Author: Steve

Hey Slinger,

I’m re-opening one of the great hot dog cart debates of all time. I want to know what you sell on your cart. Skinless or natural casing hotdogs?

Monti actually gets the credit for opening this discussion. He writes…

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Hi Steve, great information.

I have been thinking about a cart for a very long time. I used to have a temporary food facility called Sizzlin Stir Fry.

I always remember the hot dog guy did very well.

I have a very good idea for my future cart. A themed one. My question is.. Where do you get the hot dogs that snap? The ones with the casings on them. Those taste fantastic.

Where do you find the best hot dogs and buns?

Thank you Steve for all you do.
Monti

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Hi Monti,

I agree, natural casing hot dogs are awesome! The problem is they are also expensive because they are more labor intensive to produce.

Try calling the major hot dog manufacturers and ask for their sales department. When you get a salesman ask him if they have natural casing dogs and if they have a distributor near you.

I haven’t had any luck where I live but I’m using a skinless hot dog made locally from black angus beef and they are tasty. My customers love them.

If I could find this hot dog in a natural casing at a price that made sense I would go that route but we’re doing just fine with the skinless.

Here you are looking at my 1/4 pound Maxwell Street Griller.

I start with either an 8 to 1 or quarter pound black angus hot dog in a steamed to perfection poppy seed bun.

Then I lay on some warm cola-carmelized onions and top it with spicy brown mustard.

I buy my buns at the same place I buy my hot dogs. They have them shipped in from Chicago and they are delicious.

They are made by Rosen’s. I buy them frozen 120 to a case.

How about you, slinger? Are you using natural casing or skinless hot dogs? What are your feelings on the subject?

Let Monti and me know in the comments section below.

-Steve

 

 

It’s Hot Dog Cart Radio Time, Slinger! Grow your business with this info-packed interview featuring Mike Quinnelly of Hot Diggety Dog!

Mike went from a single used hot dog cart to a full blown concession trailer serving thousands at major auctions – plus a contract to run the food operations at the Tracker Boats factory.

All this happened in what seemed like the blink of an eye – but not by accident.

How to Grow FAST. Listen to my interview with Mike as he reveals all of his fast growth strategies. But don’t stop there. Use Mike’s tactics to increase your own hot dog biz.

It’s all in this edition of the Original Hot Dog Cart Radio
~ Broadcasting from HotDogProfits.com since 2009 ~

Hot Dog Cart Radio – Grow Your Hot Dog Biz FAST with Mike Quinnelly

Used Concession Trailer For Sale. I want to thank Mike for this great interview. If you are interested in a nice concession trailer, Mike is selling his due to a health setback. You can email him at mrquinnelly@yahoo.com. See photos below.

As always I’m here to answer any questions you may have about the hot dog  biz. Contact me by email or call me at 636-399-2460. I answer my own phone, even when I’m out slingin’ dogs. (If I have a customer I won’t pick up so leave a message and I’ll call you back 😉 )

Thanks!
-Steve

Today we have a good question from a Hot Dog Cart News reader, plus a picture from yesterday’s slingin’.

Hi Steve,

I have been reading a lot of the information on here. I have been thinking about possibly doing this business. My question is though is how do you find the places to sell at?

My other question is what about the winter?? Because I live in NJ where it gets cold. I would need to be selling at least 6 days per wk. I do not want to do this just on the wknd’s. I want to do it during the week also.

Don’t want to invest in something like this unless I know where I would be selling. Thank you for any advise/help you can give.

Ilyse

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Hi Ilyse,

You don’t have to have the perfect location to start. One of the great things about the hot dog biz is that you have wheels under your cart. That means you don’t have to worry about getting the perfect location on the first try. You can keep moving around until you find that “money” spot.

Compare that to starting a brick and mortar restaurant which requires you to nail your location right off the bat – you only get one shot at it. I don’t like those odds.

I wrote an article a while back that shows you how to get the best hot dog cart locations. You can read it here:

How To Get The BEST Hot Dog Cart Locations.

As far as winter hot doggin’ goes, it can be very profitable. Hot food sells even better in the winter that it does in the summer. Makes sense, right?

As long as you dress for the weather you can sling dogs all year ’round. I personally hate cold weather so I don’t go out when the temps fall below 50 or so. Call me a wimp… Fortunately here in Missouri we get plenty of days that above that even in January.

I hope this helps you in your decision!

-Steve

P.S. Here’s a beauty 1/4 pound chili dog I made for a customer yesterday (click it for a larger view). Not slingin’ today though – storms moving through.

 

Real quick, Slinger-
If you’ve been thinking about getting one of our free custom “Blockbuster” hot dog biz websites today is the day to pull the trigger.

For those who don’t know here’s how it works: All the websites in the world are stored on special computers that are always connected to the internet so visitors can view them. This is called “hosting” the website. So whether you get a free website from us or you pay someone several hundred dollars to build you one, you will need to purchase a hosting package so your site can be seen by others. No worries, hosting is cheap – as little as $2.43 a month with this special.

How we can give away free websites: This program is being sponsored by a hosting company. When you use them as your hosting company, they pay us to build your website so you don’t have to. It’s a win-win-win.

In fact, my marketing team sets everything up for you. All you need to do is send us your hosting receipt and we’ll do the rest.

