Hey Steve,
The last time we spoke, I mentioned what I do for condiments. Have a look at the pic’s attached. Essentially, it’s a stainless steel tub that measure’s 21″ x 13″ by 6″ deep.
I place three hard plastic vessels inside that measure 6″ x 5″ by 6″ deep (complete with lid’s), then surround with ice. We keep ours stocked with ketchup, mustard, dill relish, sauerkraut, diced onions, mayo, cream cheese and hot sauce. Everything sits on a small table, along with other dispensable condiments, and a napkin holder.
By having a larger condiment setup with separate table, it accomplishes three things;
1. Having to refill your condiments occurs on a less frequent basis
2. Your customers can move away from your dog cart to allow others access to the your main product
3. You have more room for additional condiments because of a larger footprint
There you have it…
Cheers,
Dave
Dave’s New England Coneys
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Very nice Dave! Looks clean and neat, and having the ice visible to customers is great for bolstering their confidence in the freshness of your offerings.
Who else does something similar? Tell us about it in the comments.
-Steve
Click the picture for a larger image.
Hey Dave how do you keep the vibration from that Triumph shirt from mixing everything together?That`s a good setup thanks ,Dennis
Hey Steve,
This first run at our condiment bar was well worth the effort. After using it a time or two, several revisions had to be made. The first was to actually attach the lids with hinges, as many of our customers had no clue as to how to put the lids back on correctly. The second was to punch a hole in the back of the tray to mount a 1/2″ drain plug, complete with a butterfly relief valve. I’ll take some pic’s soon of the final version and will send to you ASAP.
Dave
Nice but what is that large container of red stuff doing on a dog set up.
I use the San Jamar Dome Condiment tray. Comes in many different configurations. You can also add on a mini dome to either side. I now have 7 different items on hand, on ice which the HD loves to see.
I do something similar but not quite so attractive. I have a Rubbermaid bin that I keep bottled condiments in surrounded by Chiller packs that I got at Walmart. Once you freeze them, they keep the condiments cold all day, even after they thaw they stay cold for hours. At night I just re-freeze them. It cuts down on the cost of ice.
Good idea Dave… I know… the red stuff is for the kids… r-i-g-h-t-!!!
I tried onions last Summer and it was a waste of product close to 500 hot dogs one day and used only around 1/2 # out of three!! I now only put out the standards ,the red stuff, relish, and about five different mustards (our Aldis carry different types) and celery salt sometimes a jar of BBQ just to see how it flies looking forward to the next season.
Really nice set-up ! Are you aware it’s illegal to serve ketchup on dogs ?!? (Cleveland) Lol 🙂
I have a stainless steel condiment tray about 6 inches deep and 3 feet long that hangs on the front of my cart if it’s raining, but I also put it on a side table when it’s not. In it I put chopped onions, sauerkraut, banana peppers, green relish, and dill pickles. In front of it I stand all my bottled condiments.
I like it because it moves the customer off to the side, so I can serve the next customer and many customers can put condiments on at the same time. People who buy multiple hotdogs, like mons with kids and rest there hodogs on the table while putting all there fixins on. Now that it’s winter the table also gives me room to put a hot water thermos and hot chocolate. I also put my small radio on the table and people have mentioned how they like the atmosphere that the local radio station brings.
Often I am requested to bring with me various condiments that I have a reputation for. Many times it can get to as many as 14 items. That being said I rely on a bus box with a lid, so I can place 12 items in 1/6 th plastic pans with individual lids as shown in the pics and am able to have the frozen gel packs (restaurant depot) below and around.
When my condiments are limited to the basic 4 I loved a stainless steel foam insulated holder 6x24x8made for me by a welder. Gel packs below and your good all day.
joe
OK, OK, OK – I get it…!
First and foremost, I do not serve my dogs with ketchup from my trailer. It’s simply another condiment that can be applied by the customer – per their individual tastes. What they do with it after it leaves my window is no concern of mine. As for onions, we have a 1/4″ commercial onion dicer in the trailer. We dice them as needed, which cuts down on waste.
