Travis wants to know more about veggie dogs and I’m going to defer to the HDCN readership for your expertise. I sling dogs in the mid west where folks like meat, meat, and more meat. I have to be honest with you, I’ve never served a vegetarian hot dog so I don’t have any experience with them. But I know a lot of you do.
By the way, I know that cross contamination is a big no-no so if you are serving meat hot dogs along with vegan dogs you MUST set up your cart to keep thing separate. Here are some great videos from our own Dale Schroeder on steam table set ups…
Travis writes,
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Hi. I’m thinking of starting up a cart that only serves veggie dogs. What do you guys think about this? I am new to the business and I know that my location would be critical if I’m to find vegetarian customers. Any feedback would be great.
Thanks,
Travis Moore
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All right people, let’s get veggie in the comments section below. What are some good brands? What kinds of condiments go over well? What makes a good location where veggie dogs are in demand? What are we forgetting?
Veg out!
-Steve
Lettuce Eat Healthy serves all vegetarian fare from a hot dog cart. Veggie Dogs, Philly Cheese Steak Hoagies and Italian Sausage Hoagies ~ ALL VEGETARIAN. “Changing the World, One Veggie Dog at a Time”! ~ Jim
I saw a cart on Food Network that did veggie dogs. One tip for serving meat and veggie from the same cart was to wrap the veggie dogs in foil and then grill them so they don’t touch the same surfaces as the meat. As for vending sites, I would suggest college campuses. I would really do my research. Of course, I’m from MI and we eat vegetarians here. lol
Location, location and location! I’ve gotten 6 requests in 3 years. But in Loma Linda they would sell like hot cakes! Any place where there are Seventh-day Adventists, or animal rights people, it might do very well. Here, I can’t sell enough to make it worth it.
I have done l “beaucoup” research as to what works for veggie dogs. The best dog I have found which is also “Vegan” is the Tofurky® Italian Sausage product by Turtle Island foods out of Oregan. It stands up to my charcoal grille (and I suspect would stand up to you “steamers” and “dirty-wahter-dawgs” folks who like to give your dogs a bath or a steam cleaning before serving 🙂 ) I also sell another GREAT vegan product that you will find distributed by many whole food/organic grocery chains these days, they are vegan burgers, known here in the North East as “Divine Burgers.” They are very good and healthy too, a good change of pace from the traditional dogs and gourmet sausages I offer on my food cart. You can check these out at my site iansgrille.com,
cheers! -Pete at IANs Grille NH.
Those of you who think your customers ONLY WANT MEAT are missing the boat completely…they are your customers because they want meat…add some veggie or vegan products and you wll open up your biz. to a whole new batch of customers who “never thought we’d get anything at a food vendor” and they will come back again and again and TELL THEIR VEGAN FRIENDS!!!!-Pete
Once every blue moon, someone will ask me about tofu dogs…Several years ago, after several people had asked, I bought a package of 8 veggie dogs and keeping them on ice, brought them to gigs. Never saw the people who had asked, and the dogs remained on ice…Finally grilled them free for some hungry and homeless, and they griped about the dogs with every bite…For me, that was all she wrote on the subject…
There is one here ,it is a hard already out here. I really think that if you market isn’t 70% veggie buyers , I would not be 100% devoted a completely veggie cart, maybe try to use lean products and then work some veggie products in. Hope this helps.
I cook veggie dogs to order. I don’t get many requests but those who get them are excited. Not many have ever bought a dog from a cart. I have a separate pan under my chili ready to use for the veggie dogs so no meat interface. I use Smart Dogs just because of name recognition up in Maine.
We vend in an “uppity”/ritzy neighborhood in Chicago (Lincoln park), where just about every other person is on the vegetarian yoga kick. I offer vegetarian Smart Dogs and charge $1 more than the beef dogs. I just use a grill brush to clean up the grates before throwing down the dog so there is no meat contamination. Vegetarians are so stoked to know we sell “not dogs,” as they are hard to find in Chicago! I suggest having just a pack or 2 to start (I purchase mine from jewel or whole foods). Word will catch on and you’ll know when you will need to buy more. Good luck!