Here’s the Special – expires at midnight.
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Today only our sponsor is having a 51% Off Summer Kickoff Sale. That means you will save 51% on your first hosting invoice. So if you choose to be billed monthly you will save 51% on your first month. If you purchase a years worth of hosting you will save 51% on the entire year.

This is only good until midnight tonight so if you want us to build you a free custom website for your hot dog biz today is the day to do it.

Important: You can only get your free website by purchasing a hosting plan through the special link on the following page:
http://hotdogprofitspremium.com/blockbuster-marketing-machine/

All the details are on that page so go there now to find out all about it.

We look forward to building you a site like no other!

-Steve

Memorial Day

A handful of old men walking down the village street
In worn, brushed uniforms, their gray heads high;
A faded flag above them, one drum to lift their feet-
Look again, O heart of mine, and see what passes by!

There’s a vast crowd swaying, there’s a wild band playing,
The streets are full of marching men, or tramping cavalry.
Alive and young and straight again, they ride to greet a mate again-
The gallant souls, the great souls that live eternally!

A handful of old men walking down the highways?
Nay, we look on heroes that march among their peers,
The great, glad Companions have swung from heaven’s byways
And come to join their own again across the dusty years.

There are strong hands meeting, there are staunch hearts greeting-
A crying of remembered names, of deeds that shall not die.
A handful of old men?-Nay, my heart, look well again;
The spirit of America today is marching by!

– Theodosia Pickering Garrison

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Thank you all who have served America. You are true heroes and we are forever in your debt.

-Steve

I would like to get in touch with anyone who would be interested in my charity event.

It will be held here in Coquitlam, BC on September 22nd, 2013 with about 200+ people. Would love to offer them some food after our walk around the park. Would like to talk to anyone who is interested. I am pretty flexible on terms. The fundraising is for Multiple Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer. All money raised benefits the Clinical Trials Unit at Vancouver General for Myeloma Research. Anyone interested? Thanks.

Francesca
Please email me at: fmplaster@shaw.ca

Hey slingers,

I’m slingin dogs and writin’ blogs – live!

I was invited to set up my cart at a new farmers market. Today is the first day and a lot of the produce isn’t in yet so things are a bit slow.

This market is at one of the most beautiful nurseries and garden centers in the area so I think it will just get better and better as summer progresses.

Just thought I’d check in between customers and let you know what I’m up to today. I’m posting this from my iPhone and I’ll try to figure out how to add pictures…

-Steve

Update: Pics!

 

 

Just got this question from Cindyann via the contact form on our website:

From: Cindyann
Subject: how to lease my cart

Message Body:
I have a hot dog cart and would like to lease it out to be used by an experienced hot dogger. How do I go about finding someone to do so.

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Leasing your cart to someone for a daily, weekly, or monthly fee is the holy grail of hot dogging. I have never personally leased out any of my own carts so I’d love some reader feedback on this.

While I’m sure it has been done successfully, it does have drawbacks that are not immediately apparent on first glance.

1. Controlling your brand. If you have spent a lot of time and money building up a recognizable brand name, you put it a risk by handing it over to a non-employee. Yes, a bad employee can also do damage to your hard earned reputation but a lessor has even less to lose by messing things up.

2. Equipment damages. You better have a contract in place that has a damages clause in case the lessor damages your cart.

3. Liability. Will your current business liability policy (you do have one, right?) cover a person who is leasing your cart out. Check to be sure.

4. Experience is hard to come by. Let’s face it, most truly experienced hot dog slingers have their own carts and finding someone who is reliable, clean, personable, and most of all honest is not as easy as it sounds. Lessors are in it for the short haul which attracts those who need quick money for a day or two and then disappear. Employees are a better long term solution.

5. Who provides the inventory? The hot dog cart owner or the lessor? If you leave it to the lessor you lose control over the quality of the product being served. Not a real big deal if you cart is unbranded, but it’s a huge deal if you’ve already got a good name in the community.

How to find the right lessor.
If after reading this you still want to lease out your cart to someone I would try to find a lessor that I already know. If you can’t find a personal friend to lease the cart, ask around in your circle of acquaintances to see if they know of anyone.

I would be leery of posting an ad on Craigslist for fear of having to weed through 40 bad candidates for every good one. That would take a lot of time.

I don’t want to discourage anyone from going down the leasing path if that is their goal. If done right it is an awesome business model that provides a lot of leverage for the hot dog biz owner. Just be prepared to overcome the obstacles mentioned above.

How about it slingers? Would you ever lease out your own cart? Where would be a good place to find a decent lessor if you want to try out this business model?

-Steve

Hey Slinger,

I need some feedback on our new updated hot dog cart marketing program. My team and I have put a ton of hours and money into this and I want it to be perfect for you, so…

Take a look at it and tell me what you think about it – the good and the bad.

If something is unclear let me know what it is so I can explain it better.

Leave your thoughts, questions, etc. in the comments section at the end of the page I’m about to send you to. I won’t post them publicly so you can remain anonymous, however if you have a question I will respond to you directly via email.

I really appreciate your help with this.

-Steve

P.S. I’ll be picking two commenters at random to receive a “Totally Done For You” site (you’ll see what that is in a moment…) as my way of saying thank you for helping us make this the best it can be.

Click here to review and comment.

Contest ends Friday at midnight central time.