I have a cart, I have the desire..... but I have no information! Help a young vendor.

Hey there, fellow Hot Doggers! I am looking for some information from some of you that might already be in the business, especially in Denver Colorado.
 
I have done my work searching deep through the information on the state's web site, the county's website, and with tri-county health. Unfortunately, even after a few phone calls, I'm still very lost as to what I have to do to get properly licensed to use my cart.
 
ALL I will be selling is hot dogs (boiled), chips, bottled water and canned soda. There will be NO outside prep work done, and all food can be prepared on the cart. But, apparently I need some sort of "commesary license". Nobody will explain what the commessary is all about, or where to find these places. I've been told that I'm not allowed to clean my cart in an open area or in my garage, but must tow it to a commesary location to wipe it down and to service it. But, once again, I am not running a food truck..... just hot dogs. re packaged and precooked food. It will be properly chilled until it's cooked, and no leftovers will be saved. i'll be using meat thermometers (even though it's not neccessary, supposedly)..... I don't get the hang up.
 
I'm a single father that got totally financially destroyed in an ugly divorce. I miss being self employed, and I really would like to be my own boss again. I don't get enough time with my son, and being able to be self employed would allow me to arrange my schedule to better accomodate my little boy's need for his father. Also, my son is SUPER excited to come and help me sell hot dogs. Who knows... maybe when he's a teenager I can give a cart to him and let him start running his own business too! Way bette than working at McDonalds.
 
 
So, anyway.... I'm looking for someone who really knows what it takes to get approved and running in Colorado. I want to do it within the month. Nobody is giving me good information. I really need help, and I need GOOD information. I need to know about waste water storage (yes.... cart has gravity feed, hot water heater and a discharge holding tank) and all the rules that go with it. I basically need to know EVERYTHING.
 
I know this is my first post here, but trust me.... if I can get this thing going..... I want to become truly knowledgeable about "the biz" and be able to share my own experiences with you guys as well. I'm definitely here to contribute to the community, but I can't do much until I'm up and running.
 
 
Also, is there anyone in Colorado that's vending but wants to expand their reach as a small business? Maybe looking to team up with someone that has his own equipment? I'm open to ideas..... but ultimately I'm working toward being my own boss again indipendantly.... so.... helkp. Please.
 
Thanks guys. If YOU have any questions for me please don't hesitate to ask.

The hang up with the commessary is that you will be putting your dogs into water that needs to be safe from a safe source and you need to dispose of the water at the end of the day in a proper manner. It is all about keeping your customers healthy from a cart that is properly cleaned an maintained.
 
I don't have any experience in your area but I find that going down to the health department and asking them questions face to face helps a lot. Don't take anything they say personally - they are just doing their job to protect the public. Go in with a cool head and be nice no matter what they say.

Denverdogman,
 
I hate typing so give me a pm with your phone number and I will tell you from start to finish what I did. I am very happy with the way it all has turned out and my decissions.

First, download the regs. Make a hard copy and READ it. Haul it down to the HD with you and make notes about what you need to do. Talk to the other food vendors in your area. You don't have to be selling the same thing in order for them to help. They may not be too friendly. You are the competition. Read the forum a lot and make notes.
 
As for the HD... they have lots of folks who waste their time asking questions and never start up a business.

Chicnscoop


The hang up with the commessary is that you will be putting your dogs into water that needs to be safe from a safe source and you need to dispose of the water at the end of the day in a proper manner. It is all about keeping your customers healthy from a cart that is properly cleaned an maintained.

I don't have any experience in your area but I find that going down to the health department and asking them questions face to face helps a lot. Don't take anything they say personally - they are just doing their job to protect the public. Go in with a cool head and be nice no matter what they say.

 
That's totally how I understand the situation. I get the premise, and I get what they want. But... nobody (vendors, health department, or even my local phone book) can point me in the way of these supposed commissary sites. Truly, I have made tons of calls and everyone is like "we can't suggest one to you. Just look in the phone book". I practically feel like information is being witheld from me. They tell me I need something, but nobody knows where I get that thing. So.... hah.... I don't know what to look for!
 
