HOT DOG CART A speech-writer for the former Governor of North Carolina has a Hot Dog Cart. So do 2 high-school kids in Bend, Oregon who are earning enough to cover a good part of their college tuition. In a Philadelphia suburb, Ray Arthur serves up hot dogs all day long, and he doesn’t miss the life of driving a big rig around the country a bit, especially since the soaring price of diesel fuel made that job more of a hobby than a source of real income. 72-year old former American Airlines mechanic Robert Gehrke always dreamed of having a little restaurant, and he’s found that his Hot Dog Cart perfectly fills the bill. Why are all these people from various walks of life getting into the hot dog business?
Another good reason for this groundswell of entrepreneurs is the mere economics of having a “restaurant” on wheels. The initial cost of even the finest high-tech hot dog cart is a mere drop in the bucket compared to opening even the most basic “bricks-and-mortar” restaurant. Further, those wheels on the side of the cart come in very handy: Just tow it home at night, and if your first choice of locations isn’t living up to your expectations, it’s easy enough to move to a better spot. These days, hot dog carts aren’t just popping up at busy downtown corners during lunch hours. Nearly every “big-box” home and lumber store has one out front, and more are opening up in front of other big-box stores. A location in a parking lot along a busy street, where drivers can pull in and perhaps even share a picnic table with other “tube steak” diners has proven profitable to many a Hot Dog Cart owner-operator. Some work a busy spot at lunch, then tow their portable restaurant to the little-league or soccer field in the afternoon. Evenings finds them serving up “dawgs” near nightclubs and other nightlife locations, and weekends in the park offer even more income opportunities. One of the biggest motivators for potential hot dog cart owners: The minimal cost to go into business can be as little as a couple thousand dollars!
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There are lots of good reasons. First, even with the current economic crisis, sales of hot dogs continue to go up. They’re an American favorite, and even when times are tough, there are still plenty of hungry pedestrians with a dollar or two for a hot dog lunch. In fact, makers of commercial-grade hot dog carts are reporting record sales.