One of your fellow Hot Dog Cart News subscribers just made the papers!

His hometown Findlay Courier just did a great article on him and I thought you’d like to read it…

Here it is. Enjoy!

-Steve

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Jim Leaves Gym For Hot Dog Stand
By LOU WILIN

STAFF WRITER

After devouring a hot dog from the stand on Main Street, a man offered vendor Jim Steffen an advertising idea:

He theatrically lifted an invisible dumbbell in one hand and bit into an invisible hot dog in the other hand.

“Look what these do for me,” the man said.

Steffen endures teasing that his new business, Jim’s Hot Dogs, is less than compatible with his roles as “America’s fun fitness coach” online, motivational fitness speaker and former owner of Jim’s Gym.

He ignored the man’s dumbbell-hot dog shtick. He kept busy as wisps of steam leaked from lidded stainless steel trays. Wearing a black stocking cap, Steffen braved chill and wind to reach the downtown Findlay lunch crowd. Customers came, bought and ate.

“I was so excited when I heard you opened this,” said a woman who ordered a hot dog. “I miss the hot dog stands in D.C.”

Steffen generally has hot dog carts in two locations from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays: On Monday, Wednesday and Friday a cart is at Northview Shopping Plaza, just south of the North Main Street-Bigelow Avenue intersection, and in front of Rieck’s Gallery, 524 S. Main St. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, a cart is at a spot west of Tall Timbers Industrial Center and behind Hosey Chiropractic, and across from Findlay High School. Steffen’s family members help man the carts.

After selling hot dogs last Wednesday, Steffen drove eight hours to Utica, N.Y., where at noon Thursday he gave a motivational talk, “Fit to Achieve,” to students and staff at Mohawk Valley Community College.

Steffen practices what he preaches. He wakes up at 4:50 a.m. to lift weights four days a week for 40 minutes at Gym by Jamie, formerly his Jim’s Gym. Three or four days a week he runs, bicycles, uses a treadmill or elliptical trainer for 20 minutes.

He also practices and preaches moderation in diet. So his roles as fitness coach and hot dog vendor are compatible, Steffen said.

“Food does not make people fat. Overeating, inactivity make people fat and unhealthy,” he said. “I always said, ‘… Have your pizza, have your ice cream. Just don’t have it three or four times a week before you go to bed. And move a little bit, and you will not get fat.'”

So Steffen invites people to eat his all-beef dogs, which he says are better than any other.

“Ever have filet mignon?” he asked.

“Mine’s like filet mignon in a bun,” Steffen said. “It is that good.”

The hot dogs come from a gourmet deli in Wisconsin, and that is one of the keys, he said … that and the steamed bun and the condiments.

“The condiments are key: the fun, different creations that you put on a hot dog,” Steffen said.

Steffen’s Findlay Style Dog comes with mustard, tomatoes, onions, relish, jalapeno peppers, dill pickle spear and celery salt. It is a variation of the Chicago Style Dog, he said.

Then there is the Roethlisfurter: a quarter-pounder which has seven toppings and is named after Findlay’s most famous No. 7. The toppings are coney sauce, sauerkraut, mustard, relish, cheese, onions and bacon.

Yet another is the BBC Dog, sprinkled with barbecue sauce, bacon and cheddar cheese. Steffen’s menu offers five other dogs.

Steffen said he has always been interested in food service. He was bitten by the hot dog passion last summer when he saw a magazine photo of a Chicago-style hot dog.

“It had tomatoes … I mean it was loaded with vegetables,” he said. “And I thought, ‘Wow, you know, I don’t eat a lot of hot dogs, but I could probably eat a Chicago-style hot dog.”

Steffen got the recipe and made some for his family. That led to him cooking more hot dogs and experimenting with various toppings, like macaroni and cheese and baked beans, and sharing them with friends. A friend last September suggested he turn his pursuit into a business and buy a hot dog cart.

Carts cost about $3,500, so Steffen explored making one himself. He found a five hour instructional video which helped him build a cart for $1,000. Then he built a second one. He wishes he had built a third cart.

(Note from Steve: You can get that hot dog cart video at www.BuildAHotDogCart.com.  Jim added some extra equipment like 4 sinks and a BBQ grill which added a bit to the cost. You can build a basic E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart for under $800.)

“Now … we’re running into problems, because we have one (cart) downtown and one here, and John LaRiche (the Chevrolet-Cadillac dealer) just called me and was like ‘Hey, I have 45 guys, can you come and serve lunch?” Steffen said.

“It’s like ‘Gosh, dang, I don’t want to take away from my normal spots now to go serve lunch to 45 people,'” Steffen said.

“I think a third (cart) is going to be coming out here pretty soon,” he said. “You can never have enough hot dog carts.”

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Jim learned how to start a hot dog cart business by reading my Carts of Cash course.  He then built his own hot dog carts (two of ’em!) using my E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart Video and Plans Package.

That’s all it took to put him in business. And his business is growing like crazy!

Jim did it and you can too. I’d love to help you get your business started!

– Steve

original article from the Findlay Courier

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