Realistic expectations

For a fella with a hot dog cart, is it a reasonable expectation to sell 100 dogs per day(once established)? I know there are tons of variables like traffic, location, etc..... I never really read about volume of sales on here and I'm curious.

I would define a day as from 10AM to 6PM or similar.

Are 100 dog days routine for a lot of folks or is that on the high end? Can ONE person keep up with that? Just running 100/8 would run about 13 hot dogs / hour. I know that you can't spread it like that because of peak periods. Just trying to get a realistic feel for this business from you guys who are doing it.

Thanks guys

Howdy Arnie,
depending on how you prepare your dogs (simmer, steam, grill) you should be easily able to keep up with 13 an hour. If your steaming them and your good you could probably do 13 in a minute (okay, maybe 2 minutes) but a hundred a day is a very reasonable expectation. Your mission is to find a spot where you do at least 100, preferably more. I'm not sure what your selling and what your price is, but you need to figure what you can live with income wise, and make that happen. Good luck man,
Jim

I read this thread tonight before I went out to work the late night bar crowd and decided I'd report back, regardless of the outcome, to give you a little snapshot of the business.

I was set up and ready to go by 12:15AM and I was done and packed by 2:30AM. In the 2.25 hours I was out there I sold 62 1/4lb Bests Kosher Polish, about 12 bags of chips and about 10 drinks.

I had a brand new employee tonight who I am training to be my money girl this summer and she slowed things down quite a bit. The bar was PACKED tonight and I would have sold a few more without her, but I'll take it. She needs to learn now.

Anyway, that was a fairly typical Thursday night.

weeeelll it all depends
I just started at new spot last week and handed out so far 400 flyers as for the location I am parked at a Honeywell with 2700 employees and various other office complex within walking distance. To say the least so far it sucks, But it is getting better every day. As for my money spot that would be the bar I sling dog meat at on Thurs Fri and Sat night I clear after cost at least $200 a night. Location is EVERYTHING. Personaly to sell 100 hot dogs a day would be a god send I don't see it unless I was downtown and rented a spot from the city @ $500.00 a month or bought a spot at a festival which can run into some serious bucks for me 60% of my profit comes from Chips and Drinks. It is all about location my friend

Oh I should mention that I just catch the lunch traffic from 10am to 2ish

Thanks for sharing your experiences.