What is the easiest way to increase sales at your hot dog cart? It’s not by getting more customers.
Sure, getting more people to become regular customers at your hot dog cart will definitely increase your sales, but it’s definitely not the easiest way.
In fact, the hardest part of the sales process is new customer acquisition. Getting a new customer takes time, energy, and money.
Even if you don’t spend a dime on advertising, getting new customers costs you money.
Why? Let me explain.
If you are not spending money on advertising methods such as flyers, business cards, or a website, then the only way to get new customers is to be out on the street with your cart so folks can see you.
Yes, Facebook is free (and Premium Members get a free website for their businesses whenever they are ready for it) but you still need to be out on the street in order to take the live customer pictures and videos that are so necessary these days to engage website and Facebook visitors alike.
So, you are out on the street selling your delicious dogs to lots of folks. But you’re not selling something to every single person who walks or drives by are you?
It takes the average person at least seven exposures to your business (usually a lot more than that) before they even think about trying your food. If you are selling an experience, not just a hot dog, that person will hopefully become a regular. Someday. Maybe.
But for now, every person who could be a customer but isn’t one yet is costing you money. Here’s why…
You are out on the street for a certain period of time every day. It costs you gas money to get there. It costs you propane money to keep the food hot. It costs you 1/365th of your annual insurance premium for that day. If you pay rent for your spot, then you have to factor that in too.
When a passerby finally does become a customer, their orders pay for a portion of your overhead… saving you money that was going out of your business when they were walking by without purchasing something.
Make sense?
So, is there an easier and cheaper way of increasing sales at your cart without adding a single new customer?
Yes, there certainly is.
Offer your existing customers more food choices.
When you offer something in addition to hot dogs, you increase the chance that each of your regulars will start coming for lunch more often. They could have hot dogs on Monday, tacos on Wednesday, and on Friday they might buy a bag of your popcorn and take it back to the office for an afternoon snack.
It’s always easier to sell additional items to an existing customer than it is to try to get someone to buy something from you for the very first time.
So, slingers (and wanna-be slingers too) what can you add to your cart to increase your sales to existing customers? How would you serve that item from a cart? Let us know in the comments section below!
-Steve
IN THE SOUTH HERE WE ARE BIG ON BOILED PEANUTS IN A BROWN PAPER BAG, WHAT YOU THINK?
Do ya’ll still put em in your Cokes? I love that.
NOT BOILED PEANUTS IN YOUR COKE, BUT SALTED PEANUTS, WE USE TO PUT THEM IN RC COLA DRINKS, THE BOTTLES WERE BIGGER
Yeah, that’s right!
I added the BOLO DAWG to my menu last weekend. Large Stick of fried bologna cut 1/4 inch thick and then cut in half. Add Monterary Jack cheese, onions, and sweet pickles on a hot dog bun for a tasty treat. Rave reviews from my customers.
This week I am adding Walking tacos.
Wow! That sounds really good Al!!! Send me a picture.
Whats a walking taco?
Open a single serving bag of Fritos and pour some chili in covering the Fritos. Toss in a few jalapenos. Serve with a plastic fork. Good stuff!
Interesting, seems I saw something like that a while back. Does it get hot in the customers hand when you put the chili on?
Not too bad.
don’t for get the cheese
Oops. Good catch Charley. Definitely cheese.
Do you break up the Fritos a little before you put the chili in Steve? And do you use regular bean chili or beanless?
Yes, smash the bag a bit before you open it. I use the same beanless chili that I serve on my hot dogs.
gum Who wouldn’t want gum after a dog with onions. Easy purchase and takes little space. pretty good profit too.
Right on Tom!
I’ve recently discovered something that’s increasing sales all over the place for me. I noticed that the majority of my customers are thinking “hot dog” no matter what is on the menu. No matter how good the hamburgers were, most of the time it is the hot dog that sells. So I’ve added a quarter lb. dog and call it the hungry man super dog. The contractors are hungry when they get there and feel like a real HE-MAN to eat that. They’re flying out of the pans 4 and 5 at a time!
I sell a QP in addition to my 8 to 1 dogs and I agree Robin, they are very popular.
Hand dipped corn dogs, put oil in one of my 1/3 pan heat up to 375 takes about 2 to 3 mjn. to cook. cheap to make 50 cent sell for $3.00 everybody loves corn dogs!
I love corn dogs.
Good advice!
I wanted to try some events when I eventually get my cart built and on my feet. We have several festivals down here, and I thought I may add some light up trinkets to my
cart. For Halloween, get some of the cheap light up Halloween skull necklaces for example, or for fourth of july look at some uncle sam/jester hats, or some other light up necklaces/swords/glow sticks. Same for our Christmas parade. Something that is easy to hang on the cart, and cheap to buy, but will catch kids eyes as they go by.
You guys are the experts, think this would work for specific festivals?
Absolutely. If you work at night, you definitely want to create an experience with lights. You are right on Lisa!
Hey Steve,
I hate to tell you this but, yo’ yankee-ism is showing !!!
You might put “Parched” or “Roasted” or “Fried” peanuts
in your coke, but, you would NEVER put “Boiled” nuts in a coke.
Here in Florida, Restaurant Depot has Johnsonville precooked
brats at a great price. Makes a $4.00 item for less than $1.50
counting the bun and toppings.
Ha! I lived in West Virginia for a while and that’s where I saw the peanut in the coke trick, but I guess you can’t take the Yank out of the Yankee.
We serve Chili dogs, Bratwurst w/kraut, Kraut dogs, BBQ pulled pork sandwiches, Walking tacos, Coke products, Gatorade, Monster drinks, and when the weather breaks liquid gold, Fresh Squeezed lemonade. We’ve learned not sell Gatorade when we sell lemonade because it competes with our lemonade sales too much.
