How Long Do your Dogs Last....

Hmmm... now that I read that, it could be misunderstood as a loaded question, eh!!

My problem is this: from the ice chest, I drop the dogs into hot (dirty) water to bring them up to temp fast (a couple of minutes), and then I relocate them to my steam pans to hold. They only hold for an hour or so before they start looking "wobbly" and strange.... and then after a while longer, lose their color (yes, I've added vinegar to the steam water (and the dirty water) and I've lowered the flame. It just doesn't seem that they hold in the steam pans for very long without looking.... strange.

So, sometimes I throw them back into the dirty water... to revive them, and my last ditch effort is to toss them onto the grill... but they REALLY don't last long after that!

A little help please!!

throw em out and grill more. I hate throwing out dogs, but at less than 50 cents, I have to. The trick is to keep as few as possible in holding, while having enough on hand to serve immediately. I hope you are keeping the dogs dry (out of water) after they get to temp. Some may argue, but after I grill and season mine, I keep about a dozen hot OUT of the water, but in the steam pan. I do it by putting them on top of my Biggie Dogswhich hold up better in the water. You can always use a perforated false bottom pan.

Large restaurant chains keep track of food by computer and data logs that are feed in and gives a prediction of the amount of customers on a given day and given time. The mom and pop stores do this by experience. Hopefully without becoming all mathematical, you have to have some idea of the amount of time that it takes to get a hotdog from your ice chest to heated ready. Depending on your location, your crowd will come at certain times of the day. Except for the few of us that are retired or disabled, people are on a schedule, so you could have your busyist time from 11 am to 1 pm and have 2 to 6 people, waiting around and you will want to serve them immediately. You would want to have the 6 hotdogs holding to serve. Less just say it takes 10 min to get some more hotdogs up to temp; You can decide what the number left (2?), that you start warming up some more. A lot of study is put into any business to keep so much stock on hand for customers, yet not have so much that it doesn't sell and the store has a shelf of left overs (called SALE TIME). Some people here may give you an idea of what they do, but, it's going to be THEIR location and won't apply to yours. By keeping track with a number clicker and a notepad with hours on it, your going to get a sense of sales for the days and times. Even Saturday, people tend to have some routine that they go out and shop. Business' each have different lunch periods in shifts to keep the business running. By keeping track your going to get a reasonable ESTIMATE of your location of peoples buying habits. One problem of being a startup business is you don't have enough information to deal with what happens for sales with "recession".

What I'm giving you is many businesses trade secrets of selling fresh products and keeping costs down. Sunny hot weather will bring more people out of the house and have more soda sales. Heavy storms will drive people into the house. Though even these statements vary greatly by location. Thirty five degree weather in Alaska will have everyone out, yet 35 degree weather in Florida would have everyone huddling in there house. Sales is rarely constant, (Maybe Walmart and a popular restaurant). By the time you have constant sales you would be labeled a success. Watch for your high sales and slow sales, when you want to keep afew dogs on till they need to be thrown out. RJF

Different types of dogs do different things, experiement with different brands unless you have a brand that you exclusively use.

dw

What brand of dog do you use? Skinless or NC also.. I know the cheaper the brand, the more the filler (and air), the quicker they'll pass away on ya. Some places, Kent or Koegel Meats for example, make a special variety for vendors that hold much longer.
http://www.koegelmeats.com/products/db.cgi?coneys

I do have perforated steam pans, which I like a WHOLE lot better than the false bottoms I bought for my 1/3 pans. The perforated pans do work better at keeping the color and texture for a bit longer.

I am presently using Old Neighborhood all beef 8/1 dogs (skinless... folks are weird about casings on dogs... though I get away with it on my 5/1 Pearls). I'd like to switch over to the 7/1 Boar's Head all beef dogs, but to get the wholesale price from my local distributor, I'd have to purchase a $150 minimum. I'm awaiting an answer on possibly reducing that minimum for me as I am SUCH a small business... otherwise, it wouldn't be worth it for me to pay the retail price for them.

My concerns with buying a dog that's not local is the shipping expenses... so using the Sabretts, or Viennas, or even the Koegals... leaves me contending with the added shipping fees that would come with them.

I'm still finding working things out at the Mens Softball League field, working 2 days during the week, Friday nights, and Sunday afternoons-evenings. I'm not making that much just yet, but I'm trying to stick it out for a while, as some people have come by saying they are so glad that I'm there and "it's about time they had someone like you here"

But when approaching the end of one game and the beginning of the next, I tend now to only toss on 6 reg dogs and 2 or 3 Pearls. Most of the time, I don't sell all of them. Yesterday, I had brats - I brought with me 36 of them, and in 5 1/2 hours, I sold 6. It was even a cooler day... misty... you'd think that folks would want something warm and saucy to keep them warm on the bleechers.... No. Didn't really happen that way.

I'm starting to look for other options. Brats should sell like hot cakes!!! Not come home to my dog!

As a customer, I would never buy a dog done in water, just as I would not cook them that way at home. I do not think I am alone. I want my dogs done by dry heat. Grilled would be my preference and done to order at that. I don't think the brands matter that much as long as you have some good toppings and decent rolls.

It is a different experience watching your own dog grilled and served to order...people will wait and enjoy because you have made them feel special. They will also pay more. I know I would.

quote:

Originally posted by Janski

I do have perforated steam pans, which I like a WHOLE lot better than the false bottoms I bought for my 1/3 pans. The perforated pans do work better at keeping the color and texture for a bit longer.
I am presently using Old Neighborhood all beef 8/1 dogs (skinless... folks are weird about casings on dogs... though I get away with it on my 5/1 Pearls). I'd like to switch over to the 7/1 Boar's Head all beef dogs, but to get the wholesale price from my local distributor, I'd have to purchase a $150 minimum. I'm awaiting an answer on possibly reducing that minimum for me as I am SUCH a small business... otherwise, it wouldn't be worth it for me to pay the retail price for them.

My concerns with buying a dog that's not local is the shipping expenses... so using the Sabretts, or Viennas, or even the Koegals... leaves me contending with the added shipping fees that would come with them.
I'm still finding working things out at the Mens Softball League field, working 2 days during the week, Friday nights, and Sunday afternoons-evenings. I'm not making that much just yet, but I'm trying to stick it out for a while, as some people have come by saying they are so glad that I'm there and "it's about time they had someone like you here"
But when approaching the end of one game and the beginning of the next, I tend now to only toss on 6 reg dogs and 2 or 3 Pearls. Most of the time, I don't sell all of them. Yesterday, I had brats - I brought with me 36 of them, and in 5 1/2 hours, I sold 6. It was even a cooler day... misty... you'd think that folks would want something warm and saucy to keep them warm on the bleechers.... No. Didn't really happen that way.
I'm starting to look for other options. Brats should sell like hot cakes!!! Not come home to my dog!

Janski, you mention people being weird about casings on dogs. It's been a question of mine in planning for my own hot dog business. Even though I prefer natural casing, I worry that most people are used to modern, mushy, waterlogged dogs.

What is your experience with serving natural casing dogs?
Thanks.

Natural casing rules!!
They are juicy and "snappy" and that makes people happy
Janski I simmer mine and then i put them in the holding tank. I try never to keep them more than 45 min. (but some times it does happen) and i hate that. Also, i try and only have 6-8 at all times and as i see someone come to buy some i throw more down. (only takes a minute. Although i am ashamed to say, sometimes that backfires and you cool your water down and it doesn't come up quick enough.) But that is the best i can say. I use Sabrett natural casing.
Good luck.