Today’s question is sure to get some spicy replies…
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I keep hearing references from various vendors pertaining to offering nachos and/or soft pretzels. I might like to try this myself when I get my own cart built, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how one would prepare them on a cart. Can someone please spell this out for me? It’s been buggin me for weeks!
Josh Pratt
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How about it slingers? I LOVE me some nachos – how do you serve them on your carts? I can’t wait to hear your answers in the comments…
-Steve
If your laws allows the use of canned nacho cheese spread to make cheese dogs then you should automatically be able to utilize this for a quick and profitable nacho tray…just add jalepenos and chili if you wish….all depends on local laws.
I use to sell them at my restaurant like this..i would buy a big bag of nacho chips from like restaurant depot..them get them small styrofoam white cartons, for you depends on how much you want for a order..fill them up with chips, when somebody wanted a order just put the cheese on them and jalepeno slices..
The cheese i would buy by the gallon can..then i would put it in a large squeeze bottle, making a couple so i wouldn’t run out..then stick it in my steamtable in a bane marie half full with water..
it would keep the cheese hot and the bottle won’t melt then either..
I would guess it would work the same on your cart..have the chips boxed and ready to go, when
someone orders one just put on the hot cheese n peppers..good luck hope this helps ya..
LOL!
We own 3 small crock pots and have our nacho cheese in one of them. The cheese is from Sam’s Club
seen 1 guy who had a bag of fredos and added the nachocheese to it sold it that. if this helps
Frito Pie, aka Hiker’s Nachos, aka Walking Nachos, aka Poor Man’s Nachos recipe.
1 bag of Frito corn chips
open bag and add ingredients into the Frito bag ; cheese, chili sauce or salsa, raw cut onions, jalapenos
Put bag in steamer bin and serve with a spoon ~ comment from a customer: “Ridiculously Good”
Jim~Lettuce Eat Healthy, St Petersburg FL
i think it can be done by having a nacho cheese warmer with a 4 oz laddle ..putting your chips in a dry steam well..also its how you want to serve them…you can with just cheese or load them with meat, sauce cheese and peppers..people
i think it can be done by having a nacho cheese warmer with a 4 oz laddle ..putting your chips in a dry steam well..also its how you want to serve them…you can with just cheese or load them with meat, sauce cheese and peppers..
This is something I’ve been thinking about too, but haven’t tried yet. I’m thinking served as a side dish on a plate as a special, maybe with a chili/cheese dog.
Josh,
I do concessions for little leagues. But I don’t do them on a cart. I use a turkey roaster. And I buy the cheese at Sam’s club, along with the jalepeno peppers, plastic crates, and nacho chips. Also pour some of the juice in with the cheese to make it smooth. You can also add beef, and
charge a little more. I sell the plain for 2.50 extra cheese or peppers 25. Or add meat 1.00. I hope this helps.
Big D
Buy clear plastic tray/shell with a dimple type resevoir to hold the cheese. Buy round tortilla chips. Buy nacho cheese sauce in a # 10 can. All from Restaurant depot. Mix some jalapeno juice with some nacho cheese and keep this ss container in your kettle. Now for display purposes put a glove on and open your chips and place chips in your plastic containers, you will see round chips go better together like a deck of cards. Now place them where people can see them. Often stir/mix your cheese sauce and sample often. Using a 3 oz. ladle to apply the cheese to the chips. Hint after you have taken the customers money, while you are preparing
the nachos ask them if they like there cheese heavy or lite?? No one ever says they want just a little cheese, so I fill the dimple with cheese and apply more cheese( just for show and the tip jar) on top of the chips. I can’t tell you how much easier round chips are compared to pointy triangles. Nachos are for the vegetarian ( not many), for the kids (at nite not many), for people on diets or as I like to say people in denial, its a feel good food you eat with your hands outside. I have even offered Nacho Supreme on my cart as an UP $$ charge. I love em
joe
Steve,
I had nachos on my cart for maybe 2 or 3 weekends, and found that its not a hot seller here, so i got rid of it. It was such a mess trying to keep the cheese warm, given i have no electric on my cart. I still use the cheese, but just put it in a squeeze bottle and let the hot dog heat it if customers want it. ( Nacho Cheese is the only cheese approved by my HD).
well I did sell these from my cart but I also had electric hook for the cheese. I made a nacho case adn kept them in the case. I used the cheese heater to heat the cheese. I had no problem selling them until the HS came by and told me that the only problem I had was the nachos needed to be sealed in a bag. all food like chips etc.. needed to be in a bag sealed and i was not allowed to seal them the company that I bought the nachos from did.
Tony
I’m from Lexington,Ky and I sold nachos on my cart this past summer at after hour spots with my beef franks, and they loved them.I just bought the big can of nacho cheese from GFS and poured it into one of my pans, and heated it up until it became liquid like (when cold its thick)bought a large bag of tortilla chips and the small trays and it on…You can use the cheese for the dogs, and stock up on the jalapenos!!!!
