Hot Dog Cart News

HDCN Reader Rob Marsden just sent me these pictures. Better put on your sunglasses before you look at them. This is a lesson in attention getting!

Rob writes…

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Steve,
I just wanted to take a minute to say thanks for being an inspiration to us as we followed our dream and built our concession business.  I subscribed to your newsletter sometime early last year, and although our plan was not for a hot dog cart, we found that many of the ideas and principles from the hot dog cart business also apply to full size concession trailers.  I remember hearing “flash is cash” from one of your posts, and we kept that in mind as we designed our concession trailer and business plan.  We went live with our operation early last summer, and although we got a bit of a late start, we had a great first season.  Now, we are gearing up for 2012, and preparing for a much busier schedule.  I have attached some pictures of our rig below in case you want to share with your readers.  We had the concession trailer custom built, but all the paint work we did ourselves.  We primarily attend motorsports events, but also do some fairs and independent shows.
Thanks for everything,
Rob Marsden
STS Motorsports Concessions LLC

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Totally awesome graphics on your trailer Rob! Thanks for sending me your story.

Trend: I’m seeing that a lot of my E-Z Built Hot Dog Cart students are now graduating to trailers. They got a great start by building their own carts and are now using the E-Z Built construction methods to outfit used trailers, turning them into rockin’ climate controlled money machines. Pretty cool to see so much success!

-Steve

Click the picture below for a larger version.

If you don’t have a web site you are missing the boat. Big time. If you have a website but no one ever finds it, that’s just as bad as not having a website at all. Don’t be a dinosaur.

Hot Dog Cart News Reader Discovers One Simple Trick To Making Websites...
Sam Oerly owns Street Eats Hot Dogs and he just made his own really nice website. It’s colorful, has a lot of pictures, and gives Sam instant credibility. He has successfully elevated himself above the competition.

Not only that, he is learning how to use it to drive paying customers to his business.

The coolest part is that Sam isn’t a techie, doesn’t know computer programming, and started from scratch. He found a way to make a killer website without having to know any of that stuff. In fact, he had a live website for his hot dog vending business a couple of hours after discovering this one trick.

He tells you how he did it on the last page of his website, titled appropriately enough “This Website” so be sure to look at that page.

Check it out at StreetEatsTN.com

-Steve

HDCN reader John Magdic sent me this video of his gas engine picnic table serving hot dogs to the local powered parachute flyers (which is also something I would love to try someday). This thing has a hitch on it so you can pull a hot dog cart behind it! He even tells us how to build it…

Check this out – it’s hilarious. The build specs follow the video.

John writes…

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Steve,
Some info: Made from a cushman golf cart. Weld up a rectangular frame, and mount the rear on one end. The cushman rear gives you forward and reverse. By putting a clutch on the gas engine, and driving a belt to the torque converter, you can go really slow with a tremendous amount of power. Pull up to a curb, stop, and slowly add throttle, it will climb straight up an 8 inch curb face! The front is the cushman steering. The wheels are turned by the welded aluminum fruit basket, which is mounted in the center of the table. Anyone seated can steer! We have lights, stereo system, poles that snap on that hold tiki lights. Front headlight and tail lights. The front has a detachable frame that can hold a cooler. The class 3 hitch can be used to pull a hot dog cart.  Or slip in a platform for extra seating or another cooler. What is really cool…The rear wheels are set closer together. That means they fit in between the wheel wells of a standard pick-up. And…Once it is in the pick up bed, you can shut the tailgate, leaving the hitch on the truck to pull your hot dog cart.
-John Magdic

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Can you imagine the word of mouth this would generate for your hot dog business? You could bring this beauty to events and private parties or have a buddy drive it around at your permanent location to catch the attention of everyone passing by. (Note: My Hot Dog Biz 101 course shows you how to build a permanent hot dog stand with a drive through window for cheap. Get it by clicking here.)

What other promotional ideas can you come up with using John’s Powered Picnic Table? Let us know in the comments.

Pure. Total. Awesomeness.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You readers are the reason that Hot Dog Cart News is the number one hot dog cart blog on the internet. You folks absolutely ROCK!!! If you are not already a subscriber, sign up here so you don’t miss articles like this one.

-Steve

P.S. You can share this video on your Facebook by clicking the blue “fShare” button at the left.