Author: Steve

Hey Slingers,

I hope you all had a happy, safe, and (for those of you who had gigs) profitable Independence Day. I spent the first half of the day with family, the second half of the day with friends, ate too much, laughed a lot, and was thankful to my creator for being able to live in the land of the free.

Thank you to all who sent me emails and texts yesterday. I have the greatest readers in the dogosphere!

See you Monday,

-Steve

The following is a reprint of an article that appears in “West of Roanoke”.

Wytheville’s Top Dog
By Allison Farley

Jack Clark, the white-haired man who can be spotted nearly every Saturday morning in downtown Wytheville, wearing a hotdog hat and peddling his New York style hotdog cart has done what many previously believed to be impossible – produce Wytheville’s most sought after hotdog.

For Clark, a self described frustrated food service entrepreneur, who struggled to find his niche, the road to hot dog success wasn’t an easy path.

It began with nearly five years of research – struggling to know all the ins and outs of the food service industry.

After a half-decade of studying all the business models available, Clark got “bit by the hot dog bug… hard.”

“I chose what is known in the industry as a New York style cart. All stainless steel with propane cooker and steam table with a built-in cooler and four sinks topped off with an umbrella.
“Next I needed a name, so all my friends were asked to submit suggestions.” Jack jokingly says, “Some of the names for a hot dog business that were submitted can’t be repeated.”

It was Clark’s wife who decided upon the name “Jack’s Last Stand.”

After forming an LLC, securing a Virginia Department of Health permit, tax license, peddler’s permit, liability insurance and ten thousand other pieces of paperwork Jack was off and running.

Now residents and visitors alike to the Town of Wytheville are treated to top of the line, all beef hot dogs, freshly steamed buns and a vast array of condiments.

“We start with a homemade chili that, I’ve been told, is ‘scrumptious and do not change the recipe.’ Next is the homemade coleslaw that is equally praised. From there our customers enjoy building the dawg, their way. There are chopped onions, sauerkraut, banana pepper rings, chow-chow and sweet pickle relish.”

For Jack’s Last Stand, great hotdogs aren’t the only thing going for him. The man is also one of the greatest advertisers in Wytheville.

From the outrageous looking hotdog hat he wears atop his head, to the hundreds of loyal Facebook friends the man interacts with on a daily basis, Jack is a promoter.

Last night even, on the eve of Chautauqua’s opening day, Jack was on Facebook promising his followers to give a quarter discount to any person who would approach his stand with the correct answer to the following question:
“How many bullets did Barney carry?”

Throughout the month of June, Jack can be spotted at the Fourth Street Exxon from 10am to 2pm.

It should also be noted, that out of all the people you will ever run into, Jack is one of the genuine nicest guys you’ll find.

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Congratulations Jack! Great publicity and a great picture of you to boot!

Sell ’em all,

-Steve

Bruce just sent me pics of his new hot dog cart. Wait until you see the twist he put on it. It didn’t cost hardly anything and it totally blew the health inspector away. Pictures below.

Bruce writes…

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Hi Steve,

Just wanted to send you the pic’s of my new EZ Built Hot Dog Cart.

Over the 5 months of building my cart, I constantly had to view and go over your DVD’s to make sure I did things right, it was nice having you along side to get me through the construction. Your tapes are well done and I enjoyed your humor. By the way have you gotten a hair piece yet ? 🙂

You did an outstanding job and you should be proud of the programs you have put together !!! When you look at the pic’s of my cart, you should realize that you were a big contributor of the construction.

I passed the health department inspection with flying colors and the Health Inspector asked if I could make her one !!!

Thanks Again,
Bruce of ” Bruce’s Hot Dog Cartel “

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Super job Bruce!

This is one of the slickest E-Z Built Hot Dog Carts that I have seen yet because of the way he finished the exterior.

The video and plans package included in the HotDogProfitsPremium.com membership shows you how to skin the cart in metal. Well Bruce put his own unique twist on it…

Instead of using diamond plate aluminum, he went down to Home Depot and got the widest roll of aluminum flashing that they had. He used the flashing to skin his cart for next to nothing. And WOW did it come out nice. Just ask Bruce’s health inspector, LOL!