I only sell hotdogs and sausage dogs, but I have tried:
French Fries, Ribbon Fries, tornato Fries, Rosted Peanuts, Boiled Peanuts, Hot Chocolate, Hot Coffee (still sale coffee), Pigs Feet, Dill Pickles (still sale them), Cookies (still sale them),Kracker Jacks
But I keep going back to Hot Dogs, most of the extra things above have only cost me money but if I had not took a chance once on a hot dog cart where would I be. Over the last 3 years I have had a blast and yes I could see doing other things on my cart. Weather you build a cart, buy a new one, or even buy a used one, you must do one thing: Take the first step. The only bad thing about natcho’s would be the clean up, may try them one day.
Duggs Doggs
Good!! Good!!
Your biggest issue is keeping the cheese hot. If you have capacity in your steam table there are several pumps available. Depending on the design of your cart, look at where you may be able to capture some residual heat. Use individual packaged chips and pump cheese into a partitioned tray. There is also an individual pre packaged cheese product that the customer can use to dip the chips in.
OK, Nachos are one of our biggest sellers, we make a LOT of money on the nachos!
We use a 2 pound boat (sam’s sells them) and we use the nacho chips and canned nacho cheese from sams.
We do not heat our chips, it makes them stale faster, we just keep them in a big tub with a lid on the side of the cart in a chair and we fill the boats with the chips. Our cheese is in our steam table and is plenty hot enough to make the chips hot. We have jalapenos in a container on the condiment table. If you stand the chips on their sides as you fill the boat, it makes the boat look fuller, more professional, and the cheese will go down between the chips instead of running off of a flat chip and onto your poor little hand (been there, done that) We sell our nachos for 3.00 per a 2pound boat, 3.50 with chili or extra cheese, 4.00 for a Deluxe Nacho which has Cheese, Chili, Onions, Jalapenos, Sour Cream and Salsa. Hope this helps. Everyone should do nachos. Lots of money to be made there. We have a well for franks, one for chili, one for cheese and one for what ever else I was selling that day in our steam table. The other side was our bun warmer which got ambient heat from the steam table side.
God Bless! Happy New Year! Wanda
I have doing well with Nacho’s & Cheese. I buy the big bags at Sam’s then put them in the zip lock sandwich bags which make’s it easier and fast to put the in the basket. Also I put the cheese in the smaller pan on my cart it keeps it warm just fine. I get $2.00 the profit is nice too. I have some people ask for some chili on them too.
Suzanne
I have a question maybe someone can answer for me, and I am sorry but it is not about this . Steve I have a bun steamer/warmer that I use on my cart ! It takes the place of one of my full size pans ! I have to add water in the bottom for steam ! I place the buns on the rack and they are good for a few minutes but then get soggy. Am I suppose to leave them in the bag ??
Try placing a clean white towel on the rack then stack buns on the towel. Also crack your pan lids a bit to vent off extra steam if necessary.
I sell Nachos on the cart by heating the cheese up on a warmer that I have for my chilly and my macaroni. I have four inserts on the warmer using the two big ones for chilli, one of the small ones for macaroni (my mac and cheese dog), and the one for nacho cheese. I have a cheese pump to go on top and just pump when needed. very easy and no mess. I use the gallon size cans from Cosco or Sams and dump some into the round pans. I use to use the big inserts for the cheese and just set in the tin can and I had another pump at that time but I found out really quick I was wasting cheese by burning it. As for the chips I buy the bulky nacho chips (Cosco or Sams) and dump a bag in a big plastic container and seal it with a lid to keep them fresh longer. I hope everything works out for you. I make about $2.00- $3.50 per nacho depending on the event. Through some chilli on there and now youll get them coming. Nachos help make extra cash on the cart and dont add much room.
Correction above Chilli not Chilly
We use to sell nacho with all the good stuff unto the state change the law.
I run an inverter on my cart, crock pot dosent
Run alot of current . I built my cart using
Steve’s plan but, I use A full size deep cell
Battery.
We serve Nachos to both the lunch crowd and the nite time bar crowd. The Nacho cheese comes from Sams and the tortilla chios are from there as well. We use a 2lb boat and add chili, cheese, black olive, jalapeno, salsa and top it with chedder and monteray cheese. Great Seller!!
Speaking of nachos, my cart has a Gold Medal nacho display case/heater for doing self serve, portion control nachos. I understand I pay a little more for the PC nacho sauce but I like the convenience of the self serve.
I’m questioning myself as to whether I should continue this way or serve the nachos from the steam table and use the cabinet space for other items.
If anyone has any experience with this, I’d love to hear your comments.
Thanks!
To keep the buns from getting to moist I use lint free towels that you can buy at walmart.
Put 1 towel in the bottom of your steamer pan
add the bunsfrom then put another towel across the top of the buns. The top towel
will catch the condensation from the pan lid.
If you leave the topof the pan slightly ajar
You will get a lot less condensation. Hope this helps it works great for me.
If you don’t have hydro; or room for the cheese in your steam table, there is a propane fuelled slow cooker / crock pot available. (to heat canned cheese). Have never used one, I just know there is such an appliance available. FYI.