We use Smart Dogs Jumbo we boil them in water for about a minute then throw them on the grill. You don’t want to grill them for long at all (if you see it start to blacken, take it off or the black areas will be gross and chewy). They overcook easily so you have to watch them carefully. In larger events, we get people who LOVE us because we are the only Vegetarian option a lot of times. A package costs about $3.79 by us (NC) for 5 of them and we charge $3.75 for one. It has worked out really well for us, but you have to advertise it well… some people try it just because they haven’t eaten one before, and most people who are trying them say it’s not bad, although they wouldn’t get it on the regular. We’ve had people call us for catering just because we do offer veggie dogs on our menu. Good luck!
I get asked for Veggie dogs maybe once for every 1000 dogs i go through. This is why I do not carry them. I have actually been asked for peanut butter as a condiment more times than i have been asked for veggie dogs.
We serve them in Santa Barbara, CA., along with our natural casing all beef dogs and a Louisiana Hot Link. The best tasting one that we have found is Yves Jumbo Veggie. We buy them at a health food market. People love them! Southern CA is big on health food.
Travis,
You can try this site lightlife.com they
sell vegan dogs..couple of different varieties
too, including tofu yuk…there sold mostly in
trader joe’s an whole foods market..so you know there not gonna be cheap buddy..i’ll agree with
steve i like meat dogs also..good luck on finding
that vegetable crowd..
First, Travis, I think it commendable to try and carve out a “nitch”. Just remember, the narrower the specialty the larger the market you need. So, look at the total number of people in a 1, 5, 10 mile radius before you decide to do this. Then write a little article about how special this is and send it to the local paper. You would be surprised at how often they will print a human interest story that is actually an ad. Also try to get on a local TV talk show with this wonderful idea. Best of luck
Here in KC there are a few hot dog joints that serve a grilled carrot in place of the frankfurter. When cooked properly, grilled & topped with condiments, this “carrot dog” leaves little for the vegetarian wiener wanter to be desired.
We have been serving Veggie dogs for 3 years and they have been a big hit at several office buildings we serve durning the week. Smart Dogs is what we serve from Whole Foods…..they are pricey. The gals that are not meat eaters love them. There are 2 sizes, 5 to a pkg are larger around 3.99 and 8 to a pkg smaller aound 2.99. Try Them. Jim
Steve, We also serve an organic turkey dog that has gone over very well. We have had a great response to everything we have added over the years and the turkey and veggies are all well liked. Jim and Sharon, Franklin TN
I tried them on my steam cart once. If you decide to sell them, I would probably grill them. They don’t steam or boil well. They didn’t have a good appearance and were very mushy. Maybe thats normal for veggie dogs. Good luck!
My exwife use to sell hot dogs from a cart at Cal State Long Beach. Every day she completely sold out of stock. Guys would line up by the hundreds waiting to buy a hot dog from, “The Hot Dog Lady!” Not a whole lot of women though… When my daughters started college they got into YOGA. With yoga came the vegan phase. Don’t know about veggie dogs. It might work. Good luck! Smiling at people who are lonely on campus is the key… plus most of them are trying to eat on the cheap and can’t afford or are afraid to leave campus… trust me on this!
I live in the Pacific Northwest and their are lots of people who love their veggies here. I have served two kinds of veggie dogs from my cart. One is a grain based dog that comes in 3 flavors- Italian, Chipotle, and Apple potato sage. The dog is made by a company in Seattle called Field Roast. These dogs come packaged in a heavy duty plastic that has to be removed when you serve them. I heat them in my steam table and the plastic does not melt. I use scissors to remove the casing. The dogs are tasty and my customers (both vegetarian and meat eaters) like them. Field Roast recommends that you grill them in a little oil. I do this at home but do not have a grill on my cart. If you choose this option grill them to order as they dry out pretty quickly. If you choose the steam table option they will hot hold for a long time and the casing keeps them separated from the meat. The other veggie dog I have served is made by St. Ives. They also have different varieties. They can be steamed or grilled and I asked my customers who liked them to call me 15 minutes before they planned to pick them up. In the case of the dogs from St. Ives I would use Jennifer’s suggestion and wrap them in foil to separate them from the meat dogs. Currently, I have discontinued serving both kinds of veggie dogs because even though there are lots of vegetarians here, I did not find a large enough demand to sustain having them on the cart. If you are looking for a meatless option for vegetarians try nachos or frito pie made with vegetarian chili, onions, jalapenos, salsa, and sour cream. If you need a gluten free option try Aidells apple chicken sausage on a stick (I use a chopstick). If you need a vegan option serve the frito pie with out the cheese or sour cream.
