Hi Steve,
I have a quick question. I was recruited to sell hot dogs for an event taking place this coming Saturday, May 24th. It is a First Annual Run for Addiction, which has morphed into a bigger event which includes, in addition to the run with over 175 registered runners, a family fun day complete with bounce houses, face painters, balloon artists, magic shows, a stage for dance demonstrations, martial arts, etc, . . . and a bunch of vendors representing local businesses.
It’s an all afternoon thing now. There are only two food vendors, myself and a funnel cake/dessert truck. No one seems to have any idea of exactly how many people to plan for, but from the way this event has grown from a simple run to all this other stuff because everyone wanted to get involved, it’s definitely much bigger already than anyone originally thought.
The facebook “likes” for this event are close to 700—don’t know if that means anything or not. My question is. . .if anyone can help here. . . how do I even begin to know how much food to take? I’ve never worked an event like this before–so I can’t draw from experience, and while I’m really excited about it, I don’t want to buy/take so much food that I end up with a ton left, nor do I want to get out there and find out I could have sold 200 more hot dogs. What to do???
Thanks for your help. I love reading all your posts and value the collective wisdom of all those seasoned slingers out there.
Sincerely,
Lynelle
Cool Cats Hot Dogs
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Hi Lynelle,
Here’s how I see it. There is an easy option (A) and a more difficult option (B).
The easy option is only available to you if you run your hot dog cart daily, or at least a few time a week. The answer in this case is to take a LOT of food, knowing that if you don’t sell out you can move it from your cart in a few days.
The difficulty comes into play if you don’t sling hot dogs very often. In this case you must plan much more conservatively, otherwise you will have a bunch of product in your deep freezer that you won’t be able to sell.
Based on what you have told me about the event, I would bring:
A. Enough product to serve 600 meals and be prepared to bring product home.
B. Enough product to serve 200 meals and hope to sell out.
As you can see, there are big advantages to getting out there as often as possible. You can afford to take bigger risks at events like this because you can move any unsold product very quickly at your daily gig. That increased risk tolerance allows you to maximize your earning potential.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg…
- You will build your brand faster
- You will stay in the forefront your customers’ minds
- Your set up and tear down go much smoother
- Your business benefits from the natural momentum
- You will have a much more stable and predictable cash flow
OK my seasoned slingers, what would you do in Lynelle’s situation? Let us know in the comments!
-Steve
I think Steve hit it on the head !!! I would bring between too much and conservative. You wouldn’t want to lose out on a possible win fall and freezers work well !!!
Bruce.
Hey Bruce! Has Chicago thawed out yet? 😉
We are working on it !!! 🙂 It just snowed two weeks ago.
We had kind of a similar situation this past weekend at an event. It was the first annual festival and turn out was expected to be really good because the fall festivalalways has a good turnout and this was a fundraiser. The night before we worked our son’s spring footbal game followed by the event. We were loaded for bear, yet on Saturday the rain came and we would have been better selling coffee. The good news is some of the toppings have a decent shelf life but others like slaw, tomatoes, lettuce, onions etc. do not however, those are relatively inexpensive. We essentially covered our costs for the weekend. We steam our buns and hot dogs and were prepared to sling over 500 hot dogs but ended up at about 20% of that goal. The nice thing is in our trailer everything that could be frozen is resting comfortably at 18 below zero. The good news is fresh buns and dogs freeze well. Our dogs I have to special order so timing is everything, and of course a freezer is a must. In GA we are the only place selling this type of hot dog. The end of the month we have a two day festival and we plan to gain our ground back and empty the freezer.
Also, a quick plug for the website package available from Steve. It’s a great way to chronicle what you’re doing. We have been asked to go to a couple of places in between other events we are doing based on people visiting our website. If you like, go to the What’s Happening section of our website http://www.weeniebros.com to get an idea of how we are promoting. We use this to build momentum and ultimately move product. Hopefully this helps.
Hi Charlie,
Thanks for the great input. Your trailer is amazing and your dogs look delicious! I’m glad the free website that we built for you is bringing you customers and publicity.