Thought about Nachos,but was unsure about the law? However, I am finding out more things can be served on an open trailer, than just hot dogs. Thanks for the idea! Plus in this state nachos would do well…
Thanks, Bob for the idea of the steam table and the sqeeze bottles, (that the bottles will not melt). Was not sure about that. If, nachos can do well, then frito pie should well? My Thanks to everyone for their ideas!
Happy slinging….!
We use a #10 can of nacho cheese, just take the whole top off and keep/the whole can in the bun steamer. Paper boats and giant bags of chips from Costco. A 4 oz ladle in the cheese, jalapenos on top. We get $4 at softball touraments, a huge money maker.
Hot Dog Mattie,
I place a piece of foil under my buns, and one over the top, this helps to keep them from being soggie, if you can cut the heat down on the steamer it will help also. I only heat small amounts 6 normally unless I am at a big event and then all rules change… Two pieces of foil is really cheap way to keep buns, I have been told that you can also wrap each bun but that is too much of a pain for me.
We do nachos on the boat. We have large & small Styrofoam containers. The chips come in a bulk bag & the cheese is from Sams or Stu Lynard .
We serve them with just cheese. Unless you ask for chile too. As I mentioned before, you have to keep it simple & cost effective. There is a good margin on nachos. If you have room, go for it.
A bowl of cheese on the steam table is easy to do.
1st mate Jim.
My nacho sales weren’t that good and very costly ‘cuz of it. When I added chili cheese dogs, it all fell together. I keep the chili- (Rest.Depot hot dog chili) and the cheese in small covered pans in the steam table with my dogs that I’m holding- keeps it all hot enuff for the HD and I replenish from the cooler when needed. I tried keeping batches of chips in a warmer, but too wasteful; same as the chili in the beginning. I use the same boats as everyone else and other toppings are right there in my condiment holder. I get 3.50 ea. Chili cheese dogs are also the bomb for me; previous owner wanted to stick to the basics-change can be good.
We use a Ortega cheese and chili machine. You store factory sealed bags of nacho cheese and chili in a safe heated enviroment. You just push the button for either product. We use the clear plastic trays for nacho’s with the well in it for extra cheese or chili. Drop on jalapeno’s and your good to go. Also use the cheese and chili on our dogs, Frito pies and tamale boats. All it takes is one order of nacho’s at an event and they start to spread like fire….
I sell them when we are busy I converted the steam pan to hold various pans if you are selling at least 4 or 5 trays a week it pays for itself but if not its a waste I havent sold any for profit just an easy add on to give a variety to draw more business but every area is different.
Thanks for all the input, friends.
Through my research I’ve discovered that Gold Medal brand offers nacho cheese, salsa and chips in portion packs, along with a few other vendors. As it happens, there is a Gold Medal distributor in my city. I feel pretty sure the laws in my town won’t let me have bulk cheese on an open cart, so I think this will be the way for me to go. Also, I’ll save wear and tear on my crapped out back and knees by avoiding sticky cheese cleanup! So I think I’ve got the nacho thing sewn up, though if anyone has experience keeping these portion pack cheese cups safely heated in a steam pan, your insight would be appreciated. The thing that I am most trying to figure out right now is how to do pretzels without electricity. I am not going to be able to afford electric powered equipment to start because I plan to build an extended version of the EZ Built with more steam pans in order to hit some of the bigger events in my area. I feel pretty confident that pretzels (particularly some of the “deluxe ones I’ve found) will be fairly successful with the late-night college bar crowd, along with other “walking food”. So if anyone has experience doing pretzels or similar on a steam table, I could sure use your advice.
Thanks a bunch!
Josh
I took my second steam pan and changed it into two 1/4 sized pans that lie horizontal to the bun steamer. I can keep cheese (canned nacho cheese sauce) and canned chili hot. I make walking nachos (frito bags) or regular nachos. BIG seller!!!!!
We use a Nacho glass sided case I found on Craigs list used. Great for visual display. It heats but in summer not needed. Cheese in a 1/3 pan on the cart. Got to ask, mac & cheese dogs? Whittets, I got to know, please give me your recipe. Sounds interesting
We sell walking taco’s. We use a 1 oz. bag of doritos. add cheese, chili, fresh cut onions, salsa, sour cream, and jalapeno’s. Give them a fork and they are on their way. We get $2.00 a bag. Customers can choose what toppings they would like. Some take everything and others only take 2 or 3 toppings.
I also do walking tacos. I use portion pak cheese. It heats very well in a steamer pan. The only problem is the paper around the can comes off when wet. If anyone has a better idea for keeping the single pak warm, I’d love to hear it.
Thanks for all the informative ideas.
Ellen, use the double boiler method with no water in the second pan and only a dry bar towel folded and placed in the bottom. Even better would be a mesh grate used for steaming and then a towel placed on top. You would be heating with more of a dry heat and should help with the moisture messing up the seals on the portion packs.
Gold Medal makes cheese warmers specific for these portion packs that are less than $200 new. Get an inverter and use that if need be to keep the portion packs hot.
BTW, how well does the portion packs hold up to re-heating from day to day?
Hope this helps!!
Thanks for the valuable advice Rob. Great comment!
Do jalapenos and salsa need to be refrigerated for Nachos
No, but your inspector may want you to.