I think we tend to lose focus on our cart and try to cater to everyone. Just MHO, I see a hot dog cart, I am thinking meat and dog and I am NOT thinking about eating healthy or staying within in my vegan plan. (lets face it, vegans won’t give you a second look anyway) If I am a vegan I am not looking for a hot dog cart for a quick bite. I think if you are going to offer veggie dogs you will be throwing a lot of product away at the end of the day. Again just MHO
I did some research on them and Tofurky was the ones that won. Go to your local food store and you should find them there. As to buying Quantity I guess you could contact the company to find a distributor in your area. For condiments you could use beansprouts LoL
Funny! You ask that question Travis,because I asked about veggie dogs a while ago, but my question never made it to the forum. It was shot down by the Mid-Western Meat Eaters.
I try to make money from every customer I can. The last time I checked Vegetarian money was green also..:). I sell veggie dogs at a few Farmer Markets I attend. I don’t stock many of them because they are a small request item at this point. I would be careful of exclusively selling Veggie Dogs because it is a small segment of the Hot Dog eating public.
they are on my menu, I bought a small pack (8 Hot Dogs) from Walmart and cook them to order, takes a few minuts. I don’t sell many of them at all but do cary them
Jim,
I like the .org on your web address. I usually advise using .com but in this instance I think it’s great branding. The vegan crowd is usually a bit anti-corporate and .org gives you a non-commercial feel.
Nice.
Jennifer,
Good tip on the foil.
Thanks!
P.S. We eat vegetarians and carnivores here. We’re equal opportunity consumers 😉
Well said Robin. By the way, where’s my pink shirt?
Pete,
I’m going to try a Divine Burger if I can find them here. Always looking for something new.
Grateful-
“Finally grilled them free for some hungry and homeless, and they griped about the dogs with every bite…For me, that was all she wrote on the subject…”
LOL!
Big Mike,
You make a good point. A 100% vegetarian cart would be a hard sell in most locations but in the right place it could be a gold mine.
Franks and Hubby’s,
Good tips on minimizing cross contamination. That’s an important issue with vegetarians and it makes sense.
Dang Good Dogs,
Nice margins and good marketing!
Beau,
Peanut butter dogs? Yeah, guess what I’m going to try today…
Road Dogs,
You are definitely in the right place for this product offering.
Bob,
Thanks for the link fellow carnivore 😉
drstrawder,
Good PR ideas. You are right about the newspaper. They have a constant shortage of good ideas for articles and they would jump on this.
Thanks!
Grilled carrot? Now that’s going too far Dave. Well, maybe with peanut butter on it…
WHAT AM I SAYING? I NEED SOME MEAT RIGHT NOW!
HotDiggity,
I can see that in the office environment. Good call.
Ron De-
Mushy dogs = not good.
Ron N-
You are right on about the campus eating environment. There was a hot dog cart at my college and I ate there 3 times a week. Who would have thought I would eventually make it a career?
Great tips Mary Jane!!!
Rick,
If you are going to offer a “V” product on your cart you will need to advertise it heavily. Big signage, etc. You are correct about the perception of street carts as “meat” carts.
Tofurkey. I love that name, lol! Thanks Daily.
Bfree,
It’s hard to be the trendsetter but don’t stop. You are doing great!!!
Never had anyone even ask for a veggie dog. Most of my customers want “All beef”. The rest don’t want to know. I do sell a 1/4 lb Chicken Dogs but my regular customers that love them and eat them every time I setup don’t what to know what is in them, they just know they are Good!! Good!! My sausage dogs have beef, pork and chicken in them, sales are great for them also. I can’t change what is working for me, but I am in the deep south, “uall”
Duggs Doggs
Good!! Good!!
