That changed in 1964 when Gregory Papalexis, now the owner of the Sabrett brand approached Geisler to create a standardized version of the sauce, which is made from onions, olive oil, and tomato paste.  The condiment was a great success and the two men formed a company called Tremont Foods to distribute it under the brand names “Tremont Foods” and “House of Weenies”.

The sauce which is made in Brooklyn generates several million dollars a year in sales.

-Steve

original article at Daily Record

-Steve

original article at Eating LA

What’s the difference between making money and making a LOT of money?  How about 100 feet?  New York City hot dog cart operator Pasang Sherpa knows the value of the right location.  Sherpa sells his dogs outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and recently outbid two rivals for the rights to both the north and south entrances to the museum.

Before I tell you  the winning bids, think about how much you would  pay for the rights to these locations.  Keep in mind that together, his two carts are right in the path of over 5 million visitors a year – and the only other food is blocks away.

Here’s a hint:  The north entrance gets a lot more traffic because many museum visitors use the nearby 86th Street/Lexington Avenue subway express stop.  So Sherpa paid $80,000 more per year for this spot which is 100 feet away from the one at the south entrance.

OK – are you ready for this?  The rents are $362,201 for the north, and $280,500 for the south.  Holy #%&* !  I’m having a hard time getting my mind around this.  How many hot dogs, chips, and sodas do you need to sell just to break even?  Let’s do the math:

Keep in mind this is a premium tourist destination and there is no where else to eat.  I’m guessing that a dog, chips and soda would sell for $8.  If so, Sherpa needs to serve 80,338 meals to break even.  That’s less than 2% of the 5 million folks who walk right by his carts on the way in or out of the Met each year.  Granted he has other overhead to cover, but nothing even close to those rent payments.  If he sells to just 10% of the tourists he will gross…

Four million dollars a year.  I’m getting dizzy.

But here’s a lesson.  Before you sign anything, make sure all your ducks are in a row.  Only one of Sherpa’s carts passed the health department inspection, and his coveted north entrance will be blocked by construction for months.  Again, holy #$&* !  Wouldn’t you have done a little more due diligence before jumping into the big leagues?  So now he doesn’t want to pay.  Big surprise.

If you want to know how to make just a tiny fraction of 4 million dollars a year with your own hot dog cart business, head on over to HotDogBiz101.com.  There you’ll learn everything you need to know to start and run your own highly profitable hot dog cart business, including how to get locations rent free.  See you there.

Oh, by the way, you can read the original story from the New York Post here.

Later,

-Steve

- Long Beach, California

“I have a superior quality Hot Dog Cart for sale . I also have a location that can be transferred . The only one in the city !!! I was featured in the Press Telegram as the Best Hot Dog in The City and surrounding counties. I am relocating to another state due to family issues so this excellent opportunity to be your own boss with your own highly profitable business will go to the first person ready . If you have the cash now and are ready to seize this once in a lifetime opportunity call Craig now at 562-343-1623 .”

OMG!  Are those sailboat masts in the background?  Yep!  I could be selling hot dogs by the ocean in SoCal, listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers while watching “Point Break” over and over on my portable DVD player.  (I know, I’m stuck in 1991).  AAAAAARGH!!!

But Get This…

This deal is sweet and rare.  Here’s why.  About a year ago the California legislature passed a new set of rules for mobile food vendors.  In essence, the new law states that hot dog carts must be specially equipped to comply with the much stricter “Cal Code”.  Selling dogs in California is still a great business, but now it will set you back about $16,000 to buy a new cart that complies with these laws.

However…

Existing business are grandfathered and are exempt from the Cal Code.  I’m guessing that whoever buys Craig’s hot dog cart business will be able to step right in and start vending with the current cart- saving $9000 right off the bat.  I’m certainly no lawyer so be sure to verify this for yourself, but it sounds like the deal of a lifetime.

Oh well, back to the reality of winter in St. Louis.  At least it’s not blowing freezing horizontal rain at the moment.  Now where did I put my checkered Van’s?

Gnarly!

-Steve

Hot dog cart bid winner Moe Ghomishah

Lorne Warmington has operated a hot dog cart in the city of Guelph for 18 years with no competition – until now.  This city requires that hot dog cart operators bid for the right to sell hot dogs in the city park, and for 18 years Mr. Warmington had no challengers, so bidding high wasn’t neccessary…

That is until Mr. Warmington was notified that he was outbid.  He said in protest that if he knew there was another bidder, he would have raised his bid accordingly – to no avail.

The new kid in town is Moe Ghomishah (pictured above), and Lorne was forced to move on down the road to a new spot, but his devoted customers have stated that they will follow Lorne and his hot dogs wherever they end up.

The lesson?  A good product and even better service are essential to repeat business and loyal customers.  Start interacting with customers in a friendly manner from day one.  It’s more fun and just good business.

