Steve – Page 18 – Hot Dog Cart

Hot Dog Carts: Rear Serve vs. Side Serve

Rear serve hot dog cart or side serve hot dog cart. Which one is better?

More pictures at the end of this article…

Two E-Z Built Hot Dog Carts - A Rear Serve and a Side Serve — Two E-Z Built Hot Dog Carts – A Rear Serve and a Side Serve

Today’s question is from Hot Dog Profits Premium member Robert M.

Robert is about to start building his E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart. But first he needs to decide which layout would be better for his needs.

Robert writes…

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Steve, which design worked better for you, side serve or rear? Is there a particular situation where one would be preferred over the other? maybe pros and cons of each. Thanks, Robert.

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Excellent question Robert! There are pros and cons to each, and every vendor has his or her own preference. I’ll try to outline the pluses and minuses so that you and the rest of our E-Z Builders can make an informed choice.

For those who are thinking about buying a manufactured cart this will help you too.

Rear Serve Hot Dog Carts

Rear serve allows you to set up in narrow areas such as on sidewalks (where that is allowed), and in smaller spaces in general.

Rear serve also works better if you are setting up on the street next to a sidewalk. You can stand behind the cart which keeps you out of the traffic and off the sidewalk.

Storage space is somewhat limited as is the amount of equipment that you can install on it.

Side Serve Hot Dog Carts

Side serve carts are great for festivals and special events where size is less of a concern.

Side serve carts also give you more space for additional equipment and storage.

Unlike a rear serve hot dog cart, a side server requires more room to set up in and it takes up more space in your garage or storage facility.

I have owned both and I would say that I like my rear serve just a bit better simply because it allows me to get into places that a larger side serve wouldn’t fit. If you can only have one cart, a rear serve is the most flexible platform. It lets you set up pretty much anywhere that a hot dog cart is allowed.

If you can have both, that would be best. Don’t laugh – that is very practical since you are building it yourself. In fact, a large percentage of our E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart owners build more than one!

How about you dear reader? Side serve or rear serve, and why? Let us know in the comments.

-Steve

The following photos are all E-Z Built Hot Dog Carts built by our customers using the videos and plans available at HotDogProfitsPremium.com. Click on the picture for a larger image.

Hot Dog Sleds – Cheapest Price (not from me)

Hot Dog Sled (aka Hot Dog Prep Tray)
Put your weenies on the assembly line. Also called a Dog EZ, this unit holds 7 hot dogs rock steady as you dress ’em up. All stainless steel, welded construction. A real time saver!

We have sold these for years, however we just can’t get as good a deal as the big online restaurant supply houses anymore.

So for this item I’m going to send you to Webstraunt Store. I can’t beat their price and I don’t want you to overpay.

-Steve

Fire Suppression System for Stand In Hot Dog Carts

stand in hot dog cart fire suppression system Hey Slingers!

I have a question for those of you who run stand in hot dog carts with grills or flat tops. Are any of you required to have a fire suppression system ?

I know that codes vary across the country and I always tell my students DO NOT go by what they hear on the street. ALWAYS check with your local inspector.

However I’m helping a new slinger who just purchased a stand in with a grill and I’m curious as to what slingers across the country are experiencing code-wise for stand in carts.

Let me know in the comments. Thanks!

-Steve

Stack-a-Dogs Coming to a Hot Dog Cart Near You. Get Free Samples.

April 1, 2015

Well it’s been a long road but my newest invention is finally hitting the market in May.

However, readers of Hot Dog Profits can get a free sample pack now, as I need product testers to provide feedback for my marketing team.

Problem: Hot dogs take up a lot of room on a hot dog cart.

Solution: Stack-a-Dogs: The dehydrated flat hot dogs that stack easily in your cooler.

Stack-a-Dogs take up just 1/10th the space of a cylindrical hot dog while in storage, but once you add them to hot water or a steamer, they reconstitute. All it takes is 5 minutes to regain their full, plump roundness.

partial dogs — Partially reconstituted Stack-a-Dogs after 2 minutes in hot water.

Once they are fully re-hydrated you can throw them on a grill or flat top to put the sear marks on them that customers love.

final dog — Stack-a-Dog after 6 minutes in hot water. Ready to serve.

This is just the ticket for those with small hot dog carts, or for festival vendors who need to store one to two thousand hot dogs for multi-day events.

