Hot Dog Cart at Courthouse

Steve,

I just finished all the legal stuff with the health department and such and now I’m in a pickle.

Now that I’m ready to start selling, I was gonna do some weekend gigs, events here and there and maybe hit the bar scene.

Well I’m friends with the county commissioner and he went asked the local court house (small town) if I could set up. So I get a call one afternoon from the court administrator saying they would love for me to set up, it would be great for the town and all that great stuff, and better yet, not charge me. So a free spot.

The issue is, I have a full time job and don’t want to start slinging full time until I know that spot is going to provide. I think it will but can’t be sure until I try it. I can’t necessarily ask off to run my business when they are also running a business and need me. I’m sure if I bring it up they will probably start looking for someone to replace me and I can’t have that yet.

I would hire someone part time to run it, but I haven’t been out yet and would hate for the people of the town to get used to one face and then change it if the spot works out. I want to stay consistent with who is behind the cart (me). Not sure what to do. Should I take the risk and jump to full time slinging? Or what do you think?

Thank you,
Mr. Still Employed

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Hi Mr. E,

What a great problem to have!

I never advise any of my students to leave a perfectly good job until they have proven their hot dog biz on the side. It’s a lot of pressure to put on yourself and you won’t have as much fun. Your start up phase should be a time that you look back on fondly, not something that stressed you out.

We’re all attracted to the hot dog biz because of the low pressure lifestyle it provides, so why mess that up?

BUT – I wouldn’t want you to lose that great courthouse spot either.

I would definitely hire someone to work it until you are ready to take it over. If you are building a brand like I teach in my Hot Dog Biz 101 course then the face behind the cart isn’t all-important.

You should have uniforms, even if they are just t-shirts. Perhaps hats too. Your cart, menus, fliers, punch cards, and uniforms should all utilize the same color scheme and logos.

Your customers will get used to seeing the brand, not just the face behind the cart. This makes transitions from one operator to another much less noticeable to the customer.

In fact, once you have a good employee trained you may just want to keep him at the courthouse, get a second location, and expand your business by working cart number two yourself.

What do you think Slingers? What would you do if you were Mr. E? Let us know in the comments below,

-Steve