One of the most popular and best-recognised types of food trucks is the hot dog cart. These carts are pretty much present in just about any city depending on the size, but even small towns and cities will probably have a food cart out and about during special events or occasions. If you’re looking to just start by dipping your toe in the water of running a food truck then this option might be something you want to try out for yourself. Food trucks come in all different types after all and some will do better than others with specific kinds of specialty food – but who doesn’t love a good hot dog?
The Hot Dog Cart is a Well Recognized Fixture in Some Places – and Has Been for a Very Long Time!
Reduce Your Risk With a Hot Dog Cart
The hot dog cart business is one that you can easily check out for yourself. You may start just by chatting to a few vendors to ask how they got started and how business is going for them. By starting out with this type of food vending business you actually decrease your costs and decrease the amount of risk involved, because like we said, who doesn’t love a good hot dog? You don’t have to worry about choosing the right cuisine for the right crowd. That means you shouldn’t have to worry too much about whether or not people will like your food and you will be likely get the business that you need wherever you go. Instead, you just have to worry about where to put your cart so that you get the most business possible.
A Modern Purpose Built Hot Dog Cart
As well as simplifying the choice of cuisine being served from hot dog carts and grills, we mentioned cost and there’s a good reason for that.
A hot dog cart is typically not the same as a full size mobile food truck. In most cases a food truck will be much larger and will have fairly serious cooking equipment of some kind. They will generally also produce more than just one kind of food or will produce several options for that type of food, with the possible side-effect that you’ll be likely to have more wastage than if you served a narrow selection of foods on your menu.
On the other hand a hot dog cart is generally a smaller cart that can simply be pushed around by the owner. You don’t need a big truck because you’re selling a small product. You’re selling the one kind of product, so don’t need a wide variety of basic ingredients so this makes life simpler, keeps running costs down and wastage to a minimum.
Because you’re only selling one product you’ll also have less money invested in inventory. Purchasing large quantities of hot dogs and condiments doesn’t have to be expensive at all and you’ll be able to start making a profit much faster by not having to recoup all those costs that most mobile food vendors incur. There is still going to be a bit of a risk – there’s risk in any business – but it’s going to be far less of one than most other types of this business.
So think about it long and hard and figure out what’s going to work best for you : low entry cost and running costs? or the whole kit and kaboodle?
So as you’ll have worked out for yourself, a smaller cart will cost you far less money than purchasing a large food truck. And a used hot dog stand will be just fine to start with. You’ll also have less money involved in start-up costs and permits because you don’t actually need to ‘park’ in any one specific place. Don’t get us wrong of course, you do still need to get a permit, but you don’t need to get one that allows you to park for extended periods of time, unless you want to set up a permanent area. You can actually walk up and down the street or through a park even to sell your wares.
“Who Doesn’t Love a Good Hot Dog?”
If you’re looking to give mobile vending a try but aren’t entirely sure, then this is possibly the best option to try it out without having to spend a fortune and then attempt to recoup the money when you decide you don’t like it, can’t make it work, or decide to do something else. You and your family may be eating hot dogs for a year if you can’t get the business rocking, but at least you won’t be out a fortune on a food truck and equipment! You’ll just be out the price of the cart and you’ll have food for your family for a while. After all, hot dogs never get boring right? (We’re kidding, of course!)
A food truck can be a fun way to earn an income and a this type of entry level hot dog cart can be even more so. Just because you have the freedom to move around so much more and you have the ability to meet more people, the hot dog cart business can sometimes be even better than operating a large mobile food truck. The opportunities are endless and who knows, you may end up with other products in your hot dog cart and you may end up with some excellent regular customers – it’s a great way to get started in your own business.