Consumer Stack-a-Dogs will be available in local stores, frozen in decks of 12, 24, and 48.

Stack-a-Dog Pro is the same flat hot dogs but they come in cases of 144.

Both will be available for purchase beginning May 15th, but today I need product testers. You don’t need a hot dog cart to be a tester. Stack-a-Dogs work just fine on a home stove.

I will send you a free deck of 12 Stack-a-Dogs on the condition that you come back to this page and give me your honest opinion in the comments section. I need your feedback for the creation of our advertising campaigns.

One sample deck per person please.

If you would like to be a Stack-a-Dog evaluator, please click here.

If you own a hot dog cart and would like to get on the waiting list to purchase Stack-a-Dog Pro cases, please click here.

Thanks for your help!

-Steve

Ever See a Partio Cart Before?

Retro Hot Dog Cart — Nothing like smoking a pipe right over your food cart.

Here is a look back in time at our food cart heritage. Giant photo gallery below.

President Eisenhower had one and he called it, “The most fantastic thing you ever saw”.

Sold by General Electric in the late 1950’s to early 1960’s, the Partio Cart was a 220V electric food cart designed for outdoor residential use.

The following is from the GE brochure…

“Your new Partio Cart is a complete indoor-outdoor cooking center on wheels.

At one end is a complete electric range, for oven baking, roasting, broiling, and two extra Hi-Speed units and a removable automatic griddle for fast, controlled heat.

At the other end is a deluxe charcoal barbecue for capacity grilling or spit roasting. Handsome drop-leaf removable cutting boards, along the side, provide convenient working and serving counter space.

The gay umbrella can be tilted for protection, and the wheels and long cord allow convenient location of the Partio Cart for ease in use and entertaining. “

I don’t think you could get away with a 220 volt ungrounded outdoor appliance these days, but this is sure fun to look at.

Does this give you any ideas for hot dog cart modifications? Let me know in the comments!

-Steve

Click the picture for a larger image.

P.S. I saw this on one of my favorite blogs, Retro Renovation and thought you might get a kick out of it.

Converting a Pop Up Camper into a Hot Dog Cart

Hello Steve,

I have some questions on converting a pop up camper into a hot dog cart / food trailer similar to one that I saw on your website. Here is the picture:

coverting a pop up camper into a hot dog cart — A pop up camper converted into a hot dog cart using the E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart Video and Plans Package.

Do your build a hot dog cart plans cover how to build a trailer that cooks other type of food such as tacos?

Since the pop up trailer is somewhat open does it require vent hoods? Do you know if its considered enclosed or unenclosed?

Thanks Steve,

Csar

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Hi Csar,

A pop up camper conversion like the one in the picture would not be considered enclosed unless you install full walls. You should not have to install vent hoods, etc. However, ALWAYS check with your own inspector before you start building. It does not matter what I say, it matters what your inspector says.

My plans were used to build the trailer in that picture. I do not show the pop up camper conversion in the videos but once you watch them all the way through you will be able to do it easily. It’s just a matter of gutting the camper and then building in all of the equipment such as steamers, tanks, plumbing, etc exactly as I show you in the videos.

And you can modify it to include any other equipment that you want such as grills, flat top griddles, shave ice machines, etc.

Tacos would be so easy. Just pre-cook your meats and keep them hot in the steamer. The steamer holds three 1/3 size pans so you could do beef, chicken, and pork. Again, check with your local inspector for code requirements.

Now I’m hungry. :-0

I’ll be stopping by the Hot Dog Profits Premium private members area (as I do every day) to answer any specific construction questions as you go through the videos. I’ll see you inside.

Send me some pics when you finish it!

-Steve

How to Handle Take Out Orders at Your Hot Dog Cart

The following is a guest article written by Hot Dog Profits Premium student Robin Delancy.

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Hi Steve,

Here is how I handle large take out orders at my hot dog cart.

Actually, in my first year, I lost what could have been a very steady and lucrative customer because of this and my inexperience with it. He came by and ordered 12 dogs to go and said he’d be back in 20 minutes. Then I got swamped with people when I was halfway through his order. I thought I’d make it taking them and finishing his order as I seemed to have plenty of time. But he came back in 10. Then he decided to take what I had, paid and left and never came back. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen that way too often, but I’ve learned how to deal with it as follows.