 

RJT


Denverdogman,

I hate typing so give me a pm with your phone number and I will tell you from start to finish what I did. I am very happy with the way it all has turned out and my decissions.

It won't let me PM you until I've been a member for 15 days. Sorry man. I'd love to hear what you have to say!
 
 

lornaschinske


First, download the regs. Make a hard copy and READ it. Haul it down to the HD with you and make notes about what you need to do. Talk to the other food vendors in your area. You don't have to be selling the same thing in order for them to help. They may not be too friendly. You are the competition. Read the forum a lot and make notes.

As for the HD... they have lots of folks who waste their time asking questions and never start up a business.

 
The regulations are only 2 or 3 pages long. I've read them quite a few times, scouring the fine print for any information that's specific to my needs. But.... they are vague with details on hotdogs, and I see a lot of loose ends in their policy. I don't mind that, but I do mind that nobody at the State or County offices I've called have any clue what I'm supposed to do. But..... I am studied up.
 
My #1 problem right now is figuring out what kind of commissary crap I'm supposed to do, and where one is located. Nobody will tell me over the phone, and I can't find anything online.
 
 
 
 
You know what relaly grinds my gears? I know a guy that's currently running a hotdog cart. I've contacted him a few times about the commessary issue, and asked him what he does. He pussyfoots around the answer, and never tells me. I even got a little direct with him and just said "dude... how did you get your commessary license"? He says "dude.... just call the state and they'll tell you where to go". Pisses me off bad. I'm not his competition, as I'll be over 40 miles from where he vends. I'm sure he doesn't use his commessary, BUT he got the license so.... why not tell me what you did? Ugh... frustrating. Very frustrating.
 
Again, if anyone in Colorado can give me personal information on how the commessary thing works... I'd appreciate it. Becasue the state obviously doesn't know, nor do my vending friends.
 
It's been such a hassle I've almost considered just getting rid of the cart and saying "forget it". But... I want to make it happen. I'm very entrepeneurial, and I need to be my own boss again. This seems like a fantastic way to make some good income even as a 2nd job.....  gotta push through and conquer these obstacles.
 
Any help is appreciated. Thanks to the help some of you have already provided.

welcome  a commissary is a place that has a legal kitchen...  try a pizza shop, church , ymca, vfw , ect . good luck   

I'm not in Colorado, but *usually* an acceptable commissary is any commercially licensed kitchen that will give you written permission to use their facilities. A commercially licensed kitchen will by definition have access to tested potable water, commercial sewer with grease traps, appropriate warewashing facilities, commercial cold storage, etc.

It's usually a hard sell to find a restaurant willing to host you (but not impossible), but many people have good luck asking churches, social clubs, corporate cafeterias, etc. On guy I know uses a nursing home as his commissary.

As I said, I do not know Colorado regulations, so your mileage may vary. And don't be so hard on the health department folks...they are being evasive about it so they don't get themselves into trouble down the road. Imagine if they recommended a place to you, you spent the time and money to line things up to use that recommended location as your commissary, and then three months down the road that commissary loses their license to operate. Who would you blame? The health department official who sent you there in the first place. For many reasons they really can't recommend specific locationa for that. Heck, when I was first opening, I asked my health inspector if he knew of any local paper goods suppliers. He said "yes, but I can't tell you who." It's just for their own protection.

So... Think outside the box. If their regs are like most others, almost any commercially licensed and inspected kitchen will do.

Hmmmmm..... I came up with more than six possibilities with the click of a mouse. All in the Denver metro area. Clear as day.
Commissary. Google. Simple.
If you were not able to come up with anything online, you might as well sell your cart now and try something else.
 
 
 

You may have a cart & desire but you sure don't know how to Google.
I Googled "Commissary in Denver CO" and came up with this:
http://www.kitchennetworkdenver.com/aboutus.html
There are others.

Find a Bar that has a kitchen...  Make friends with them (remember your in sales now)
Pay for them to become a licensed commisary... (pay the license fee - here it's about $250 per year)
tell them you don't work very often, but if anyone asks, your there just about every day.
always remember to tell them you have multiple commisary locations in your area depending on what county you happen to be selling hotdogs in, for that particular day...
 