I would definately overshoot and go on the high end. Where I am we charge more for a dog at a special event than on a regular location. People EXPECT to pay more when they come to an event like this. So even though you may have lots of left over product, the increase in profit margin should cover some of the overflow. However if you do not bring enough, you will be kicking yourself all the way back home for all the money you have left on the table.
Here is another thing i have learned doing very busy events, as I am the sole outside food vendor for the NBA team in my city , we are very good , and have a huge outside party before every playoff game……SERVICE STATIONS. What are service stations you may ask? well a few years ago I talked to steve about being too busy at these events, and having to cut my condiments down to only mustard, ketchup relish, as the line was over 45 minutes long. This year i went with packets of mustard , ketchup, and relish. Its not as personal as we like it to be, and yes there are customers who take to many packets. However the production increases by a lot. we have figured that for every 20 or so dollars of wasted product by customers taking to many packets, is rougly 4 to 500 in sales that we earned by being able to produce dogs at a higher rate. Just a thought!
High volume slinging is a LOT different than running a daily location, and therefore requires a totally different strategy. Congrats on your success Beau and Misty!
I sell 1/4# dogs and have attended events where up to 5000 to 7000 people attend. I came up with a method that works for me. i take up to 700 dogs (I let people put on their own toppings,ketchup,mustard, relish saves a step and keeps cost down) I get about 80 dogs ready before I open. On one side of my cart I have turkey fryer full of water boiling with the basket. As soon as I start selling at a brisk pace I drop a pack of dogs in the boiling water. 4to5 minutes later I check the temp of a dog then take the basket out drop the dogs into my bin and start another batch right away. I sold about a 100 dogs and hour at the Rita Crudwell horse auction. This included selling drinks and taking the money. I had people buying up to 20 at a time never ran out of “HOT” hot dogs. I did run out of product after selling over 500 plus dogs and since I had to save some for the next day lost out on some extra dollars. I sold out by 5:00pm and the auction went till 10:30!!! “sell em’ all”
Nice!!! I do the same thing with my E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart. It’s set up with a 1/2 size pan over direct heat for fast boiling dogs, plus a full size steam table for hot holding and bun steaming. I love, love, love the turkey frier idea for big gigs. Thanks for the awesome tip Prof!
P.S. I’m guessing you don’t steam the buns for events this size, right?
Before we assess how much product to bring we always have a concrete answers on: what the weather will be, how many other vendors there are and what they are selling, is there a reschedule date for inclement weather and where exactly we will be set up. After we have that info, our calculations for what to bring are pretty standard: We timed how many hot dogs we can possibly push out in 1 hour. Doesn’t matter how many people are at the event, if you can physically only push out 200 an hour and the event is 2 hours, 400 is your max. Other than that, we always have a back-up plan (find the stores nearest the location and send a runner to get more if we are going to sell out). Better to send a runner to get more than buy 800 that will go to waste! Hope that helps!
You definitely can’t sell more than you can serve. That’s a simple but critical point and I’m very glad you shared that with us. I really appreciate your input!
I never steam the buns I have custies used to just old regular buns although I get a lot of people asking where I get my buns(Aldis)
“I get a lot of people asking where I get my buns”
There’s about three jokes in there… 😉
All kidding aside, steaming is not mandatory at all. I steam mine because that’s how a real Chicago Style dog is made and that’s what I serve, but folks who are slinging high volume would be slowed down and lose money if they steamed.
Hi fellow slingers,
In my experience I have found that Old Sol that big orange guy up in the sky makes the best bun steamer there is. Just try not to get those ‘buns’ over exposed. As far as what amount to bring to a large event, I’m in favor of meeting in the middle as well. You never know when a storm or heavy wind can creep up on you…especially this time of year in Colorado.
Good luck with your event !
Bob Mickells
Very true. A bag of buns in the sun get steamy on their own. Thanks Bob!
I steam mine and even at the high volume events have never ran short of steamed buns. We use the full size counter top electric steam table/food warmer. Then put a perforated full size pan in it. with a rollover lid. we can put roughly 6 packs of buns (16 buns in each pack) in the steamer at a time. Then we grab from the front or back, once the front or back is empty we replinish those buns, then grab from the other side and switch it back and forth. Also if its a hot day, laying out buns in the packages to gather some moisture works in a pinch as well.
Wow. Good job!