One woman wanted 4 chili dogs, 4 chili cheese and 2 pulled porks, Plus sodas and chips. I lined up all the dogs by category, 4 chilis first and wrapped them and my brother kicks in at that point and packages them. Then the chili cheese and I do the same routine. Finally, I get the pork sandwiches done and wrap them up. With Dan doing the bagging and me doing the fixing in categories, it goes pretty fast. I tell the customer where the sodas and chips are so they take care of half of it and pick out what they want.

If it’s a bunch of kids from the beach, it’s even easier as they always want hot dogs. I line them up and get a count of how many dogs the whole group wants. I can line up as many as 14 at a time. Then I go down the line and ask them, “OK, number 1, what’s going on your dog?”, then number 2 what would you like?” Etc. It goes fast and the kids love it! I tell them to line up everything else on the table before they take it all away and I tally it up for each group or whoever is paying.

The rest of my customers are quite understanding and although I apologize for the wait they all tell me, “Don’t worry about it, you’re doing fine.”

If it’s contractors, I always feel the need for speed as I know they have a limited lunch hour, so a simple question of who’s paying, or Seperate or together, gets me into the same routine with the necessary variations.

The walking tacos are so popular people are ordering doubles! So next year I’ll have to have large and small on the menu! People seem quite surprised when they see the variety I have on the menu. For a small cart I do offer quite a lot and I can vary it any way they like. For instance, if they don’t want peppers on the sausage, they can have it any way they like with other toppings. If they can’t decide between barbecued onions or raw I suggest both. Some have even had pulled pork on the dogs! People love my flexibility. Some kids have shared a dog and while one wanted ketchup and one wanted mustard, I could see a fight starting. So I put mustard on half and ketchup on the other half. They cut it down the middle and everyone was happy!

So that’s about it, Steve. I hope that helps a little. I’m very much a people person and have always lived a high profile life of one sort or another. I get excited with crowds and move fast and aim to please. I think that’s why I’ve learned to make it a good experience even for the people waiting in line. At times I’ve even, literally, had to juggle the condiment bottles! Try that without getting ketchup and mustard all over yourself! *:)) laughing

Talk to you soon,

Robin/Dixie/Lakeside Lunch

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Thanks Robin – great tips!!!

You certainly have come a long way. From student to teacher – I love it!!!

-Steve

Where Do Your New Hot Dog Cart Customers Come From?

“Customers are the lifeblood of your hot dog cart”

Duh Steve.

Well it’s easy to say duh, but think about it. If you agree that customers are the lifeblood of your hot dog cart then what are you doing to get more of them?

We all love the “how-to” articles. You know – how to steam buns, how to mount a grill on your hot dog cart, how to make a Chicago Style hot dog. Learning new skills is all well and good.

But did you know that it’s possible to master all of these things and still go out of business? How? Because you don’t have enough customers.

Today we’re going to brainstorm a list in the comments section. Let’s see how many ways we can come up with to get more customers at our hot dog carts.

I’ll get us started, then I want you to run with it.

Ready? Set? Go!

-Steve

Gig Post – Hot Dog Vendor Needed at Fundraiser

Hi Steve –
I’m looking for a hot dog vendor to attend our annual fund raiser at the Aquatic Center in San Clemente CA. Do you know if there’s a hot dog vendor out there that would make a donation or partial donation for exposure to the City’s leaders? Invited are the Mayor, city council, famous athletes that are past and those being inducted in the Hall of Fame, as well as business leaders and families that support the city’s parks and rec programs. Media is always there, as well. It’s a big night for our town.

You can check out our website (www.FriendsOfSanClemente.com) for information on the Friends of San Clemente. I’ve attached the flyer we work with when approaching caterers and restaurants asking for their participation in this annual event. This year, the theme is “American Sports”, so hot dogs is key to our food offering. We already have restaurants bringing Pizza, Tacos, Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese – and of course beer and wine.

Our event is on May 16th at the newly and beautifully constructed San Clemente Aquatic Center in the Vista Hermosa Sports Park. The time is 4pm for set up with guests arriving at 6pm.

Thanks so much for your help!

-Tamara Tatich

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OK slingers, this gig would be awesome for exposure to the community including the all important community leaders. Here is your chance to be “THE” hot dog vendor in San Clememte.

Contact:

Michelle Kimmy
mkimmy@cox.net
949-584-6634

Good luck!

-Steve