The chronicles of a noob, my hot dog experience thus far

I know alot of people post threads about this, and im sure know one really likes to read about other people who are about to get started, but I had to post my own. Got all my licenses in order, passed my health inspection on the first shot, got my commissary and today I went to the location I have had my eye on since I had the idea of getting into this business, a local hardware store that is very popular, on the busiest intersection in our little town.  It was the first place I went and the last, they said they would love to come have us set up! The owner asked about rent, I offered to free lunch to all employes on the clock (usually 5 or so people a day) instead, She said that sounded great, so now I have an awesome rent free location.
Grand opening is on the 11th, wish us luck!

Awesome!!!! Wish me luck tooooooo!!!! I am heading out in two weeks I have everything ready to go........

Congratulations on getting started.
 
Keep in mind that there's no such thing as "free". You're exchanging something of value for a place to do business. If a meal costs you a buck, for example, and you're feeding 5x30 meals per month then you're paying $150/mo for your space. If you're doing a good business that's a great deal indeed, but it's not free.

im only working 2days a week, so thats close enough to free for me,lol

Well tomorrow is my big day. Peppered the town with flyers, got the word spread through facebook, went to all the local businesses with our menus so they could call in there order, everything is in order. We had an amazing turn of good weather for the last few weeks, low 50's, beautiful clear skys, snow melted off, it was great, then yesterday it all went bad, dropped down to the mid 30's and about an inch of snow, they say the same for today and tomorrow. But I said id be there rain or shine and be there I will! wish me luck

Well, the weather was horrid, freezing cold, gusty winds, rain/snow off and on all day, bust in spite of all that, I think we had a good day, sold about 35 dogs, made more in net profit from selling dogs for 4 hours then I would have if I worked an 8 hour shift at my full time job, so im happy with it. We even had more then one person come back after an hour or so with some friends who " just had to try our amazing dogs" as they put it, so I know people like what we serve. now to do it all over again in a few days!

Nice!  That gets me excited to get my stuff all done and up and running....I'm almost hoping my first day is kind of slow because I'm going to be so nervous....first time out, etc and I'm sure I'll be slower than molasses.....

Mr. DJ.....think positive! It will go better than you think. You'll make mistakes, but you'll learn more on that first day than maybe the rest of your career. Lay out your "flow pattern". Grab a tissue, grab a bun , grab a weenie, decorate it, collect money, and be done with it. Thirty minutes into the show you'll think yer the star.
 Then go home and think of all the things you could have done better. Take notes. Next time it will be better, cuz yer "experienced".....Jack

Yesterday was day 2, Learned alot from day 1, did alot of things to speed things up. It was in the mid 30's and very windy but it was blue skys. Got my first taste of a BUSY day! during my lunch rush I had scads of people lined up, had myself a $300 day so im pretty happy. This may be the hardest easy money I have ever earned! tomorrow is day 3, hope it continues to do well.

Also just started a facebook for my cart, check it out, thanks!
facebookdotcom/auggiedogs

day 3 is in the books, woke up to over 6 inches of snow and it was still coming down......sideways!  But I decided to go out anyways, mostly to see if people would be willing to come out in those kind of conditions. its a 20 mile drive to my location, about half way there the trailers tire went out, had to change it. got to my location late, froze by butt off! Still, all this aside, we still had a $100 day, in my eyes, thats worth the effort
 

You have to let people know your going to be there when you say........regardless of the weather.
 

YOAman

day 3 is in the books, woke up to over 6 inches of snow and it was still coming down......sideways!  But I decided to go out anyways, mostly to see if people would be willing to come out in those kind of conditions. its a 20 mile drive to my location, about half way there the trailers tire went out, had to change it. got to my location late, froze by butt off! Still, all this aside, we still had a $100 day, in my eyes, thats worth the effort

If you're doing that kind of business in that kind of weather, just imagine how it will be when it gets nicer!!

YOAman


day 3 is in the books, woke up to over 6 inches of snow and it was still coming down......sideways!  But I decided to go out anyways, mostly to see if people would be willing to come out in those kind of conditions. its a 20 mile drive to my location, about half way there the trailers tire went out, had to change it. got to my location late, froze by butt off! Still, all this aside, we still had a $100 day, in my eyes, thats worth the effort

Wow, that's amazing.  And very inspirational to me.  If you can do $100 in Idaho during a February snowstorm, I really ought to be able to make a go of it on the beach in Florida! 
 
Congratulations and best wishes of continuing success for you.

Ok so its been about a month now, cut my hours at my "real" job to devote more time to the cart, its doing great! We have had horrible weather and we have had a few sunny days. We average between $250 and $300 on the sunny days and between $100 and $150 on the horrible, non stop rain/snow days. I have never had a day make less then $95 thus far. Also, I have a big repeat customer base and everyone says we serve the best dogs they have ever tasted, that is an AMAZING feeling!! The owner of the hardware store that we set up infront of said we can store our cart in there loading bay between days, so thats going to be a huge gas saver.
   My area only has a population of about 5000, but we are a huge tourist destination, in the summer, the population doubles, so Im thinking summer is going to be GOOD! wish me continued luck!

Hello all ,
Great hearing the good news buddy , where in Idaho are you located I have some relatives out there and can send them your way if close enough
Benzee

YOAman which hotdog brand did you go with? Congrats on your sales so far.

Banzee, we sell out of OldTown ID, right on the idaho/washington border ( really, 3 steps to the right of my cart and your in Washington) Oldtown is about 40 minutes west of sandpoint and an hour north of Couer D alane, if that helps.

       I use Nathans for my 8-1's and 4-1's. I use LongHorn ( a semi local company ) for my german sausages. We where using costco's big 1/4 pound plus dogs because they are so impressing due to there size, but I found that after about an hour and a half they start to turn to mush, so we went with the nathans, they can stay in the water all day long and taste just fine.