The following is a guest post by Tim VanDusen…

I really love the concept of of the 5 compartment/w ice tray condiment holders. The only draw back, for me, is using them during festivals and busy days on the cart. They do not hold enough, in my opinion, to be of value.

I put the condiments on all my dogs myself. No self service. It helps control condiment cost. But when I get busy I can empty the onion, tomato, and pickle slots every twenty minutes. I dodn’t want to have to stop and refill in the middle of a good gin.

The 5 compartment containers are good for gigs, like back yard parties, when you can find the time to refill. But on big gigs the stop and refill factor is frustrating. When I was just getting started, back in ’09, I used the 1/8 pans that were on my first cart. We learned to hate them on our very first festival.

We had a line 40 people deep for five straight hours. Had to refill on the run. The mess was unbelievable. And surprise, that was when the health department showed up. Condiments all over the place.

What I found, that worked well for me, was 1 qt metal food storage containers, in coolers on ice. They have a rubber gasket in the lid, air tight, so they stay fresh all day. I fill these, put them on a rack inside the cooler, and fill the cooler with ice.  Also my ice lasts longer in the coolers.

Once they get to temp they hold well. And even when the ice gets low the metal containers still transfer the cold temps quite well. One seven pound bag of ice and they will stay cold all day, even on 100 degree days.

The Blue cooler in the picture below holds the condiments. I don’t have any pics of the inside of the filled cooler, sorry, but I’m sure you get the idea.

They cost a little more. But in my opinion the convenience factor was well worth it. We got them at a place called Miejers. $10.00 bucks each.

Keep Doggin!

-Tim