Bar's work well because they have ice machines...  set up your cart occasionally at the bar and give away some product as a thank you for letting you use their facilities for a commisary...  they will probably give you plenty of ice... Volunteer to bring up some ice for them too while you are at it...  And maybe they will let you put in a small freezer next to the ice machine and possibly even plug it in... Or maybe they will want you to share their freezer...  If there isn't much room in their freezer you can tell everyone you pick up your meat fresh every day at SAM's club, and luckily you never really have much waste as one of your key strengths in this business is knowing just exactly how much product to buy every day...
 
Reality is, your potable water for hand wash may come from many different sources...  The oily water from cooking can get dumped in a sewer pretty quickly and easily, and draining the ice and hand wash into the gutter isn't going to hurt anything either...
 
Run a wet rag over the cart at the bar very quickly to clean it...  then take that cart home and polish it up nicely, as you have to keep it somewhere anyway...
 
The biggest thing is cutting your onions...  While you may think you can do it just as well at home as a commisary, you would probably be mistaken.  The thought of anyone cutting onions in a home nausiates me to no end.  Just like little kids with lemonade stands sitting there wiping their little runny noses with their sleeves, it's the law that you must have and use your commisary for anything you prepare...  No one can see into your home, and it's just good business to assure everyone there is no cross contamination by having a commisary..  ;-)   ;-o  Personally I cut my onions once a week, or month, or year...  Add a little lemonade to the onion bag from your kids lemonade stand and they last forever...
 
Buy a drink every now and then...  you should be fine... but I'm just guessing that the regs are about the same in your area as mine...
 
I hope it's all clear now...
 
Next month we can talk about taxes...  Because that's probably your next problem...
 

tbone654


Find a Bar that has a kitchen...  Make friends with them (remember your in sales now)
Pay for them to become a licensed commisary... (pay the license fee - here it's about $250 per year)
tell them you don't work very often, but if anyone asks, your there just about every day.
always remember to tell them you have multiple commisary locations in your area depending on what county you happen to be selling hotdogs in, for that particular day...

Bar's work well because they have ice machines...  set up your cart occasionally at the bar and give away some product as a thank you for letting you use their facilities for a commisary...  they will probably give you plenty of ice... Volunteer to bring up some ice for them too while you are at it...  And maybe they will let you put in a small freezer next to the ice machine and possibly even plug it in... Or maybe they will want you to share their freezer...  If there isn't much room in their freezer you can tell everyone you pick up your meat fresh every day at SAM's club, and luckily you never really have much waste as one of your key strengths in this business is knowing just exactly how much product to buy every day...

Reality is, your potable water for hand wash may come from many different sources...  The oily water from cooking can get dumped in a sewer pretty quickly and easily, and draining the ice and hand wash into the gutter isn't going to hurt anything either...

Run a wet rag over the cart at the bar very quickly to clean it...  then take that cart home and polish it up nicely, as you have to keep it somewhere anyway...

The biggest thing is cutting your onions...  While you may think you can do it just as well at home as a commisary, you would probably be mistaken.  The thought of anyone cutting onions in a home nausiates me to no end.  Just like little kids with lemonade stands sitting there wiping their little runny noses with their sleeves, it's the law that you must have and use your commisary for anything you prepare...  No one can see into your home, and it's just good business to assure everyone there is no cross contamination by having a commisary..  ;-)   ;-o  Personally I cut my onions once a week, or month, or year...  Add a little lemonade to the onion bag from your kids lemonade stand and they last forever...

Buy a drink every now and then...  you should be fine... but I'm just guessing that the regs are about the same in your area as mine...

I hope it's all clear now...

Next month we can talk about taxes...  Because that's probably your next problem...

 
This..... this was good info. This is kind of how I imagined the whole scenario playing out, but couldn't confirm it anywhere.
 
14 years ago I worked fast food in high school. I still know the guy that I worked for, and he still has a successful hamburger business. He even has an onion slicer! I'll bet I can get him to let me drop by and fill up the water, chop a few onions and all of that. He's a good guy, and his restaurant is very much up to health code regulations in my county. Hopefully he'd be happy to let me have 5 minutes of access to his facility a few times a week (or whatever). I'll have to ask.
 
