How to Run a Fleet of Hot Dog Carts
Hi Steve,
Since I have north of 20 grand to potentially invest should I buy carts and just rent them out? Much rather stay inside if I can. I was pretty “shocked”, I guess you’d say, when I saw how cheap a lot of these carts go for.
Mike
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Hi Mike,
First let me say that you can get started for about 1/20th of that nut! No matter how much cash you have to start with, I always advocate beginning with one single cart, running it yourself, and working out the kinks.
Once you have a repeatable system for making money, then get a second location and run it just like the first. Rinse and repeat for as many carts as you want to have in your hot dog cart fleet.
A mini-franchise model if you will.
Your job becomes one of driving around and checking on your locations.
Renting out carts sounds great on paper, but the reality is that you will have a very hard time finding reliable folks to run them. You will mostly attract people who need to make quick cash for one day and then they’ll be gone.
Much better to hire people and pay them hourly. It might take two or three hires (and fast fires) to find a good worker but once you do, you won’t have to think about it every day like you would with the rental business model.
As far as cheap carts go, keep in mind that you usually get what you pay for. Don’t expect a $2000 cart to be as reliable and well made as a cart that costs $4000. I probably don’t even need to say that because it’s just so obvious. But cheap carts are tempting, especially when money is tight, so it can be easy to talk ourselves into something that isn’t in our best interest long term.
A great option for you is to build your own carts (or pay someone to build them for you).
For about $800 in hardware store parts you can have a cart that is as well made and reliable as a $4000 manufactured unit. I have hundreds of student who built their own carts and are making money on the streets with them.
Photos below…
There are a bunch of step by step videos that show you how at:
http://BuildAHotDogCart.com
It’s easy. No welding, no riveting, no parts that are only available from cart builders. In fact, there are no parts that you need to buy from me at all. I give you a list that tells you where to find everything you need at local hardware stores near you.
If you are planning on having a fleet of carts on the street then building your own makes a lot of sense. Not only will you save two to three grand on each cart, but if something goes wrong you will be able to fix it yourself in minutes instead of being down for days or weeks waiting for the manufacturer to make it right.
Let me know if you have any more questions Mike!
-Steve
you know… I owned a trucking company with 27 drivers at one time… and not a single one of them took care of my “stuff” as well as I do…
I’ve also hired many different hotdog “slingers” to work my cart, and not a single one of them took care of my “stuff” as well as I do… And, they just never made enough money to make it worth cleaning the cart again and again for them…
It takes a special kind of someone to run a business that is dependent on others to bring in enough revenue to feed everyone. I’m not that guy, and I think it would be very hard to be that guy… This is all about “selling” and not everyone can sell. IMHO
Good advise Steve, the hireling mentality with people can bury you fast. When you find good people and give them a vested interest, you get people who will usually work harder for you, and they don’t feel taken advantage of. Because they feel they are also working for themselves. Blessings Chappy
Get a food truck or a trailer that way you can work all year, 20 grand i could build a nice hot dog truck with the works.
Best advice, offer them to save and own the cart, throw a price out there. Something pretty high and that way they will feel they have an oppertunity at least.