Carts of Cash Chapter Six – Catering

Chapter 6
Catering

Nothing says fun like a hot dog cart. Chances are that one of your regular customers will ask you to cater a party.  Catering is a great opportunity because you know exactly how much you’ll make before you even start.

There are two ways to price your catering services.  If the host knows how many people will be attending, you can charge a per person rate based on an average of two dogs, one bag of chips, and one soda per person.  Sometimes the number of attendees is not known, for example at a free hot dog promotion for a store opening, the host can pre-purchase a certain number of hot dogs, say 300 or 400.  You will stop serving at that number, but always ask the host if they want to keep going.  When they see how successful the promotion is, they usually will, so bring extra stock.

Catering gives you a chance to leverage your cart business by offering additional services.  Let’s say you are asked to cater a kid’s birthday party.  Forty adults and children will be present.  An amateur would show up with his cart and make around a hundred bucks.  A pro would offer the…

“Four Hour Birthday Bash Extravaganza-palooza”:
•    Inflatable Jump Castle from 11am to 3pm
•    Magician from 11:30 to noon
•    Hot Dog Cart from noon to 1pm
•    Clown from 2pm to 2:30pm

Here’s how it works.
•    Hot Dog Cart serving dogs, chips, and soda for one hour @ $4 per person = $160, $112 profit (70% profit margin)
•    Hire an Inflatable Jump Castle service for four hours, they do the set up and tear down, you charge the host $20 per hour more than you pay the service = $80 profit
•    Hire a magician for a half hour show, charge $20 more = $20 profit
•    Hire a clown for a half hour show, charge $20 more = $20 profit

Total profit equals $232 for the package vs $112 for the cart alone.  The customer is thrilled to be able to host such a cool party with no work on her part (or cleanup afterward).  She knows she will be the talk of the neighborhood for the next two weeks.

You doubled your profit for the event with no extra work.

Here are some catering opportunities:
•    Birthday Parties
•    Weddings
•    Retirement parties
•    Bachelor/Bachelorette parties
•    Office parties
•    Bar/Batmitzvas
•    Store promotions
•    Open houses
•    Company picnics
•    Grand openings
•    Block Parties

Safety note:  It is illegal to bring a 20 pound propane cylinder indoors, so to work an indoor event you’ll need to buy an adaptor so that you can use one pound camp stove cylinders.  Bring several.

Here is what a typical catering contract might look like:

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An improved catering contract can be found in the Checklists and Contracts section of the HDP Members Area.

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