there was a burger craze going on in Malaysia and they wanted to be in on it.
After a quick Google search, Dirscoll found out that the Malaysian burger craze was indeed in full swing.
After not thinking anything was going to come after the initial emails, he received an email that including travel plans to Detroit from two Malaysian business men.
When they met, they hit it off.
"We thought they would be good partners to have and we made a deal with them to take it out there," Driscoll said.
Four months later, Green Dot Stables Kuala Lumpur was ready to open.
"It was fun being out there and seeing people react to it. At first, they were a little concerned with calling them 'sliders.' It's not even a term that exists out there. They wanted to call them 'tiny burgers,' but they're sliders, you've got to call them sliders," Driscoll said.
What does it feel like to be in business in Malaysia?
"Just to see what we've done here over there, it was pretty much the most spectacular moments of life," Driscoll said.
The menu is identical to Detroit's, except for a few Malaysian-centric sliders. Driscoll was skeptical of how well the local delicacy would do over there: the Coney.
"It turns out that the Coney does sell really well over there. People love the Coney, which is awesome that it's made it that far. It's not just a Detroit thing now," Driscoll said. "I think it's pretty special having Detroit represented in that part of the world."
There was one minor snafu prior to Green Dot Kuala Lumpur opening for business. It had to do with the decor.
"What was really cool was they wanted to have the skyline of the city of Detroit on one of the walls," Driscoll said. "But they had put the skyline of Chicago up. We thought it would be funny to just leave it as a joke."
Driscoll pointed out the issue and It was quickly fixed. Detroit is now fully represented in all its glory.
Will Green Dot Stables be the "McDonalds of Malaysia?"
"I always thought it would be funny if there was one Green Dot in Detroit and there was like 200 in Malaysia," Driscoll said.
Business is going great in Malaysia and Driscoll franchise partners are excited about expanding.
The secret to the Green Dot Stables success?
"I'd like to think that I had this amazing concept, but that's not necessarily it. I think being passionate about it and following through. The most important thing is I like entertaining, I like people being happy. I think a part of being happy is knowing you got a good value," Driscoll said."We were just like let's make good food, make it affordable and have cheap beer. It ended up being a pretty good combination."