Taxes? No... I have that covered. I need to go grab a business license (my old on expired, plus had NOTHING to do with food). I have a few close personal friends that are corperate accountants and I'm sure we can figure out what I need to do fairly simply. BUT... don't think I won't ask a few questions when the time comes. =)
 
 
To those who say I'm a moron for not finding information on Google..... sorry to disappoint you guys. haha. I made about every search combination I could think of. I clicked all the links and read a ton of pages that were NOT informative. At that point, I figured it was time to ask someone who might know exactly where to look. So I googled hot dog vendor forums, and this seemed like the most informative and competent site. Hence my post on this board. And.... here we are now.
 
Thanks guys. Any more information that anyone might want to give would be appreciated. Knowledge is power, and I'm a stickler for the details. I like to do things the right way so I don't create problems that I might have to deal with later. So, I appreciate those of you that are really working to give me proper information.
 
Much thanks,
 
DenverDogMan

Oh! Another question I haven't been able to get an answer to:
 
I have a 10 gallon fresh water tank, and a 10 gallon waste water tank. The cooler's drain is plumbed to the waste water tank, but that's it. The sink runs but is NOT hooked up to any collection recepticle. Am I allowed to have all of my waste water flow into the same waste recepticle for storage? I'm sure I am, but I'd love to know if anyone here knows that hard and fast rules on that.
 
 

In less than one minute I was able to find the answer to these questions.
You really need to read everything that pertains to mobile units, push carts and commissaries. All the answers are there.
 
You received some pretty poor advice from tbone... how many ways can you skirt the system?
Also, what does someone in Milwaukee know about YOUR local requirements?
You say knowledge is power, well, know YOUR RULES, get them from the correct source, not someone on an internet discussion board.
What happens when you get caught and fined for dumping your grey water in the gutter like you were advised to do here?
Is that person going to pay your fines?
Did you call each one of the commissaries listed and tell them that you need space for your hot dog cart? Did each one turn you down?

^ Buba.....Broski... I get that you're a professional, and that some of the information given to me was not 100% perfect. But, all the information I've been given has been helpful in directing my path toward the right way to do things. Obviously if I'm here asking what the specifics of the regulations for hotdog vendors are, I'm not going to just dump my water in the gutter and break rules. I want to know the rules so I can follow them. I hope that's been made clear.
 
Perhaps it's a fluke that I just didn't see the information when I searched google, but I proimise I have been working on this for almost a month and have been hitting nothing but roadblocks. I'm left with a lot of gray area, and the entire purpose of posting here was to eliminate gray area and get down to the facts of what I need to do to get vending ASAP.
 
I'm sorry if I've inconvenienced you with my questions. Feel free to stop making an effort to help me if it's that big of a problem. Also, as said before, I have contacted SO many people on the phone that I'm still blown away at the lack of information or guidance I was given. And, again, I'll remind you that all of that bad information has led me here to ask for help.
 
The rules may seem cut and dry to you, as they did to me when I first was reading them. it got complicated once I started talking to the health department and discussing the depth of what Denvers commessary requirements are. I searched for places to properly clean and maintain a hotdog cart, commesary kitchens, leasable and rentable commisary spaces...... I've looked. I really have. So, we can keep doing this dance where I ask for help and you call me and other responders idiots..... or we can jsut drop it.
 
I'm here for information, and to meet some other vendors that started the same way I did. I'm a humble dude and have no desire to get into a "know it all match" with anybody here. I appreciate your help, but you carry the same condescending tone as most forum trolls that hound the internet. BUT.... you are knowledgeable, and that is very very appreciated.
 
No hard feelings dude, but.... I'm not playing the game. It's a pleasure to meet all of you but this is for business.... not to impress people on an internet forum.
 
 
Again, thank you very much to everyone that has contributed. And, again, any other information anyone can give is appreciated
 
Thanks guys.

My offer still stands if you want to pm me your phone number and I will be glad to help guide you with what I know...

