Condiment/cold table - need ideas

I'm nearly done with my EZ hot dog cart but have been struggling with something since day 1.  For anyone that has seen the finished cart when using these plans you know that there is very limited space on the top of the cart in the working area.  There is an onboard cooler which I will keep extra dogs, larger containers of condiments, etc. but what I'm struggling with is a working condiment area.  I am adding a 15" wing shelf to the right side of the cart and with the few inches of space on the cart itself, that might give me an additional 18".  (for the record I'm putting on all toppings and I'm trying to avoid bringing an extra table to accomodate this problem) 
 
The best solution I've heard so far is using a bus box, filling it with 1/2" of ice and then putting 1/9th size pans in there with various condiments.  After some pan playing this morning at Restaurant Depot, I could fit 7, maybe 8 of the 1/9th size pans in this bus box with ice.  Then a lid could be placed on the bus box and with only removing one lid, I can have access to all of the condiments at once.  I think this will fit well in the additional space that I'm getting with wing shelf that I'll be adding.
 
I'm wondering what others have done for their cold table/condiment work area when dealing with limited space?  Oh....I forgot to mention that I have looked into the typical condiment caddys but my biggest fear is the amount of "stuff" that each little 1 pt holds....that it's just not enough holding space for larger items like sliced tomatoes, pickles. etc. 

On another note, how hard is it to keep a cooler full of ice (and food of course) at 41 degrees?  Especially when opening and closing it all the time? 

Nordic Ice pack works wonderfully. We got ours free (2 packs, I think about 16 oz) from my daughter. They pack them in the chocolates during the summer for shipping to the store. You can buy at Cabala's. They never thaw. We keep them in the big freezer overnight. The two packs fit in the bottom of the cooler (the one pictured below... 5 day Extreme cooler). We also have a partial bag of ice (about 5 lb left in it) in the meat cooler that had been left in the freezer for a couple of months. We started using it on December 15th and we are still using it. It hasn't melted. If you go to my photobucket page, you can see pics with descriptions of our cold table and how we lined the lids of the coolers with Reflectix. It's an oldish tent campers trick.

 

You say you wanna avoid an extra table. Do you have a law against it?
A foldable table is real handy for more than one reason.What do you hold your drinks in? A cooler on the ground?
The Coleman 5-day Extreme (72 qts?) works great for condiments. It will take a 1/3 pan on each side and another crossways between them. Think an upside-down "U". Using the spacer bars, you can use 1/6 size pans. That would give you 6 pans, and room to reach below for other things. I have no problem keeping things below 41 deg. 

Thanks everyone...I think I've come on an idea from a buddy of mine that involves a spillage pan and smaller pans inside...I'll keep you posted....

jcheese.....I was reading your reply again.  When you say you can fit a 1/3 pan on each side do they actually fit on the rim snugly or do they just sit down in the ice? 

I read about "The Dome condiment holder" on this forum the other day, I checked it out on webstoraunt.com and it looks like it would be really good, has anyone here had any experience with it?

I've seen the Dome at my local restaurant supply place...it looks like it's built well, but the biggest gripe I have with all of these condiment caddies is they only hold a pint.  That's fine for relish and onions but I'll have sliced tomatoes, pickle spears, etc and it's worthless.  Why can't someone make a condiment caddy that holds like 9 - 1qt holders that has an area on the bottom for ice and doesn't cost an arm and a leg?  (I found a 3 container, 1qt one for $50)

djdawg


I've seen the Dome at my local restaurant supply place...it looks like it's built well, but the biggest gripe I have with all of these condiment caddies is they only hold a pint.  That's fine for relish and onions but I'll have sliced tomatoes, pickle spears, etc and it's worthless.  Why can't someone make a condiment caddy that holds like 9 - 1qt holders that has an area on the bottom for ice and doesn't cost an arm and a leg?  (I found a 3 container, 1qt one for $50)

I can't post links yet and I dunno if it something your looking for  but there is a 6 qt holder that has three 2 qt trays for 31.99 at w w w dot webstaurantdotcom just search for dome condiment holder

The Dome by Sanjamar works very well for condiments. Like djdawg said it holds pints and can be small for major volume. However it is modular so you can add qt size domes to it. They simply snap in place and you can add as many as you like. I use a standard dome with one Qt size attached to it and then the spoon holder attached on the end. I use the qt for slaw since I use more of that than anything.
 
I now just keep a large container in a small cooler and then everything else inside the cooler on the cart in screw top Glad Ware.
 
The Sanjamar Dome is a little expensive but works nice and is dishwasher safe and NSF approved. It also comes in different configurations and you can change container sizes to suit your needs.
 
http://www.katom.com/094-BD4004.html?CID=Pricegrabber&zmam=29342707&zmas=1&zmac=6&zmap=094-BD4004
 
http://www.webstaurantstore.com/san-jamar-bd2001-the-dome-mini-dome-bar-condiment-holder-2-quart-capacity/712BD2001.html?utm_source=PriceGrabber&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=PriceGrabber+Campaign

djdawg


jcheese.....I was reading your reply again.  When you say you can fit a 1/3 pan on each side do they actually fit on the rim snugly or do they just sit down in the ice? 

They sit on the rim.

the dome works good we have had one for a couple of years it also holds ice well

This is borderline thread hijacking but does anyone have a way to keep a spoon inside a dome so it can close all the way???  Every time is closes it flips the spoon up and gets the contents all over the lid. A short spoon (so it will close all the way) and the customer is sticking their grubby hands in the condiment. I'm bewildered. 

Thanks rtchamp...just a small correction for others....it's webstaurantstoredotcom.  It looks pretty good but there is no ice tray area underneath and I definitely need that.....

djdawg


Thanks rtchamp...just a small correction for others....it's webstaurantstoredotcom.  It looks pretty good but there is no ice tray area underneath and I definitely need that.....

There IS room for ice underneath.

Thanks Tristan...I saw that after I looked closer....I guess you can get the deep inserts that don't allow for ice but the standard ones do...cool.