I sure do appreciate all the advice. You guys are great! I think the most important thing that jumped out at me was to keep in mind that I can’t sell more than I can serve. Since I’ll be doing this by myself, I’m going to shoot for 350-400. Thanks for the suggestions about the condiments. . . I usually do it all, but I think I’ll set it up a bit different on Saturday and let the customers do their own condiments. Also, thanks to those of you who shared your websites. I too have Steve’s website, but (I’m ashamed to say) have not gotten it finished. I’m great with my customers, but not so great when it comes to all things computer related, and so tend to avoid it. I’ve watched your videos, Steve, and really appreciate the work you’ve put into providing instructions for people like me. Seeing some of the other websites also really helps give me ideas, and much needed motivation. I promise I won’t cut and paste, but I will probably “borrow” from you all. I’ve been slinging for one year now. Left my full time job in restaurant management to do this, and have to say that in spite of the challenges, it’s been the most rewarding job ever. Thanks for all the great advice, and keep sharing those websites!!
Lynelle
Cool Cats Hot Dogs
Very inspiring Lynelle! Keep up the good (and fun) work!
We have a new version of the hot dogger website offer since you got yours. 100% finished if you send us your pics and menu. We heard that you don’t want to mess around with your sites, you want to sell hot dogs. We listened.
Lynelle, email me and I’ll finish your site for you.
Steve, is there a monthly maintenance fee for the website after building it?
You will need a hosting package for your site to be on the internet. That’s anywhere from $3 to $7 a month. But you don’t pay that to me. I don’t charge you anything for building your website as long as I set up your hosting for you.
Steve and fellow slingers after four years of in the business I have to raise my prices by $.50 cents. My dogs went up $10.00 a case and I expect more increases as the Summer goes on. The sales person I know for Fox River foods informed me he is telling all his customers know they should raise their menu prices since ALL food prices will rise this year. Just a heads up for all. “sell em’ all”
Those who just sell hot dogs will feel a pinch. Those who sell a hot dog EXPERIENCE can raise prices without losing customers.
I would go with the 200 meals that Steve suggests BUT I would have someone on
“standby” to go get you more product if you see that you are going to run out. I would also have a table with a propane camp stove set up on it to increase your cooking/bun steaming capacity. GOOD LUCK & HAVE FUN!!!
Yep. Yep. And yep. Great points Larry.
I had an opportunity to serve the food for a storage auction that was going to be all day event about a year ago in Turlock, CA. The Auction Hunters TV program, with Alan Half & Ton Jones was suppose to be there, but later chose not come . The auction company said that I would be the only food there. 450 people who could not leave for food. I have few suggestions to share with you. FIRST: Pray, Pray, Pray. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” SECOND: confident that everyone will order at least one hot dog, but be prepared for at least half with buy two or more. THIRD: I used the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach and only had two types of hot dogs; A 6″, 6-1 All Beef Dog, and a 8″ 5-1 All Beef Dog. To many items increases your investment, and the chance that one will be a big seller, and another will be a bust, and not having enough of one, and that you will be stuck with the other. The special event is a ton of work, but the financial rewards, makes it worth it. Good Luck, and have a blast.
Blessings,
Chappy, Hot Diggidy Dog
450 hungry people trapped in a storage lot – and you have the only food! Talk about being the center of attention, LOL. Great story and great tips Pastor Paul!
So, people ask where you get your buns, uh? WELL, at least they don’t ask you where you get your wieners…or do they-lol.
I’m with those who say bring as much as you possibly can to any large event. Especially, being the only vendor. In the beginning we stocked conservatively,afraid to have too many dogs and buns leftover. We learned quick that we had made a mistake.
I learned by the time you become low on product, and take time to send someone to the store, the rush is over. Sometime the rush hits fast and hard. When you aren’t prepared, and you miss it, you will miss it. I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve had no one at our stand one minute, but turned around to find a long line. Especially when you are the only vendor. If there are other vendors you’ve just sent your customer to another vendor.
It takes time to figure out how much you may need. Take notes from the next event so you will have the figures for next year, and know how many people are expected at the event. Most of all make sure you have a large freezer.
Good Luck,
Jill
Great stuff Jill! Thanks for sharing your experience!!!