I love, love, love all of the pure genius modifications that my customers have come up with over the years to make their E-Z Built Hot Dog Carts into the carts they always dreamed of.

So cool.

Let’s hear it for Bruce in the comments, he truly deserves it!

-Steve

Click on the picture below for a larger version.

P.S. No I haven’t gotten a hair piece. I’m going for the Friar Tuck look. 😉

I know it’s not Monday or Thursday but here’s a little quicky for you today…

Note: Our email-sender-outer-thingy (technical term) blew a fuse this morning. You may get a duplicate email notification about today’s article. My apologies.

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Hey Steve.  You are still doing a super job keeping all of us excited and building our businesses.  We will finally have our final appointment for an inspection and the small biz incubator.  I am so looking forward to this!

Anyway,  I was wondering if you have a great tip on a source for steam pans and lids..this is the last item and if I could get a great deal…heck…that would rock.  😀  Just wonderin’….thanks for your input!

Marjorie Leon
Aloha Dogz

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Hey Marjorie,

Try to find a restaurant liquidator. They buy the assets of closed restaurants and resell them. They only want the big stuff like walk in freezers, giant Hobart mixers, furniture, etc but they usually have to take everything in a package deal. Therefore, they have a ton of used steam pans, utensils and small stuff that they just want to dump at cheap prices.

You can usually find  a restaurant liquidator by looking in the yellow pages or on the internet. Head down there and do a little treasure hunting!

Good luck,

-Steve

Hot dog condiments are a great way to distinguish yourself from the competition. And hot dog condiments can help spread the word about your awesome dogs. Learn how in this article.

Bryan Sullivan writes…

I have a coffee shop drive-thru, that I just started selling Nathans hot dogs. Since I have limited space and trying to use prepackage toppings –what is the best toppings for Hot Dogs. I have the typical mustard and relish –Would you recommend anything else?

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Hey Bryan,

If you want to really make a name for your hot dogs, if you want to generate a ton of word of mouth  advertising (the holy grail of marketing), if you want to turn bored customers into raving fans, then you need to do something different. Something bold. Something so unique that people can’t wait to tell all their friends about it.

That can be accomplished with condiments. How about cream cheese and jalapenos. Ranch dressing and Louisiana hot sauce. Crushed Fritos with chili and onions. Carmelized onions and soy sauce with teriyaki marinated roasted yellow bell peppers.

Then, be sure to name your creations. Come up with something memorable, catchy, even a bit provocative if you’re comfortable with that. I know a hot dog vendor in the town north of me who calls his masterpiece creation “The Wonder Weenie”. He has lines 10 to 20 people deep for hours at a time wherever he goes.

I’ve taught thousands of people how to get started in the hot dog business and I always give newbies the same advice – keep it simple. But once they get the bugs worked out it’s time to take it to the next level. And exciting condiment options are a great way to do that.

Just find a way. I realize that you have limited space but if you can get creative and find a way to stock some exotic condiments it will make all the difference to your bottom line. Dare to be different!

Let me know how else I can help you Bryan.

And readers, please let us know what exotic condiment combinations you are serving on your hot dogs in the comments below. And even if you’re not a slinger yet, give us your ideas on what would be a killer condiment combination. I’d love to hear them.

Thanks!

-Steve

 

A new hall of famer? I think so. HDCN reader and HotDogProfits.com customer Cory Lawrence sent me some pics of his newly finished hot dog cart that really blew me away. There are a few side serve E-Z Builts that have become reader favorites, most notably Jason Thurston’s Campfire Grill, Lee Vestal’s Checkers Street Grill, and of course Larry Helveston’s Dogs on the Run. You can check out photos of these “E-Z Built Hall of Famers” in the photo gallery. I’m sure Cory will be joining the ranks of these famous EZ builders as soon as you see his pictures below.

