Gal in Florida needs advice on Hot dog Cart

If anyone could give me a little advice on my HDC business I'd surely be grateful! I've been thinkin' bout this for a while, am going to go for it. I have been a waitress for sooo long, and understand many aspects about food, cost, sales ect. But am green with the HDC bussiness.
Any help w/ my Q's would be great.
1) Location, Location! I have an option to possibly rent an outdoor spot in several locations. I am geared towards maybe an auto parts place, possible asking Autozone, or some type of high volume contractor's equipment place. I believe many of the truckers or blue-collar guys would love a quick stop cuz they are always on the go. Q: are these places hard to rent as far as being able to use their spot? When drawing up a contract, how would I know how much should I be charged? I don't wanna end up spending to much on overhead if I can. i want this to be my one and only spot, so i need to make a very careful decision. the good thing about my area, it is growing like crazy around here, with new land developments, ect. And there is barely any Food places in my whole town. So need would be strong..
Door # 2 : We own another home agout 45 minutes away. We rent it out. This is a great location. It is right next door to Walgreens, the driveway is very assesible, people can even sit down and eat if i provide a couple picnic tables. We own the property, I am not sure of the zoning, but we sold Christmas trees there last year, and sold them all!!! we had good traffic. I could even leave my cart there all the time, instead of hitchin' it up. Their is no food/ restaurant within a mile radius. I could use the electric from the rental..Many possibilities. Q) do I need walgreen's permission to put my cart up? we both share deeded access for the driveway, they own the front of the property, the driveway is for the both of us. i would figure, it would be good for both businesses...
I probably have many other Q's, but location must be chosen. What would some of you experts do? you think it would be feesible to drive 100 mile a day back and forth to my other home? Or pay the overhead to Auto zone or somebody else. Money wise, they might equal each other out..$100 rent vs. $100 gas and time traveling. weekly. But no one could kick me out of my own property...I would have a little more rope to play with as well. Thanks for helping out...

I hope you have read through the many posts concerning HDC's. Personally I'd go with the property you own, maybe giving your tenents a slight break on the rent, the ease of not having to tow both ways EVERY day would be well worth it. Ease of customer access is the most important though, I don't care how cute the hotdog girl is if I can't park easily, I'm not stoppin!

Welcome to Roadfood Jamigirl,

Around here most hot dog carts set up on public property and pay for a vending license. I have never heard of anyone renting commercial space for a cart. I would check with the local governing authority to see what you are able to do on public property. Why pay rent or drive 100 miles a day if you don't have to?

The Restaurant Professionals Forum http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=26 is where many of your questions can be answered.

Good luck on your venture!

A few years ago a pair of attractive well proportioned young ladies set up a hot dog cart in St Petersburg. When I spotted them they were wearing bikinis and doing a booming business. The local press picked up on them and their business grew even more.

Good luck on your attempt at hot dog carting.

cheers, John

Those "attractive well proportioned young ladies" must get around. Many years ago the most successful of all the carts that compete for business in front of the State Capitol building in Albany, NY featured just such young ladies.

The problem was, they were true traffic stoppers and had a prime corner location. Traffic accidents around the cart were common and increasing. Finally they were kicked out of their corner location to a less hazardous one down the street.

Funny thing is I remember the cart and the young ladies, but I have no recall whatsoever of the dogs being any good or not. They must have been good though as I ate a great many of them that summer.

Appreciate the responses!! I totally agree w/ the easy on / easy off access. as far as Hot babe serves hot dogs....If i wanted to be in the sex industry (again, I might add LOL) I would take that route. This is about product and overhead. I have learned in my days..I have been recently an OTR truck driver, yes I also own my own company...consistancy is the best policy. For christ's sake! My mom might help me out a couple days a week. I am leaning towards a company name that might corner the "hey I'm American trying to make a buck non big corporation". When we sold christmas trees....many people actually bought the trees, not because of what i was wearing, but because, and this is true i might add, the fact we were NOT a big corperation. I actually had customers telling me they would rather buy from us, (Local sales) then to buy from the corporate giants...no name mentioned) i made the tree selling somewhat of a fun thing to do, a winter wonderland...and it worked. Unfortunately we decided not to do it again this year.. But my customer satisfaction has gained me some loyal customers. that is why i am considering the HDC at my old house. Yes, a niche is great, but mine is...hey there's Jamie, she got some good food, good price, she understands...Have you ever walked into Walmart wearing the clothes you have bought the day before, and feeling like you sold out to the system? i have, This is the main reason why i chose to open up my own company. Price, quality, consistancy and overhead,plus the added touch of the ol' one on one.. again is what I'm striving for. By the way...GuYS..I know of some very heavy set women in the sex industry who made a killing for being who they were..themselves. Just like my Hot Dogs. Beefy and Deeee..licious...mmnnnn!!!!I'd rather be a happy magic marker than a skinny pencil...Might I add..the overweight population had esculated over the past 10 years. I do not want to capitalize on this, (or do I?)But big is better, McDonalds portions are expanding, for little cost....do ya honestly think i would sabotage myself with 100 $ billion target market? lets think with our heads...not our HEADS..smile

I believe Seafarer John and myself were engaging in a common thing here. Sort of a side bar exchange to the main topic. Pick any topic in these forums and you will see such exchanges.

Perhaps you are used to rather unregulated forums on sites where anything goes. This is not such a forum. In fact it is the most well regulated forum I have ever seen. That's why I like it.

Our reminisces were not intended as advice for your business.

As a former OTR driver I suggest your tires may be a bit over inflated. Let a little air out, relax and enjoy a smooth ride for a change. Roadfood is a good place, just take some time to read the road maps.

hey where in florida are you planning this bigger is better hot dog cart, palm bch could use a few of them

I will comment that when my wife works by herself she sells a lot more than when I help her. Her tips are a LOT more when I’m gone versus when I show up to help her. All this and she wears all her cloths and nothing bulging out her top. Whether you like it or not men do buy from her JUST because she's a woman and not because her food is good (but it is good). Women buy from her because she's NOT dressed trashy and is just as nice to them as the men. She doesn't make women jealous, which will run them off. This is something I've learned by standing back and watching how people interact...lots to be learned by trying it.

Inadvertently, we're on to an interesting topic here. Still, I hate the idea that a kindly old man, who makes the best rootin', tootin' hot dogs in, let us say, Springfield, Missouri, won't outsell the gorgeous young lady down the road, whose dogs are just fair-to-middlin'.

But that's the world, my friend. Guess it's time I grow up, huh?

But still, I'd like to think I'm not quite so entirely wafted about in Freud's fickle winds, and that I'd buy my dogs from the old guy and then go down the road for the soda pop. Of course, I'm getting a bit older now.

The Bear

If you are serious you will go to Myflorida.com and find out what is required by our state and check your local county ordinances.
p.s. don't pay rent if you can just pull permits needed
Larry