Mike,
That’s a good option, just carrying a pack. It let’s you enter the “V” market without a big inventory commitment.
Michael,
So now you’re “The Best Looking Chicken Dog Man in Georgia”?
Crazy, brother. Good!! Good!!
Veggie Happy consults with baseball stadiums on veggie dogs and the big talk of this season is Field Roast’s vegan frankfurters. They’re superior to the typical veggie dogs you find, with great texture and flavor. They’re already on the menu at AT&T Park and Safeco Field, with more ballparks sampling now. FYI.
I am a vegetarian who eats veggie dogs but I don’t currently sell veggie dogs yet (I just started my hot dog business last year and haven’t had any requests yet–sadly. LOL!) but know where to buy them!
Check out Cedar Lake Foods. They sell wholesale and has a great selection.
I personally buy Tofu Pups (you can find these anywhere!) for myself and top them with green onions, honey mustard, and a sprinkle of celery salt. But these are small dogs.
Try the Cedar Lakes Jumbo Franks for selling.
DON’T get TOFURKY products. I find them VERY disgusting. They really need to work on their taste! YUK!
Vegan sausage is awesome too! Don’t buy LIGHTLIFE. They are disgusting just like Tofurky. Try vegan sausage from Cedar Lakes (I heard they were delicious. I haven’t tried these yet) on a whole wheat roll with spicy mustard and if you can, sweet potato fries! YUM!
Always happy to get the inside scoop, Johanna. Thanks!
Julia – don’t hold back. Tell us how you really feel! 😉
Hi Travis,
In almost 3 years of being in the business I’ve had less than a handful of requests for veggie dogs. I’m in the Denver area which is pretty diversified but we have a lot of professional sports here and most, if not all of my customers are meat eaters. If you have a cart with steam trays might I suggest pulled pork and baked beans along with your other fare. I work a lot of horse shows in the Spring & Summer and that item has been a big hit !
Jennifer Juniper…I love your comment about ‘eating vegetarians’.
In this neck of the woods most of the veggieheads can be found up in Boulder, CO ; – )
Hey Travis,
I have to agree with “Road Dog’s” – after trying many “meatless” options, we’ve selected the Yves Meatless Jumbo Dog. Like most doggers that have responded, we really don’t sell many – but if we know in advance that we’ll be serving to a potential group of Vegan’s, we’ll have them on hand to serve.
I am adding large dill pickles to my cart today. Any veggies come my way, I will offer them a pickle “dog”! =)
@Steve,
OH sure, you’ll try peanut butter hot dogs but you won’t try cutting onions with a slice of bread in your mouth:) I haven’t made up your pink shirt yet. Coming soon with more than you think!:)
Hi Robert. Nice to know there are other slingers from Denver who also really enjoy Steve’s blogs. I am not up and running yet, but it has only been a week. I still gotta make modifications to my cart to satisfy Denver Health Dept.
Steve, as for the veggie dogs. I will admit to trying them on two occasions, once in Washington DC because I was hungry and curious at the same time, and I did not have my own car to go too far from the hotel, and the other time was under pressure by a female friend that I was visiting in California. Not sure what brands these were, but neither got past the first bite & chew, and certainly not down my throat. Maybe they are better nowadays, but it could also be the brands that I ate. Yuck!
Total meat eater here!!! No veggie, tofu, soybean, non-meat “burgers” or “hot dogs” for me.
I get a lot of request for Turkey dogs Veggie Dogs and bugers but then I have them on ice to long . Is it wrong for me to just start saying no to these request I always feel bad . And Steve I would like to send you a Hotties T Shirt can you email me were to send
We serve a veggie/meat dog. No meatless meat here! Not many of our customers request a vegeteritian hotdog. As one writer has mentioned, customers already know when they approch a hotdog cart what they are in for. The healthiest we get on our hotdog cart is to serve a turkey hotdog with all the vegetable fixings you can think of like, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, peppers, shredded carrots, mustard, ketchup, relish, etc… and sometimes shredded cheese. These dogs sell great on our cart.