I'm not trying to be an asshole, I'm not trying to impress anyone, but when I can find all the info YOU need, in a matter of minutes without looking very hard, it seems you are not trying hard enough.
There are a lot of wanna be hot dog vendors come to this site and ask for everything they need to know, thinking that they can get their information from someone in another state and it will be specific to their area.
Most food codes are similar, but every city, county, state has their own very specific guidelines. Some can store dogs in a cooler on ice, others require mechanical refrigeration.
Some require a 3 bay sink and hot water heater, others don't.
Most require a commissary, some don't. The list goes on and on.
 
A 10 gallon waste tank is not big enough for your 10 gallon fresh water tank. That is from the Colorado dept of health website. Have you read the requirements from there yet?
 
If you don't understand things, go there in person, have them explain it to you. I know it's a pain in the ass to go down there, but it's what has to be done. Make sure you have read the requirements before you go there, if you are sincere with them, they will help, if you go in with no knowledge of what you are trying to do, forget it, they will be short with you and tell you to read the regs.
Have you taken a food handlers course yet? if not, it would be a good idea to get that done so that you understand a little more of what food safety is about. You will not be able to operate without it.
Have you called any of these places?
 
http://www.kitchennetworkdenver.com/
http://www.culinaryincubator.com/maps.php?state=CO
http://maps.google.com/ma...d=12700096265528696631
http://www.commercialkitc....com/Colorado-6-0.html
 

No! haven't called ANY of those places. I will do it this week, for sure. I also was going to take a food handling class with my sister-in-law since she's somewhat of an aspiring chef.
 
I appreciate it Buba. I'm not trying to be a jerk either. I'm not a hack.... I'm a serious guy wanting to get into the business, and stay in it. The economy destroyed my old business, and I need to be self employed again. I'm very serious about making this happen quickly and properly. Apparently I just failed miserably at my google searches. Most vending I'll be doing will take place late at night at small concert halls, so.... I could do whateveryone else does and just roll up with no license/commissary/anything and probably get away with it. But... I wanna do it the right way. I'm just a little out of my element, as I've never done mobile food vending before. So.... your help is GREATLY appreciated.
 
Thanks!
 
 
RJT: I appreciate the offer. But, once again, I can not PM you until I've been on the site for 15 days. Also, someone else in Colorado that is already vending just PMed me their phone number so they can give me a little information that's more similar to what I'll need (since we're in the same state). But, thank you. Once I'm here 15 days I will PM you and still pick your brain!
 
Thanks guy!

To the OP.  I like to think of myself as a fairly well educated person, but to be honest, I have seldom been able to "just Google" something.  I don't have that knack either.  BUT, I am very fortunate.  I have a wonderful lady that lives with me that is a genius in that department.  Sometimes it's my spelling limitations (thank God for spellcheck - though that doesn't help much on Google), and sometimes it's the terms I type in when I try to look up something.
 
This thread is still only two days old.  That isn't all that much time, so don't give up.
 
Look through some of the other threads here and possibly you will find answers there.
 
You have been given some great info, and the longer you look into this, the more info you'll be looking FOR.  The more you learn, the more you'll find you NEED to know.
 
When you DO take your food handler's course, you'll meet people that may be looking into the same thing you are looking for.  Ask the instructor (after the course is over) and take LOTS of notes.  You'll be referring to them often.
 
Good luck.
 
Photto

Hey Dog Man,
 jumped threw all hoops with   COLORADO RETAIL FOOD ESTABLISHMENT RULES AND REGULATIONS. The CDPHE,  you will hear diffrent opinions from every inspector. It seems to me they are not on the same page, or what they say every situation is unique or diffrent. you can contact me at events@luckydoggrill.com for more info, we run 2 carts on a daily basis, and have a good repore with CDPHE.
 


 

Hey Guys!
 
I have had my cart at a welder's shop for a month. Getting it back this weekend. I had the entire frame rebuilt and the hitch re-done. The front end will have removable wheels (if I want to vend without taking the unit off of the hitch). It will also have a removable hitch so you can put the wheels on and push it around without a huge hitch hanging out the front.
 
It's been a real pain in the butt getting this thing going. I'm already working 3 jobs so my free time is limited and my startup money is limited to the few dollars I can save a month. But.... it's getting there.
 
As soon as its back I need to assess the sink situation and at that point I'll roll it down to the state patrol and to the health department.
 
