Chapter 9
Hot Dog Carts
There are many cart manufacturers out there, each trying to get your business. In this section, I’ll discuss what you need to know before purchasing a new or used cart. For those of you who are handy, or know someone who is, you can get complete videos and plans to build your own hot dog cart using commonly available hardware store parts and materials – for under $800 !
First you need to think about how you will be using your cart. Will you be selling to the local lunch crowd from a fixed location every day, or will you be working huge festivals? You need to think about the serving capacity of the cart, in other words, how many hot dogs the cart can cook per hour.
If you’re doing the lunch thing, a medium size cart will be able to keep up with demand. Look for a cart with at least two half size, or three third size pans. More is better. Don’t bother with the “teeny tiny” sterno carts, even though you may be tempted by the price. These are too small to handle anything but a kid’s birthday party.
Festival folks will need a big cart with at least two full size 20” x 12” steam pans. It should also be equipped with two 20 pound propane cylinders.
You can’t serve hot dogs without heat. What kind of heat source you need depends on your intended use. As I stated above, the big festival carts should have the ability to hold at least 40 pounds of propane. The medium size carts can get by with one 20 pound cylinder, but be sure to have a spare. Also make sure that your hose has a quick connector on the end. It takes too long to change cylinders with a wrench.
When you are working indoors, you can’t use the 20 pound cylinders. It’s illegal. Get an adaptor so you can use one pound camping cylinders. If you know you will always be working indoors, you can buy carts that heat the water with electricity instead of gas. A third option is sterno heat, but this is expensive and not very efficient. You won’t find sterno heat on anything buy the Tiny little push carts. I don’t recommend it.
Will you be storing the cart off site? If so, then you need a cart that can be towed behind your vehicle. Most hot dog carts are so light that they can be towed by even the smallest of cars. If you will be towing cross country on a regular basis, go with the larger wheels, especially if you will be driving at highway speeds. Larger wheels turn slower than smaller wheels. This makes the wheel bearings last a lot longer.
If you don’t already have a hitch on your car, you only need a light duty model. Don’t buy the most expensive one, but it is a good idea to have it professionally installed.
Some vendors work out an agreement with the landlord to store the cart in a back room or storage area on site. In that case, you can get by with a less expensive push cart (the kind with the bicycle tires).
Most locations require carts to have hand washing equipment which includes a clean water tank, faucet, sink, and waste water holding tank. The waste water tank should be at least 15 percent larger than the clean water tank to prevent overflow. Check with your health department for specific requirements.
Some require hot water mixing faucets and either one, two, or three compartment sinks. Others only require a source of clean water and soap.
Also check to see if sneeze guards are required. These are simply pieces of clear plexiglass strategically placed on the cart to protect the food from…that’s right – sneezes.
A lot of cart manufacturers will try to dazzle you with how many cans of soda the built in cooler will hold. Don’t be too concerned with cooler capacity. Whoever thought that reaching over a hot steam table and down into a deep cooler 250 times a day was a good idea, ought to have their head examined. You’re better off letting the customer get their own soda from a cooler on the sidewalk. Use the built-in cooler to store your meat.
You will need an umbrella. You can buy these from the cart manufacturer or you can get them for free from your hot dog supplier if you agree to sell their products exclusively. These are high quality, colorful umbrellas with the company logo. They are a great way to show the public that you sell a quality name brand product. You get instant credibility while harnessing the advertising power of a national brand. I highly recommend going this route.
Some carts have a display case for storing buns, or showcasing your soda selection. These are nice, but not absolutely necessary. My cart has one and I use it to store my buns. For big events I keep extra buns in a large plastic storage container with a snap-on lid.
Last but not least, you can build your own cart – which is how I got started. I actually built two, a side serve and a rear serve.
The plans and videos are available in the E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart Online Video and Plans Package. There are no special parts. This is the easiest way to go. No welding. No riveting. No exotic parts like fuel rails and gas valves. We keep is simple. Pretty much everything is available at your local hardware store and Wal-Mart.
If you can butter toast you can build one of these E-Z Built Hot Dog Carts and save yourself about $3000 in the process.
It took me about two weekends to build each one and it was a lot of fun.
Customers are always curious about the cart and a lot of people ask where I got it. When I tell them I built it myself, they can’t believe it because it looks so professional. It’s something that makes me stand out from my competitors in my customer’s mind.
Steve, is there a place or do you reccommend a place that does custom umbrellas? Since i am a Veteran, i would like to try and go with an Americana theme. As stated before, just having trouble with a name. What are your suggestions on this. Thank you
Hi Alan,
I use UmbrellasUSA.com. I think they may do custom printing, not sure. They make a good quality umbrella and offer a lot of stock designs.
Steve every time I visit umbrellasUSA.com I get a page that says domain and web site are for sale! Are they still in business? If so what is their new web site address?
I don’t think they are still in business. Amazon has the same red and white HOT DOG COLD DRINKS umbrella.
Hi Steve,
I’m not yet sure about doing the lunch business or working special events. Maybe both. Can I build a large cart that could be easily modified to do both? I’m really getting pumped for slinging dogs. Great stuff! Thanks
Absolutely Chuck! You can get an 8 foot fold up trailer from Harbor Freight to use as the basis for a big cart. You won’t be using the fold up function of course but this trailer is the least expensive “big” trailer available. Or if that is too big, just make your cart body two feet longer and let the extra length hang off the rear of the four foot trailer. As always, send pics!
Steve, which design worked better for you, side serve or rear? Is there a particular situation where one would be preferred over the other? maybe pro’s and con’sof each. Thanks, Robert.
Sure. Rear serve allows you to set up in narrow areas such as on sidewalks (where that is allowed), and in smaller spaces in general. Rear serve also works better if you are setting up on the street next to a sidewalk.
Side serve carts are great for festivals and special events where size is less of a concern. Side serve carts also give you more space for additional equipment and storage.
I have owned both and I would say that I like my rear serve just a bit better simply because it allows me to get into places that a larger side serve wouldn’t fit.
If you can have both, that would be best. And that is very practical since you are building it yourself.
Hi Steve
I am a brand new hot dog vendor. I am renovating an old 1055 Trotwood camper into a mobile hot dog trailer. I anticipate a really good season, and would like to build a smaller, more mobile cart using a cargo bike ( trike) Would the plans you have work for something like that?
Yes, you can build anything you want once you watch the videos all the way through. The principles apply to any mobile food vending platform.