Cory writes…

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Hello Steve,

I finished up my cart last week, and wanted to pass along the results to you.  I must stress, that I am not a carpenter, plumber, or electrician, so the fact that this cart turned out the way it did is a testament to your video instructions.  A friend and I had purchased a Carts of Colorado cart (complete with soda fountain) last fall.  We use it for church events in the community.  I started researching hot dog carts to help us figure out the best way to use our cart.  In the process, I learned about the E-Z Built plans that you offer, and decided that I would give it a try.  I have included pictures for you to share as you please.

As it turns out, as soon as the components for the cart began to be delivered, my place of employment decided to downsize.  I along with a few others lost our jobs when they decided to eliminate the aerospace division.  Now what do I do?  Finish that cart!  I’ve been behind a desk for over ten years, and I am so ready to be out in the community with PEOPLE!  My start date is Monday June 18th.  Wish me luck.

My friend and I have also decided to sell the Carts of Colorado cart so that I can have a way to help supplement our start-up costs and support my family.  I am sending some pictures of this cart as well.  We’ve already used it a couple of times this year, and it is licensed by the Missouri State HD.  As you can see in one of the pictures, we had quite a crowd at Wal-Mart.  This may be exactly what someone is looking for.  Let me know if you would post this in the “Used Carts” section Steve.  I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks again for the support and easy to understand instructions.  Next time you are down my way, stop in for a free O’Doggy’s Dog.

Cory
O’Doggy’s

P.S. I am amazed at the dogger community!  Everyone has been incredibly helpful and encouraging. 

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Wow Cory – you did a totally awesome job on your E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart. I’m glad you found it so E-Z to build 🙂

Attention to detail really makes the difference between a nice cart and a super nice cart. It’s worth spending a little extra time making sure everything is just right because a super nice cart sells more hot dogs. It just makes you look that much more polished and professional when you hit the streets. Good job on that!

Sounds like your timing couldn’t have been better. Sorry to hear of your layoff, but everything happens for a reason. I am 100 percent confident that you will love your new career and the lifestyle of freedom that comes with it. That’s why I call hot dog vending the “funnest” job in the world. It truly is.

Electric cart for sale. I’m also including the photos of your electric Carts of Colorado rig. I’m sure one of my readers will be interested in it. We’ll also put it in our used hot dog cart classified section. I’ll have Alyssa contact you to get the details.

Good luck on your opening day Cory. Not that you’ll need it with a cart like that!!!

-Steve

P.S. By the way, if any of you readers are moving up (maybe you’ll be building a side serve E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart after seeing Cory’s) and have a used hot dog cart for sale,  we can list it for free.

Hi Steve,

I’d like to ask your (and HDCN readers) advice. I have been looking for a hot dog cart here in Cleveland, OH for some time. I found by shear accident that one cart owner is leaving Cleveland, moving to Texas.

Here are the details of our meeting yesterday: He has available, three carts total- two larger carts that he sells dogs/other sandwiches on, and one regular street cart. They are well used, but usable. 

Three locations in downtown Cleveland- one is a great location, one is probably a good location, and one is in a so-so or good location. Has permits for all three . AND, I think the best part of the deal- a COMMISSARY! The building is pretty beat up, BUT he has 2 guys each paying him $450 a month commissary rent. And building easily holds all 5 carts.

He has two guys that work for him at 25% of gross daily earnings. He tells me the two carts EASILY make $850/900 a DAY, with the third location taking it to $1000. As I write this I feel its a total good deal, even if he’s lying to me about the proceeds, say even HALF that amount of income would be a terrific buy.

I add that if I bought a cart myself, say $3,500, I would need commissary ($450 month), permits ($600+), and a location, which I would have to contact the City about (here in C-Town you are only allowed a specific location, I can’t just go where I want).

So I’m in a quandry about starting new amongst other hot dog carts in the city (where they all sell dogs for $1.50, pop .75 ). To top all of this off, I have no way of paying for any of the above, I have some investor friends that might be interested, or could you suggest how to find the financing?  I wanted to ask your advice first. Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,

BobD

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Hey Bob,

Sometimes we stumble upon opportunities by pure accident. I love it when that happens and I can totally understand your excitement. But let’s slow down and look at this thing from a few different angles.