I can't tell you how ready I am to replace 1 or 2 of my jobs with the hotdog cart. Wish there was a way I could afford to streamline the process, but I can't.
 
I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks for all the help so far.
 
 
 
BTW, does anyone know where to get little 2 and 3 bowl sinks for a hotdog cart?

We used steam table insert pans (used) and bought the sink drain/tail pipe (currently vanity size) at either Lowes or Home Depot. We will be replacing the current sinks with some 6" deep pans (used) and the sink drain/tailpipe  with a standard kitchen drain, simply for the strainer basket Those little vanity sink plugs are hard to get out at times and we have yet to come up with a good food debris strainer.
 
The hand sink is a 1/3 pan, the triple bowl sink is three 1/2 pans (two on outside and center sitting on top of the two outer pans... caulked together).
 
We even used a 1/2 X 6" deep pan in the bathroom of our bus.  Makes a great sink.

Go to www.Google.com 
At the top  click "images"
Type in "hot dog cart sinks"
Lots of good ideas to work from.

DenverDogMan

lornaschinske


First, download the regs. Make a hard copy and READ it. Haul it down to the HD with you and make notes about what you need to do. Talk to the other food vendors in your area. You don't have to be selling the same thing in order for them to help. They may not be too friendly. You are the competition. Read the forum a lot and make notes.

As for the HD... they have lots of folks who waste their time asking questions and never start up a business.

The regulations are only 2 or 3 pages long. I've read them quite a few times, scouring the fine print for any information that's specific to my needs. But.... they are vague with details on hotdogs, and I see a lot of loose ends in their policy. I don't mind that, but I do mind that nobody at the State or County offices I've called have any clue what I'm supposed to do. But..... I am studied up.

My #1 problem right now is figuring out what kind of commissary crap I'm supposed to do, and where one is located. Nobody will tell me over the phone, and I can't find anything online.




You know what relaly grinds my gears? I know a guy that's currently running a hotdog cart. I've contacted him a few times about the commessary issue, and asked him what he does. He pussyfoots around the answer, and never tells me. I even got a little direct with him and just said "dude... how did you get your commessary license"? He says "dude.... just call the state and they'll tell you where to go". Pisses me off bad. I'm not his competition, as I'll be over 40 miles from where he vends. I'm sure he doesn't use his commessary, BUT he got the license so.... why not tell me what you did? Ugh... frustrating. Very frustrating.

Again, if anyone in Colorado can give me personal information on how the commessary thing works... I'd appreciate it. Becasue the state obviously doesn't know, nor do my vending friends.

It's been such a hassle I've almost considered just getting rid of the cart and saying "forget it". But... I want to make it happen. I'm very entrepeneurial, and I need to be my own boss again. This seems like a fantastic way to make some good income even as a 2nd job.....  gotta push through and conquer these obstacles.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks to the help some of you have already provided.

 
I get asked about starting a cart about ten times a day...it gets real old after a while. People want an education on how to start a cart...do the leg work, make calls, eventually you'll talk to the right person. If starting a cart was easy everyone would do it. I'm not sure how you wouldn't know what a commisary is after reading this forum for as little as 5 minutes. Get the book "Hot dogs saved my life"..amazon has it. Ignore the part about how much money you'll make. It's complete bull****. The book is written by a guy who has carts for sale so he's just a bit biased. Other than that the book explains the nuts and bolts of getting a cart going. From the commissary to the insurance. 

so you spend the time to search for "HIS" information he is looking for..... then instead of just posting where to go or what to type in, you spend more time schooling him about how he isnt doing for himself.....
since you presumably searched and found what he was looking for, why didnt you just tell him where to go ????  so yea, in my book asshole comes to mind
otherwise, you didnt really look anything up, in which case just shut up 
 
 
because i for one can see where he may have become frustrated with searching....... more then once i have searched my ass off for something and couldnt find a single thing.............. then 3 days later on a whim i change a word, delete one search term, spell a word differently, or use an acronym, and viola !!...there are a million things pop up just what i was looking for......

This is the easy part...if this is a stumbling block the OP might be better finding something else to do. 