PS Our walking Tacos are, Doritos slightly crushed in the bag, coney chili, shredded cheese, lettuce, and salsa. We’ve had requests for sour cream so we are adding that condiment. Think Taco salad in a bag. It’s a hit in the Midwest.
You’re making me hungry Jill. And I just ate, lol!
My walking taco, which sells very well, is a 1.75 oz. bag of Doritos, taco meat, shredded cheese, shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, mild salsa & jalapeno slices. I bill them as custom made, and walk the customer through the prep. I’m surprised how many don’t want tomatoes. I sell them for $5.00, and sell a lot of them at festivals. A few diehards insist on Fritos, but most like the Doritos. Other vendors will sell them in the 1 oz. bag. I tell my customers I serve a meal, the others are a snack. The prep time gives you time to upsell a drink as you talk with the customer.
That’s a Walking Taco Supreme!
the absolute best thing I ever did was go from selling soda in Cans to soda in bottles. Follow along. I learned this from a huge vendor (aramark). I was selling can soda for 1.00 each. They would cost me around .34 cents each. So i was making .66 cents each – minus gas etc. etc. Once i went to bottles i would pay an extra bit for them. On sale about .40 cents each, normally closer to .54 cents. But i could sell them for 2.00 each. so even at .54 cents i would make 1.46 each on them. Plus add a higher end bottled water Dasani works great here, i charge 2.00 for it, it roughly cost me .13 cents each. When its smoking hot this is the best option out there. Selling cans makes zero sense at all once you do the math on it. As Steve has said above i have added more options such as shaved ice, lemonade, popcorn and cotton candy. I have moved from a hot dog stand to a truck!
Way to go Beau!
Merchandise? The obvious would be hats & t-shirts. Maybe a re-fill plasic cup? Thoughts on other merchandise? How about coffee?
People like the extra value of FREE STUFF. A mint, a stick of gum, or; I sometimes give a Green Apple Sucker that has been dipped in Caramel that is individually packed, and sold in the open bin barrels at the discount grocery store for about .05 cents each.
All Beef Hot Dog, Soda, Chips, and a FREE Green Apple Sucker; All for a mere $4.00.
BABA BING BABA BOOM !
Thanks Chappy!
Great ideas
Hey steve what do you think….i am about to be up and running. ….i plan on saleing all 1/4 beef hotdog by bar-s…i want to price them at 3.50 each with different toppings….and combo for 5.50….a 20oz and bag of chips….what do you think
You can try it. Bar-S is not number one in my book as far as quality is concerned, but give it a shot and see how it goes. You can always upgrade to a higher quality dog if you get negative feedback. Be sure to ASK EVERY CUSTOMER how they like it until you get a feel for how most folks like them.
My wife has started giving away mini Snickers with a value meal! Big hit!
We also took our cart to a sound advice had a sound system installed with color changing lights for those night events!
Cool stuff!
I need pics of that Steve!
Just got my rig going this month. Took a while to get everything going. Just wanted to drop a note to those out there thinking about this business and have not pulled the trigger yet. I have a handicapped son with CP. I took a long time to pull the trigger on doing this biz. But I tell ya it is the best decision I have made. I am selling (Sams) 8 to 1 all beef dogs. 1 dog, a bag of chips, and a drink (soda or water) $4.00. 2 dogs, chips, soda for $6.00
But the thing I added is a lemon or strawberry shake-up for $4.00 Great markup on the shake-ups. 50 cents in the 32 oz cup, lemons strawberries, sugar. I will be sending you (Steve) some pic of the rig I built. GO FOR IT. My son loves working with me.
I love it Clyde! I’m so happy you can include your son in the business. Wonderful!!!!
Send pics for sure, I would love to see you guys in action!
I have a jar of long licorace, 25 cents a piece. Oversize cookies in a jar warmed by the sun, $1:00
Large dill pickles, $ 1.00
Great!
I will try them steve…but what brand and size do you suggest. ….
1 1/2 oz bags
also to draw a crowd. if you have a flat grill,
cook some onions and peppers on it.
people will come over just to see what is making the smell.
if you want to get artsey too, cook some coke onions right on your cart for the dogs.
Yep.
I have a sign saying ” Free hat with hot dog” . It’s a paper “soda jerk” hat that costs me 7 cents each.
I have a hot dog stand that i serve walkin tacos out of.I take a 1 oz serving of fritos,top with canned red beans that i season and heat in the stand,I top with chili ,sweet onion,grated cheese, lettuce some ranch and or salsa.very popular.Health dept seems to have an issue with the beans.they point out that i should only serve hot dogs.Any opinions on the subject?
Hi Tim,
Every city is different as far as what the inspector will allow. My first question is this – did the inspector actually tell you to stop? Did he cite you with paperwork? Or did he just say that he wasn’t crazy about it? If you haven’t been officially warned, I would just keep on serving them until he tells me to stop.
You may need to give your inspector a standard operating procedure for your walking tacos. It’s just a piece of paper that tells how your walking tacos are made step by step. In the paper be sure to point out how and when you heat the beans. Prove that the beans go from the can to safe temperature (145 degrees or higher) in less than an hour and you should be good.
Hey steve,the issue seems to be with serving walking tacos here in north carolina fm a hotdog stand is that the state regs state that only hotdogs can be served fm a hotdog stand and that anything else has to be preportioned and packaged. they have let me serve them for the last 3 yrs without an issue but are now waving this reg in my face.Have you or others ran into this or am i just the lucky one.Can i assume the health dept offical has been called on it fm somebody?Is their a loophole i can use?
Who knows. If he tells you to stop, you have to stop. If he didn’t actually cite you, keep slingin’ the walking tacos.