Love the banter… Dave
I am a newbee, we are a Gourmet cart ( I dress all the dogs) we opened July 25 this year. But I had a visit from our friendly Health Dept. today. I have a 5 tray condiment holder you put the ice on the bottom and your trays over the top,got it from Amazon $10.00 it is also clear. It is perfect for onions, tomatoes, relish, cucumbers and sport peppers. My mustard, mayo, hot sauce, homemade thousand Island (Ruben Dog) and YES the K (for kids under 18) LOL is in a 1/4 pan filled with ice all containers have tops which is loved by the HD. Oh did I mention the HD was very impressed with the set up along with my hot dog hat, and music and my huge 1/4 LB dogs.
I have a question about the sourkraut, I keep mine hot in a pan on my steam table, I see that you keep yours cold, does this work better for you and your customers, would be nice to not have to take up extra space on my steam pan.
I keep it on the side , and the customers are just happy that I have sauerkraut. I have a question. For those of you who keep your sauerkraut warm, do you throw out the unused portion at the end of the day ? And do any of you mix it with your onions ? Another question, how do other hotdoggers fry and keep your onions warm ?
Unfortunately we were unable to finish our EZ- Build cart and bought a custom cart need 4 sinks in Indiana. So my room is totally limited, I have a table which holds my crock pots with Chili , Sauerkraut and a roasting pan I use to steam my buns. I make my kraut daily and keep it warm in a crock pot. I sautee diced onions put in 3 cups of kraut, caraway seeds about 1-2 TBS and 1/4 cup sugar. I have regulars that tell me they HATE kraut but love mine. Hopefully we will have our cart done for next season. We have 1 more Horrah the Twilight Parade on Friday. Oh Yeah that makes just enough for the day it turns brown and looks Yucky not very appitizing on a Ruben Dog.
Hi,
Can anyone tell us how we can get signage for Nathans Hot Dogs. I looked it up and called and it seems to me that you have to be a franchise to get any signs. We have been selling Nathans since we started our cart about nine months ago.
Thank You!
Rick, I to have sold Nathens since day one of my cart being born. I went to the NRA show in Chicago a few years back and was informed by Nathens that if you buy from a dist.(Sysco,U.S.Foods etc) you can get free Nathens stuff. I tried a number in FL that they gave me but no luck. I checked with a Sysco dealer I know and found out that they did carry Nathens but, the price of the 4/1 that i use was around $170.00 plus you cannot get brought to your house or another place of business since Sysco cannot deliver to same address for two different business. Go Figure. So I buy from Sams for $109 a case!!
“Sell em’ All’ Jerry
Just Starting and Just got my serve safe yesterday and I built my own 3 compartment sink plus hand wash sink last year still need to fine tune it (but) My wife and I are going with the Members Mark Bakers and Chefs propane grill from Sam’s and I will use a lava rock kit for the grill with a fire retardant canopy, My question , I called my Farmers insurance agent, We already have multi car and house insurance so I called them for Insurance and for 2 million in coverage 1200 a year it was 386 down with monthly payments for the remainder , I found online FLIP Program and I found the main agent that sells it and they have a , A+ with the BBB, There insurance cost is 299 a year with 2 million in coverage, Just wondering if anybody knows if they are legit or not , We live in Jefferson County MO.
Yes, they are legit.
Looks good I will try that.thanks I will be selling snapdog next month.
Has anyone run into a health dept. that requires the individual packets?
A recent visit from the Health inspector – he stated “No bulk displays for condiments” they must be in individual serve packets.
If you have priced the individual packets – that drives up the cost!
Yes, I have heard of that. Sometimes you can get around that by applying the condiments yourself from covered containers.
Hi Steve
I Appreciate Your Answer , Have A Great Day !!!
Thank You , Marc
The red stuff is put out for the people who like catsup, after all Ronald Regan declared it a vegetable when he was in office so it must be good for you.
Good ol’ Ronnie!
Is it ketchup or catsup I guess it depends on who makes it.
I say ketchup.
Ok which is better sauerkraut hot or cold ?
I like it cold.
I did that but without insulation ice melts quicker. Look at the bradford hall insulated top loading insulated food pan. About $100 and is full size and holds up to 9 1/9 size pans (4 or 6 inch deep) and ice or ice packs.
https://www.equippers.com/bradford-hall-gray-insulated-top-loader-for-single-food-pan/jd-upc150.asp