Read the original article here:  http://guelphmercury.blogs.com/59_carden_st/2008/12/hot-dogs-big-business.html

For more tips on operating your own hot dog carts, visit www.HotDogProfits.com.

Later,

-Steve

Cory Bakker is a former concrete worker who has been running his own hot dog cart, “The Hot Dog Hut”, for two years in Bellingham, Washington.  He got the idea after watching a morning talk show story about the hot dog cart business.  What appealed to him was the social aspect, sort of like being a bartender without the hassles that come with serving alcohol.

“I love talking, and it’s amazing what sort of conversations you have throughout the day out here,” Bakker said. “At some point, I’m going to have to write them down for a book.”

One of Corey’s challenges is that hot dog carts are not quite as familiar to folks in Washington state as they are to people in places such as New York or Chicago.  He hopes to see more people open hot dog carts in Bellingham and believes it would ultimately help his own business.

If anyone wants to help Cory out by becoming his competition, you can get started by listening to the free podcasts at www.HotDogProfits.com/podcasts.html.

Check out Corey’s story in the Bellingham herald at http://www.bellinghamherald.com/602/story/714373.html

-Steve

P.S.  Selling hot dogs is a lot easier on the knees than pouring concrete…

If we need more signs of how bad it is out there for cooks, let’s turn to the Hot Dog Indicator.

Larry Bain and Sue Moore, who run hot dog carts in San Francisco and Los Angeles, were looking for some part time help. Now mind you, their “Let’s Be Frank” carts are up the culinary scale. The dogs and brats are made from pasture-raised beef from the Panorama rancher cooperative and humanely raised pork. They’re served with fresh grilled onions on buns from Acme Bakery. The job pays $11 to $13 depending on experience, plus tips. Not bad for a job at a hot dog stand, but it’s slinging weenies for a living.

They posted the job on Craigslist and within two hours they had seven resumes from people with serious culinary educations and cooking chops.

The applicants had, variously, 15 years experience in hotel restaurant kitchens, fluency in French and Italian, experience in cruise ships kitchens, and as corporate chefs and executive chefs.

And almost all of them had expensive culinary degrees from places like the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., or Le Cordon Bleu at the Orlando Culinary Academy.           -end-

********************************

As this article clearly shows, the times are right for expanding your hot dog cart business.  Quality help is plentiful right now.  If you haven’t gotten your business started yet, or need to know the tips and tricks that the pros use to manage multiple carts, check out my hot dog cart training materials.

To your success,

Steve

Original Hot Dog Cart News Source

NORTH HAMPTON — Laurie Booth remembers a hot dog cart on every corner near her childhood home in Queens, New York.
And at every cart, the street vendors were serving up boiled Sabrett hot dogs, most with a traditional red onion sauce on top. The name Sabrett is synonymous with a top quality New York dog for Booth, who recently brought the brand to the Seacoast at Laurie’s New York Dirty Dogs.

After operating a hot dog cart outside Seacoast Harley-Davidson on Lafayette Road in North Hampton, Booth recently moved indoors at the motorcycle dealership where she has a year-round hot dog operation.

She believes the Sabrett’s dogs are the best tasting product around and travels to the factory on Long Island to buy them. “They’re boiled and when you bite into them, they have a snap to them and they’re natural beef,” Booth said.

The hot dogs are actually called New York Dirty Water Dogs because they are boiled and the water looks dirty due to the juices from the dog, Booth said. She worried the description of dirty water might turn people away from trying her product, so she shortened the title to simply “dirty dogs.”

Booth, a North Hampton resident, used to help her sister-in-law who had a little hot dog truck in New York. When Booth’s job at Shaw’s supermarkets corporate headquarters was eliminated a few years back, she used her severance package to buy a hot dog cart.

“It was always something I wanted to do coming from New York,” she said.

She spent a few years outside the BMW motorcycle dealer in North Hampton before moving to Seacoast Harley-Davidson. Her cart was recognizable for the yellow and blue umbrella of all Sabrett’s hot dog carts.

“This year, coming here, was a fabulous year,” she said, adding she brought her cart to a special drive-in movie night at the motorcycle dealer. “It was a very successful summer this year.”

Booth is one of only two people in New Hampshire who offer the dogs, with the other being a man in Wolfeboro, who also hails from New York originally. Booth makes the trip to the factory on Long Island every six to eight weeks for a new supply of dogs. She has a huge freezer on site in North Hampton to store them.

“Everything here is from New York except the rolls,” she said.

Her stand features the authentic Sabrett hot dogs, homemade soups, nachos and soft pretzels. She is still working to get the word out to customers that she has moved inside for the winter and says people are usually surprised to see her in the lobby of the dealership. Many stop in for a snack at the stand while they await work to be completed on their cycle, she said.

For hot dog toppings, customers can try the traditional red onion sauce that is made with a sweet tomato sauce base and the red onions. She also has chili, cheese, sauerkraut, onions, mustard, relish, ketchup and hots.