The owner has an established, running business with three carts on the street. I like that a lot. The fact that the carts are well used doesn’t bother me too much because the value of this business doesn’t lie in the equipment. Used carts, even in great condition aren’t worth much.

So what is it worth? Business valuations depend on a great many things, but the general formula states that a business is usually worth two to three times earnings. Therefore, the value of this business lies not in it’s assets, but in the profits it currently generates.

Notice I said profits, not sales. A business with sales of $1000 a day is worthless if the expenses are $1002 a day. In order to properly value this business opportunity you need to know the numbers. What are the actual sales? What are the actual expenses? If the owner hasn’t kept proper records I would think long and hard about buying this or any business. (The Cash Tracker bookkeeping software to the right could have solved this problem.)

What is the history? If he does keep good financial records, the next thing I would want to know is the history of the business. How long has he been in operation of course, but even more importantly, how long has the business been making it’s current level of sales?

If this is a brand new business, that would drop the value. I know you said the carts were old but that doesn’t mean the business is. He could have bought those carts used. Check it out.

Even if this business has been around for a few years, you still need to look at the history. If the sales were flat at $400 a day for three years, then jumped to $1000 a day two months ago, I would devalue the business accordingly because this new level of sales may not be sustainable. We just don’t know yet.

Let’s talk about that commissary. He has one. That’s good. It has an income of $900 a month (you need to verify that). Also good. But is he making mortgage or rent payments on the building? If he owns it, what are the utility bills? Exterminator bills? Maintenance and repair bills? Does he have to pay someone to clean it? This commissary could be making money or it could be losing money. We just don’t know. Find out.

By the way, $450 a month for a commissary is a lot of money. If you want to know my strategy for getting a commissary for free, just email me. I’d be glad to tell you. No charge.

Employees. Asset or liability? He has two guys that work for him at 25% of gross daily earnings. That brings gross profits down to about 45% (assuming an industry average of 70% gross profits – again, find out what this particular business grosses) which is still quite good. I like that.

What worries me is loss control. How does the owner know the actual amount of sales? What’s stopping these guys from bringing 80 of their own hot dogs and buns to the cart once it’s at the location and selling them first, keeping 100 percent of those profits? Maybe this business is actually making $1300 a day, but only a grand gets reported to the boss. If there are no loss controls in place you need to figure out how to implement them if you intend to buy into this business.

My final concern is pricing. You say that everyone in the city sells hot dogs for $1.50. Is this business selling hot dogs that cheap? If so, you have a big problem here – and a great opportunity as you will see.

I have never believed in competing on price. I’ve seen it a thousand times. Someone starts a business, but they lack confidence. One thought dominates their mind, “I’m scared. How will I ever be able to compete?” Then they have a stroke of genius. They decide to offer the lowest price in their market!  And the funny (or tragic) thing is, they think this is their ticket to success. WRONG. Trying to offer the lowest price is the equivalent of committing business suicide for four main reasons.

• First, it conveys a lack of quality. Everyone knows that you can’t possibly offer a good product at that price. This has the effect of decreasing sales, not increasing them. And forget repeat business. It will be virtually non-existent because you have no opportunity to brand yourself as anything other than the cheapest option. That’s how everyone will talk about you – how cheap you are, not how good you are.
• Second, profit margins are the lifeblood of any business. Low margins mean you are constantly scrambling to meet your expenses. Your business is always staggering along on the edge of a cliff with no margin for error and the slightest mistake will have horrific consequences. If you like living with ulcers, commit yourself to consistently offer the lowest price in your market. Just be aware that the stress will take all of the fun out of the “funnest” business in the world. You’ll grow mean and you won’t be able to hide it. Again, bad branding to say the least.
• Third, if you compete down at the bottom of the barrel where a low price is your only selling point, it’s just a matter of time before someone else comes along with an even lower price. Then you might as well stick a fork in it. You’re done. You’ll be in a race to see who can declare bankruptcy first.
• Finally, you do your customers a massive disservice when you charge too little. If your margins are thin, you can’t do the extra things that make the customer experience an extraordinary one. And worst of all, you’ll probably be out of business soon, leaving your current customers high and dry. I heard a story about a young software company that was making the mistake of competing on price. They landed a big client who told them that they wanted to pay more for the software. Yes, they asked the company to charge them more. The reason why? They said that they liked the software and wanted to make sure the company would be in business a year from now so they could buy more from them when they needed it. They knew what happens to companies that charge too little.

