Now that the weather is getting cooler I’ve been receiving a lot of questions about stand in hot dog carts.

It seems that those who have regular hot dog carts all aspire to a stand in cart. They believe that a stand in is something to “graduate” to.

However, those who have stand in carts have a little different take on them. Yes, being protected from the elements is really nice when it’s cold out, but there are some downsides too.

Many stand in owners have told me that their trailers get awful hot in the summer. I can see that. But they told me something else that really surprised me.

A lot of them told me that when they went from a regular hot dog cart to a stand in hot dog cart their sales decreased.

How could that be?

One word. Visibility. Think about it. When you sling dogs from a stand in cart or trailer you remove your biggest customer draw – visibility. People love to see their food being cooked. They love feeling like they are a part of the experience.

Standing right next to the slinger as he works his magic is HUGE fun for the customer. A stand in cart hides the whole show.

Many of my stand in owners report that customers often look intimidated when they walk up to the window. It might sound silly to us, but there is a lot of psychology going on during the buying process. The customer doesn’t know what they are going to get because they can’t see it. This feeling isΒ  especially strong if it is their first time visiting your hot dog biz.

That being said, there is definitely a place for the stand in cart. I have personally had more that one day when I thought how great it would be to be slinging indoors. Perhaps the ideal would be to have both a stand in hot dog cart and a regular hot dog cart. If you have the budget then fine, but if you can only have one I would probably stick with a regular cart.

I guess what I’m saying is that a stand in may not be the holy grail that so many of us think it is.

So all you regular ‘ol slingers, please don’t feel like you have to step up to the stand in hot dog cart someday. You may not be missing out on all that you think you are.

Always remember – YOU are the show. We don’t sell hot dogs. We sell an experience.

Thoughts? Comments? What do you think?

-Steve

 

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