A new homemade soup is offered each day, made fresh by her husband Jim, an avid cook. “He is an Italian who loves to cook,” she said.

While Booth loves Sabrett’s dogs, she also loves meeting her customers. “I love my job. I love people; I’m in my element here.”

DIRTY DOGS

Laurie’s New York Dirty Dogs is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. and is also available for birthday parties and fund-raising events.

By Bill Hutchinson   Published: Monday, November 24, 2008 at 1:15 a.m.

Earl Hjertstedt, owner of the Tasty Take-Out hot dog stand, with his mother and stand in the background. With chips and a drink, the meal will set you back $5. His mother, Marlene Hjertstedt, frequently operates the downtown Sarasota stand.

Note to Treasury Department: Here is one industry that will not be needing a bite of that $700 billion.

Hot dogs are holding their own.

Sales are up by 1.5 percent nationwide on prepared dogs and 4 percent on the cook-at-home variety from the grocery store, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, a division of the American Meat Institute. (P.S. to Treasury: Trade associations, too, seem to be flourishing.)

These are not exactly boom numbers, but given the circumstances — what is going on with home prices and new cars and retail sales — a positive hot dog index is as good as it gets in this economy.

Earl Hjertstedt Jr., who has been in the dog business in Sarasota for two years this month, has a theory about why hot dogs are doing so well, and it’s not just because they are cheap, though that helps.

Cheap, of course, is relative. A Chicago dog all the way will cost you $3.50 at his Tasty Take-Out cart on Main Street, just across from the Herald-Tribune. Add chips and a soda, as most people do, and it’s five bucks for lunch at the cart, roughly the cost of any number of drive-in value combos.

But hot dogs, explains Earl Jr., who is 28, are “heritage.”

“You look back at old photographs from the ’20s or ’30s of any city and there’s always a hot dog stand. Times get tough, people go to what’s familiar.”

Earl Sr. introduced his son to hot dogs 25 years ago and Earl Jr. swears he still remembers the experience. “It was at a place called Partillo’s in Chicago, and I can remember what the counter looked like, and what the bun was like, and I can remember the bright green relish that was like, ‘Whoa.’”

The remarkable color of the relish is part of what identifies the Hjertstedt special as an honest-to-goodness Chicago dog, as does the thick pile of other garnishes that top it all off: diced onions and tomatoes, mustard, a spear of dill pickle, chopped hot peppers if you want ’em, and finally, a dash of celery salt.

“In Chicago, it’s called dragging the dog through the garden,” says Earl Jr. “A dog with everything you can think of. Except ketchup. Typically, the Chicago dog does not have ketchup.”

Tomato sauce of any kind would make it a Michigan dog, a variety most often associated with meatless chili and bright orange cheese.

The classic New York hot dog eschews red ingredients altogether, as served up with mustard and sauerkraut for $2 around the corner at the Sabrett stand in front of the Sarasota main post office.

There’s even a classic Los Angeles dog, the Hoffy all-beef weiner as served since 1939 at Pink’s on Melrose and La Brea avenues. This being California, the Pink’s dog is longer and thinner than the chubby sausages Easterners are used to.

Unlike the New York or Chicago dogs, the L.A. version is typically skinless. When you bite in, there is none of the snap you get from the stiff casing on the Sabrett’s weiner, or the all-beef Vienna frank that Chicago prefers.

This, says Earl Jr., is the real challenge of hot dog marketing in a place like Sarasota, where everybody is from somewhere else and one man’s hot dog is another’s abomination on a bun.

Sarasota does not have its own signature hot dog, unless it’s with mayonnaise, a combination that none of the Hjertstedts had seen before they came here from the Chicago area in 2001.

“Mayonnaise — what’s that all about?” wonders Earl Jr., who endured another five winters up north before joining his parents in Sarasota.

He had been a road surveyor since high school. “In the winter, you’re looking for a curb and you have to chisel through the ice to find it,” Earl Jr. remembers. “Finally, I said, ‘Screw it.’”

He had a friend with a couple of hot dog carts in Chicago, which is how he got the idea, and from the beginning he had in mind staking out the Chicago dog niche.

The New Yorkers tend toward Tracy Johnson at Sabrett’s.

“There’s a guy who works across the street at GTE, I can hear his New York accent coming,” says Johnson. “Sauerkraut and the brown mustard. I have it ready.”

Tracy, 36, was a restaurant waitress in Sarasota for 22 years until 2007, when the last place she worked abruptly shut its doors. This is only her second week in the hot dog game, at the post office location pioneered more than 10 years ago by Sarasota’s dean of the dog, Edwin K. Wisbrun, now retired.

Tracy is a no-nonsense mustard girl. Her husband, Robert Lawson, who has spent all but a few of his 46 years in Sarasota, prefers his dogs slathered with mayo.

“To each his own,” Tracy has learned. “That’s what’s special about hot dogs.”