Susan and Renee contacted me with a curious dilemma – there are too many people at their hot dog cart in downtown Phoenix. (Well, yeah… look at those smiles!!! – more pics below)
They write…

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Hi Steve,

This is Susan and Renee, owners of Surena’s Wieners in Phoenix AZ. We are having a problem lately and are wondering if you or any of your Hot Dog Cart News readers can help us with.

We operate our cart on a daily basis on a busy corner in downtown PHOENIX. The corners are awarded in an open auction each year. We have a brand new shiny hot dog cart and both of us have previous restaurant experience so we have great customer service skills. Too great it would seem.

We have a handful of regulars who have decided that our corner and our hot dog cart are “the place/to be”, sometimes for hours at a time. While these are good customers, and friends, they are definitely impeding on our ability to have a steady stream of customers because they are there so long.

It is a fact that as rude as people can be, customers waiting in line will not interrupt a conversation to place their order.

We believe that we need to smile and address  everyone who passes in order to make a sale. We cannot do that when engaged in conversation. We are glad people like us but how do get these people to stop overstaying their welcome and negatively affecting our sales potential?

This has become a serious problem, the more people like to hang out at our cart the less we are selling. Any ideas?

Thanks for your time, we are getting frustrated, we are trying to save our house with this business, and we need to make as much as we can in the time we are downtown.

Susan and Renee
www.thedogdealers.com

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I had the same problem with my King Weenie Hot Dogs permanent location. While it’s great to have a following, too many people congregating directly around the cart definitely impacts sales in a negative way.

I started to tell folks, “Sorry but I can’t talk now. I need to give all my customers the same kind of service that I give you.” It was a tactful way to put it and it reinforced the fact that I care about ALL my customers.

However, you don’t want to chase these folks off. Just as no one wants to eat at a restaurant with an empty parking lot, a bunch of people at your cart tells potential customers that your food is awesome. It will definitely increase sales – as long as the customer can get to you to place their order.

I solved that issue by creating a “gabbing area” 20 feet away from the cart with a few lawn chairs. It clears the area directly around the cart, but your “regulars” can still hang out and make you look like a popular place for lunch. When you are slow, walk over to the gabbing area and hang out with them. When a customer shows up you can disengage from the gab, walk back to the cart and provide great service.

How about the rest of you slingers? Have you had a similar problem and if so, how did you resolve it? Let us know in the comments.

-Steve