Holy Crap!!!

[atropos]

You'll be a hit in Cali! I'll have my people get together with your people and eat dogs for lunch! Maybe we can come up with a new line of dog houses - Ocean views, priced in the lower $900,000's. Think it over. Good luck!

[Radar]

Hey I wanted to get your guys opinion. I'm considering 2 different hot dog carts. One has more capacity, but it may be a little too large. I'm not sure I'll even need that kind of capacity. But the bigger one has a water pump, etc.

Please check these out to let me know what you think.

The Gold Model

or

The California Model

[plthijinx]

california model. yeah, the california model.....it's just that much harder to come up with the extra $$. i know. i've been a broke sumbiatch since my divorce! well, spending the extra $ on airplanes kinda doesn't help either!

[wolf]

Both are veritable palaces of outdoor convenience dining.

But yeah. California model.

I mean, hey, you're IN California. What could be better??

With the extra size, you'll be in good position in case things really take off for you ... won't have to upgrade early on.

Question: Are these things available used? This would only be a consideration if they would be in damn near pristine condition though ... don't want anybody's old beat up cart, of course.

[Radar]

I was afraid you were going to say the California model. It's almost $2,000 more and I want to get started ASAP. It will take me longer to get started if I go with the California. I was thinking of starting with the Gold, and if I do well I'd buy another cart for my wife to work with the money from the first cart. My wife is hot so if I put her in a bikini and parked her near the beach in the summer, she'd pull in more tip money than hot dog money. Is it wrong for me to pimp my wife that way? I mean the money is for both of us to prepare a future for ourselves and our children.

[Undertoad]

If you believe their numbers, they claim that "one person can serve 360 dogs per hour at an event" and that the Gold model has the "CAPACITY to boil 800 1/4lb hotdogs PER HOUR in TWO FULL 20" X 12" steam pans, or steam 400 1/4lb hotdogs per hour".

So, the Gold model can boil more than twice as many dogs than they suggest one person can serve at maximum, or steam 40 more dogs than they suggest one person can serve at maximum.

360 dogs per hour is 6 per minute or one every 10 seconds. the only way I can imagine this happening is if you had the ideal location, one nobody else had including other carts (for some reason), and even at that it would probably be during some sort of special rush, such as an event letting out or lunch hour.

Plus, the California is much heavier. This could lead to additional woes depending on what you're using to haul it. You may come to hate the fact that it's bigger and heavier as you don't need the whole thing to get the sales numbers you can manage.

If you get that ideal location and want to work the single cart as a two-person business -- with the wife bringing in the attention and you closing the deals -- then you can sell the first cart and upgradeto the big one. But you really must start with the smaller one.

[plthijinx]

toad's got a good point there....

edit: oh, and by all means, there's nothing wrong with having a "wife marketing strategy!"

[elf]

Here here, go for the less expensive one, it looks pretty dang spiffy anyway. UT's math looks like it makes sense. No reason to spend the extra money if you don't need the extra stuff.

*edit: votes yes for pimping the wifely-type

[wolf]

You are continuing to assume that you will be successful in getting your wife over here. I assume you are continuing to send her money ... she has sabotaged your getting her here already. She benefits more from continuing to do so.

P.S. ... I prefer "realist" to "pessimist." I would delight in being proved wrong about this.

[Radar]

I agree with undertoad. I was thinking it should be more than suitable for my needs, and if I'm selling more than that, I'll be happy to buy another cart and easily able to afford it.

The lady at the cart place sells dogs too. She said she and her husband sometimes setup a cart outside of a strip club and with the tips she gets (husband pimping her) they'll get $900 in a day. She said the big money is in having corporate parties.

She said she'll send out flyers to businesses with 250 employees or more to bring in the cart for "Employee Appreciation Day" and she'll charge $6 per person for 250 employees to have a jumbo dog, bag of chips, and a soda or a bottle water. That's $1,500. She said she sometimes does 3 in a day. You can also do birthday parties, etc.

[warch]

You'll need to run a Tarantino related sound track----"Stuck in the Middle with You" featured.

[lookout123]

regarding events... i talked to one dog hawker in phoenix and i was told that it is a pretty good business.
Example: Swimming pool stores have big events occassionally. it turns out it isn't their big marketing ploy - it's the hot dog guy's. he approaches the business and tells them that he wants to help them with their sales and his at the same time. he spends the time and money to print up fliers and plaster them all over, advertising a big open house at the pool store with free hot dogs, chips, pop, and balloons for the kids. the pool store receives free advertising, but they have to pay $XX per person that shows up over a certain number.

the guy said he has been doing it for years and makes a killing and the stores won't let any other cart guy near their property because this guy came to them with the idea. the pool company loves it, he loves it, the customers love it. everybody wins.

[Elspode]

Gold model, but consider getting at least one of the add-on SS tables. You can never have too much customer convenience space in a rig like this.

Yesterday, I got my lunch from a grille palace on wheels...a full grille with single-well deep fryer, fridge, heat tray for the freshly cooked fries, cooled storage, all powered by a generator on the tongue of the enclosed trailer with walk-up window. There were several rigs of varying degrees of niceness, with this being the primo, parked along the street by the courthouse. You might look into that gig as well.

[Radar]

I was thinking of the Gold model with the add on condiment table, the removable tow bar, brake lights, vent for the propane area, bigger tires, and spare tire.

I've never heard of the deep fryer thing. I suppose that would be cool if I ever wanted to add french fries. Right now I just want to keep it simple and have high quality dogs (Hebrew Nationals), chips, and sodas at a reasonable price in a crowded area.

[Elspode]

May I also recommend a propane leak detector? Might save you from exploding the whole thing. Usually available at RV dealerships.