Author: Steve

Hot Dog Cart Success = Location, Location, Location

hot dog cart metropolitan art museum

I got an email from a soldier in Iraq who wants to start a hot dog cart business when he gets home, but he has a hard time believing he could make a real income selling hot dogs.  If any of you have the same doubts, they will be totally blown away after reading this story.

What’s the difference between making money and making a LOT of money?  How about 100 feet?

New York City hot dog cart operator Pasang Sherpa knows the value of the right location.  Sherpa sells his dogs outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and recently outbid two rivals for the rights to both the north and south entrances to the museum.

Before I tell you  the winning bids, think about how much you would  pay for the rights to these locations.  Keep in mind that together, his two carts are right in the path of over 5 million visitors a year – and the only other food is blocks away.

Here’s a hint:  The north entrance gets a lot more traffic because many museum visitors use the nearby 86th Street/Lexington Avenue subway express stop.  So Sherpa paid $80,000 more per year for this spot which is 100 feet away from the one at the south entrance.

OK – are you ready for this?  The rents are $362,201 for the north, and $280,500 for the south.  Holy #%&* !  I’m having a hard time getting my mind around this.  How many hot dogs, chips, and sodas do you need to sell just to break even?  Let’s do the math:

Keep in mind this is a premium tourist destination and there is no where else to eat.  I’m guessing that a dog, chips and soda would sell for $8.  If so, Sherpa needs to serve 80,338 meals to break even.  That’s less than 2% of the 5 million folks who walk right by his carts on the way in or out of the Met each year.  Granted he has other overhead to cover, but nothing even close to those rent payments.  If he sells to just 10% of the tourists he will gross…

Four million dollars a year.  I’m getting dizzy.

But here’s a lesson.  Before you sign anything, make sure all your ducks are in a row.  Only one of Sherpa’s carts passed the health department inspection, and his coveted north entrance will be blocked by construction for months.  Again, holy #$&* !  Wouldn’t you have done a little more due diligence before jumping into the big leagues?  So now he doesn’t want to pay.  Big surprise.

If you want to know how to make just a tiny fraction of 4 million dollars a year with your own hot dog cart business, head on over to HotDogBiz101.com.  There you’ll learn everything you need to know to start and run your own highly profitable hot dog cart business, including how to get locations rent free.  See you there.

Later,

-Steve

Hot Dog Cart Business in Paradise (to me anyways…)

I spent a week in San Diego about 10 years ago and fell in love with southern California.  Unfortunately, my wife is a confirmed mid westerner and I resigned myself long ago to the fact that I’ll never live out my California dream.  So imagine how I felt when this came across my desktop today… Continue reading “Hot Dog Cart Business in Paradise (to me anyways…)”

Hey, Nice Hot Dog Hat!

Ever heard of “peacocking”?  That’s a term borrowed from the dating advice world which refers to the practice of wearing something outrageous to attract attention – and it works in business as well.  The first step to making a sale is getting the customer to notice you.

How could you miss this guy?  My wife used to wear the full hot dog suit and stand by the roadside waving at cars.  And guess what?  It worked.  The only problem is Continue reading “Hey, Nice Hot Dog Hat!”

The Parable of the Hot Dog Cart

There was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He sold very good hot dogs. He put up signs along the highway and advertised in the newspaper telling how good they were. He stood on the side of the road and cried: “Buy a hot dog, mister?” And people bought. He increased his meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. He finally got his son home from college to help him out.

But then something happened. Continue reading “The Parable of the Hot Dog Cart”

Hot Dog Cart Bidding War

Guelph, Ontario, Canada

hot dog cart

Lorne Warmington has operated a hot dog cart in the city of Guelph for 18 years with no competition – until now.  This city requires that hot dog cart operators bid for the right to sell hot dogs in the city park, and for 18 years Mr. Warmington had no challengers, so bidding high wasn’t neccessary…

That is until Mr. Warmington was notified that he was outbid.  He said in protest that if he knew there was another bidder, he would have raised his bid accordingly – to no avail.

The new kid in town is Moe Ghomishah (pictured above), and Lorne was forced to move on down the road to a new spot, but his devoted customers have stated that they will follow Lorne and his hot dogs wherever they end up.

The lesson?  A good product and even better service are essential to repeat business and loyal customers.  Start interacting with customers in a friendly manner from day one.  It’s more fun and just good business.

For more tips on operating your own hot dog carts, visit www.HotDogProfits.com.

Later,

-Steve

Hot dog vendor gets the skinny on the economy

Cory Bakker is a former concrete worker who has been running his own hot dog cart, “The Hot Dog Hut”, for two years in Bellingham, Washington.  He got the idea after watching a morning talk show story about the hot dog cart business.  What appealed to him was the social aspect, sort of like being a bartender without the hassles that come with serving alcohol.

“I love talking, and it’s amazing what sort of conversations you have throughout the day out here,” Bakker said. “At some point, I’m going to have to write them down for a book.”

One of Corey’s challenges is that hot dog carts are not quite as familiar to folks in Washington state as they are to people in places such as New York or Chicago.  He hopes to see more people open hot dog carts in Bellingham and believes it would ultimately help his own business.

If anyone wants to help Cory out by becoming his competition, you can get started by listening to the free hot dog cart podcasts on this website.

-Steve

P.S.  Selling hot dogs is a lot easier on the knees than pouring concrete…

Ted’s Started With 1 Hot Dog Cart – Now Has 8 Restaurants.

Ted’s Charbroiled Hots began as a sandwich shop in an old tool shed, selling food to local constuction workers.  In 1927 the building was sold to a young immigrant who operated a horse drawn hot dog cart in a nearby park.

(Note: Thankfully, the health regulations are much better nowadays.  If any of you can get a horse drawn hot dog cart approved by your local health inspector, I’ll give you a free copy of “Carts of Cash – The #1 Hot Dog Cart Start Up Guide”.)  Good luck!

Anyways, this guy was able to grow his business from a single cart to a chain of 8 brick and mortar locations across western New York and an additional location in Arizona.

Later,

Steve

Toques Behind the Pushcarts

From Diner’s Journal  by Kim Severso

If we need more signs of how bad it is out there for cooks, let’s turn to the Hot Dog Indicator.

Larry Bain and Sue Moore, who run hot dog carts in San Francisco and Los Angeles, were looking for some part time help. Now mind you, their “Let’s Be Frank” carts are up the culinary scale. The dogs and brats are made from pasture-raised beef from the Panorama rancher cooperative and humanely raised pork. They’re served with fresh grilled onions on buns from Acme Bakery. The job pays $11 to $13 depending on experience, plus tips. Not bad for a job at a hot dog stand, but it’s slinging weenies for a living.

They posted the job on Craigslist and within two hours they had seven resumes from people with serious culinary educations and cooking chops.

The applicants had, variously, 15 years experience in hotel restaurant kitchens, fluency in French and Italian, experience in cruise ships kitchens, and as corporate chefs and executive chefs.

And almost all of them had expensive culinary degrees from places like the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., or Le Cordon Bleu at the Orlando Culinary Academy.           -end-

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As this article clearly shows, the times are right for starting or expanding your hot dog cart business.  Quality help is plentiful right now.  If you haven’t gotten your business started yet, or need to know the tips and tricks that the pros use to manage multiple carts, check out my hot dog cart training materials.

-Steve