Hey Steve, Thanks for getting back to me about the EcoTemp Hot Water Heater. I think that will be my next upgrade to my cart. I got into the business back in the Fall of 2009 after being out of work for 18 months. While I didn’t build my cart on my own I have been following your Newsletter since I started investigating owning/operating a hot dog cart. I ended up buying a used TopDog Cart and have been very happy with it. I started selling on our local campus, Mon-Fri but had to switch that strategy when I got a full-time job as I found it difficult to […]

Giant opportunity for some local vendors! I just got a call from a large chain of stores called American Furniture and Electronics. They are liquidating some of their locations and they need a hot dog vendor at each store in the St. Louis area from now through the first week of August. They are not asking for any rent or set up fee so this one is all gravy. They do request that you […]

  One of the most popular carts on my site is the Aluminum diamond plate and stainless steel E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart that was built from my plans by a customer in Phoenix. As is quite common with my customers, Jamie modified the basic E-Z Built to make it exactly how he wanted it. One of his custom mods is a cutting board food prep surface that covers the entire top of the cart. It looks awesome and the health inspector loves, loves, LOVES it! So you can imagine how pleased I was when I got an email from a Hot Dog Cart News reader who passed along a great source for cutting board […]

I got an email from a young man who wanted me to promise him success in the dog biz. I referred him to an old article that I wrote on the subject back in January of 2009. It’s really more of a manifesto than an article. I feel VERY strongly about this. […]

Short and sweet from HDCN reader John Hagy: ******************* Here’s the pics I was telling you about Steve, got the cabinet handles at […]

My E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart Builders are always thinking… Pat from the Florida Everglades writes: ******************** Steve I think this may help some of the people out there. I know I’m a newbie and shouldn’t complain, but I find it a little annoying everytime you get started to go out, you have to take the pans out of the cart and secure them, then take the stove brass burner rings and do something with them so you don’t loose them. I made this locking system out of […]

The infamous rebel hot dogger “Biker Jim” is famous for his reindeer sausages topped with cream cheese which he liberally pumps from a … get this… a CAULKING GUN! What a great attention getter, and getting attention is the name of the game in the hot dog business. Word of a gimmick such as this spreads like wildfire in the local community. Just what we’re looking for, right? But I always wondered where to find one of those guns? […]

Richard Fergison writes: Steve, Thanks for the newsletters each week. They help me learn more about the hotdog business. We really like using the Cash Tracker hot dog cart bookkeeping software that we got from you. I talked to you last winter about menu prices, and I said I would send pic’s after I got going. Well we’re up and […]