Best of luck DDG!!!  I am new also, and this forum has really helped me get off the ground.

I've been in the business for about eight years now. I work full time so I run my cart part time mainly because I don't trust anyone else with my cart . What I found to be (in Baltimore) is that it seems as though they come up with new rules and regulations every year to try and deter folks from getting into the business. From the inspections to the licensing it's all a headache, but it's well worth it once you get rolling  

I'm also just starting up.  Here in Florida a commissary needs to be approved for you by the Dept. of Professional Regulation.  It has to provide you with a potable water source for your cart,  a mop sink to dispose of waste water, a food prep area, a food storage area, and a 3-sink setup to wash your utensils, pans, etc.
 
In Florida, they have a very clear policy that it's not the state's responsibility to find a commissary, only to ensure that it meets their standards.  I think that they are deliberately avoiding recommending commissaries to keep clear of the appearance of conflict of interest and favoritism.
 
You'll hear a lot of suggestions about churches, VFWs, etc.  I found a professional, full-time commissary only 5 minutes from my house simply by searching the word "commissary" on craigslist.  They are even helping me with my paperwork to be licensed by the state. 
 
I would imagine that in this economy you'd be able to find a small mom-n-pop restaurant that would be very glad to have a bit of additional income by serving as your commissary.  It's just a matter of beating the bushes.  Good luck.
 

domromer

DenverDogMan

lornaschinske


First, download the regs. Make a hard copy and READ it. Haul it down to the HD with you and make notes about what you need to do. Talk to the other food vendors in your area. You don't have to be selling the same thing in order for them to help. They may not be too friendly. You are the competition. Read the forum a lot and make notes.

As for the HD... they have lots of folks who waste their time asking questions and never start up a business.

The regulations are only 2 or 3 pages long. I've read them quite a few times, scouring the fine print for any information that's specific to my needs. But.... they are vague with details on hotdogs, and I see a lot of loose ends in their policy. I don't mind that, but I do mind that nobody at the State or County offices I've called have any clue what I'm supposed to do. But..... I am studied up.

My #1 problem right now is figuring out what kind of commissary crap I'm supposed to do, and where one is located. Nobody will tell me over the phone, and I can't find anything online.




You know what relaly grinds my gears? I know a guy that's currently running a hotdog cart. I've contacted him a few times about the commessary issue, and asked him what he does. He pussyfoots around the answer, and never tells me. I even got a little direct with him and just said "dude... how did you get your commessary license"? He says "dude.... just call the state and they'll tell you where to go". Pisses me off bad. I'm not his competition, as I'll be over 40 miles from where he vends. I'm sure he doesn't use his commessary, BUT he got the license so.... why not tell me what you did? Ugh... frustrating. Very frustrating.

Again, if anyone in Colorado can give me personal information on how the commessary thing works... I'd appreciate it. Becasue the state obviously doesn't know, nor do my vending friends.

It's been such a hassle I've almost considered just getting rid of the cart and saying "forget it". But... I want to make it happen. I'm very entrepeneurial, and I need to be my own boss again. This seems like a fantastic way to make some good income even as a 2nd job.....  gotta push through and conquer these obstacles.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks to the help some of you have already provided.

I get asked about starting a cart about ten times a day...it gets real old after a while. People want an education on how to start a cart...do the leg work, make calls, eventually you'll talk to the right person. If starting a cart was easy everyone would do it. I'm not sure how you wouldn't know what a commisary is after reading this forum for as little as 5 minutes. Get the book "Hot dogs saved my life"..amazon has it. Ignore the part about how much money you'll make. It's complete bull****. The book is written by a guy who has carts for sale so he's just a bit biased. Other than that the book explains the nuts and bolts of getting a cart going. From the&nb sp;commissary to the insurance. 

If you get asked 10 times a day how to start a hot dog cart and it's so annoying, why are you on a forum that's sure to be full of noobs asking how to start a hot dog cart?

And the OP wasn't asking for a comprehensive education about running a hot dog cart. He asked a specific question about commissaries - which seems to be the biggest stumbling block to most newbies.

If you don't want to share your hard-earned knowledge, that's fine. But don't waste everyone else's time complaining about it...