Laurie,
Just say no if it’s costing you money. And I would LOVE to rock a New England Hotties t-shirt here on the newsletter. Free Shirt Friday is a lot of fun!
Send an XL to:
Red Arrow Publishing LLC
PO Box 118
Union MO 63084
Thanks!
Just got MANY requests for Veggie dogs!
I got permission to set up in front of the local District Courthouse and the town permit clerk is a member of the local gym next to where I’m setting up. She said she’d come to my cart regularly for a veggie dog and tell her fellow gym mates that I sell them!
Also, I am friends with two store owners in the area that are originally from India. They don’t eat beef and when I told them I’d possibly carry veggie dogs, they got real excited! They said they would all come and visit my cart on a daily basis if I offered veggie dogs too!
Ok, so scratch my last comment about NOT getting any requests yet! As soon as I mentioned it, they said they’d come! Or, “If I make it, they will come!” LOL!
This is exciting since I love veggie dogs! 🙂
There are opportunities all around us, things we don’t see but are there nevertheless. One (or more) of them is probably a gold mine if we can just tap it. Awesome Julia!!!
Just a sidenote for those interested in selling vegan sausages. I’m buying mine from a distributor called: May-Wah Vegetarian Market. They sell wholesale (you can set up an account or buy retail at very reasonable prices!) and deliver anywhere in the US.
Hey Steve,
Haven’t posted here in years but I absolutely had to comment since this is my thing! Being a former slinger and vegetarian myself, I absolutely had great success selling Field Roast dogs (http://fieldroast.com/) and the LightLife ones. The Field Roast dogs are a lot more “meatier” than their LightLife competitors. But love the taste of both!
Field Roast also has vegetarian sausages that are absolutely awesome! Their Italian ones are made with eggplant, onions, potatoes and garlic. Their Mexican Chipotle and Smoked Apple Sage are also great! 🙂
Great to hear from you again Julia! Thanks for the link!
I am glad that more people are interested in Vegan foods. Which in my opinion are the only real foods anyways. But please keep in mind, that being Vegan is not about a diet …its not about what we eat. Rather, being vegan is moral and ethical position that exploiting animals at all is wrong. So that’s why you cant kid around with a Vegan about eating meat with comments like “bacon is yummy” … you may was well say rape feels good … its about the same reaction.
Anyways, I am glad that more people are eating less animals. That’s a step in the right direction to be sure.
I respect your opinion Henry, even though I don’t agree with it.
Hey, Henry! My whole family went vegan last September for health reasons!! I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 4 years ago!! Could never get my A1C below 7.2!! Went vegan and it dropped to 6.4!! My Dr. was ecstatic!! We went off our vegan diet this past February and I now have brain fog, high blood pressure and just feel overall blah!! My husband and grandaughter won’t go back with me but I will be going back to vegan as soon as I stock up the vegan pantry again!! I love hot dogs so these brand suggestions are terrific everyone!! Thanks a bunch!! Oh, and I live in a suburb of Milwaukee and love meat and potato meals but my health comes first!!
I totally get it. If limiting any food makes your health issues better, then do it by all means. That doesn’t mean you can’t treat your customers to a good old fashioned hot dog.
Check out the vegan hot dog cart in Orlando. They kick butt!!!
I offer a vegan italian sausage. @$4. It does pretty well for me. There are a lot of Indian people where I’m at who don’t eat meat.
Great! Give the people what they want.
I never ate vegan garbage and never will you want a vegan hotdog go to somebody who has them on their cart. I do not need your 2.00 a year profit
Don’t hold back doc, tell us how you really feel. 😉
It is hard to be or have something for everyone. In 7 years on Hot Dogging only a few requests.
I started for those who want veggie, A loaded bun with Dill pickle, onions, banana peppers, relish any mustards, ketchups, and the newest addition to my menu are microgreens, radish, arugula, broccoli, kale, cabbage,microgreens, what a flavorful addition.
Right on Mike!