Smart business don’t compete on price and here is where your opportunity lies. Sell a high quality product, give the customer a wonderful experience, and charge accordingly. You should be able to get at least $3 for a hot dog, $4 or more with the right presentation. You can charge twice the current price but your costs will probably only increase by 1/10th. That is good business.

Don’t pay asking price for the business. Once you have done your due diligence and determined a value for the business, it’s time to negotiate. Bring up all of the points discussed above and use them as leverage to lower the price. The less you pay, the better an investment it will be.

How will you pay for it? As far as financing goes, I would only consider outside investment if this was a sure thing. And you had better be SURE it’s a sure thing. You could talk to your local bank, but banks usually only lend money to people who don’t need it. You have your investor friends, and then there is owner financing. Maybe the owner will let you pay it off out of cash flow. This may be worth asking, even if you don’t intend to go this route. His answer will tell you a lot about the actual state of the business. If he wants to finance you out of the profits from the business after you take it over, that means he truly believes in his business.

Actually, I’m probably not the best person to ask about financing. I hate debt of any kind because it makes you a slave to the lender – literally. It’s bad enough with a bank, angel investors, or VCs. It’s worse with friends and relatives. When someone loans you money, all of a sudden they feel like they have the right to tell you how to run your business – and your life.

That’s why I’ve bootstrapped every business I’ve ever started. I’ve worked many a crappy job to get my seed money and lived as frugally as possible to keep as much of it as I could. You’ll be amazed at what bad jobs you can tolerate as long as you know it isn’t permanent, and that each day brings you closer to your goal of small business ownership – and more importantly, personal freedom.

To your success Bob – and success to all of my slingers out there in the dogosphere! I hope you all found this analysis useful.

-Steve

P.S. Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments. There’s a lot to talk about here…

Kevin S. knew he wanted to get into the Hot Dog Biz but couldn’t see spending thousands on a cart. So he built his own EZ Built Hot Dog Cart – but like so many others, he decided to do a few custom mods of his own.

The results are simply amazing (see the photos below). I have honestly never seen a cart like this before. And how cool is that logo? I’m so impressed!

You also need to check out his ingenious menu board which is simple, elegant, and functional. Looks like I have a new project for the E-Z Built cart I use in my own hot dog business 🙂

If Kevin’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he was featured here in Hot Dog Cart News about a very clever video he did in order to get funding for his hot dog cart business. Kevin has been in the performance and music industry and he put his talents to work raising start up money. His efforts resulted in getting his business fully funded on the website Kickstarter. Very cool!

Here is the letter he recently wrote me:

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Steve!

I can’t believe the day finally arrived that I am able to send you pics of my finished cart! I’m excited to get ‘er out on the streets. I’m sending you way more pics than you will ever use but wanted to give you a variety. I’m also really proud of the menu display that I built.

Kevin S.
Wicked Dogs

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Congratulations Kevin! I’m super proud of you. Not only did you build one of the most unique E-Z Builts that I’ve ever seen, you went out and raised all the money you needed to start your own business. You ROCK!!!

That kind of stick-to-itiveness is exactly what we need right now to pull our country out of this slump. Self sufficiency and perseverance are qualities that everyone in America used to have. It’s what made us proud as individuals and strong as a nation. Now it’s not as common.

But folks like Kevin are bringing it back. That makes me optimistic. I hope the trend continues. Check out the pics of Kevins EZ Built and let him know what you think in the comments.

Wishing you pride, and success, and freedom!

-Steve

P.S. If you want to see about 300 of pictures of my other customers E-Z Built carts, you can see them here.

Click the pics for a larger version.