Shall we dare to stand out?

I thought it appropriate that this be in its own category. At least it can be a place to vent and will not clutter up the message board.
We may have something good here. In a past life I was very much in favor of Unions but feel they to have gone out of control with power and do not look after the worker but more so protect the union and its empire (Which is why I no longer support them). However I would support an organization that is focused on getting discounts and incentives for its membership. If anyone is interested in joining, helping and supporting such an endeavor please email me. If I get enough emails I will build an internet site with a Forum, such as this (The software is free and I can host it for about $10.00 a month to start, as traffic builds they will charge more).
If all of us begin to solicit members and those members get other members we could have a very strong voice collectively. I would also be willing to bargain with large companies on behalf of the group. Here is what I can see happening if the majority of us members will buy and use a particular brand and only that brand for example: We have 300 members that sell 1000 Hot Dogs a week each on average, that’s 300,000 Hot dogs each week. Do the math and it comes to 15,000,000 Hot Dogs a year. If you were Oscar Myer, for example what would you do to get an account that big or to not risk loosing the part of that group that do use there brand currently? I feel that it could be 10 times that big if all the vendors would support this. In day to day business it is quality that keeps us in business and not quantity (expect for maybe an event) I can also secure a deal with an insurance company to get us a better rate. Down the road I know we can hold a convention that would be paid for by cart manufactures and food vendors. Everyone would be able to meet and exchange experiences. I will send out a monthly news letter that is comprised of information gathered by the membership. Here is my email send me your thought on this and some of your ideas of how and what we should support and directions you would like to see us go. Please be civil and stick to the topic I am very serious about what I have said I will commit to and if it’s something everyone wants and supports I will do all I can to make it happen.
regbert@tampabay.rr.com
Sincerely
Bob Egbert

There's a good point on qty. discounts. But as you mentioned Oscar Myer, hot dogs are fairly regional.. In Michigan it's Koegles, in Illinois Vienna Beef... Just a thought there... Though Oscar Myer is a national product, about the only place that I know serving them is ballparks..

There used to be a website out there that had a similar ideas as yours about 5 years ago. They even published a newsletter every 3 or 4 months and mailed it out to their members. I'll have to dig thru some of my archived saved webpages (now on CD from that long ago) and see if it still exists..

Come on aboard
Hi Uncle Vic, if you could find the news letters I would love to see them as well as look up the website. My reference to Oscar Myer of course is to serve as a point, but yes there are regional brands and people are funny about changing what they are use to. I did some research as to how many vendor licenses are issued per state and how many carts were sold by manufactures. The numbers are unbelievable and do not count the guy who makes less then ten carts. They are high enough in each state to suggest that the numbers can work for any region with even 10% of those being members of a national organization. It will take time to make those numbers work but if we can get enough people involved it would not take long before we saw the results. Initially the membership would be free but as expenses began to increase we could charge one or two dollars per year to off set cost. I will donate my time and efforts for free as well as a web site, paper and postage if needed etc. etc. Only after we as members saw the benefits and realized cash savings would we ask for support financially and that more than likely would not exceed twenty or thirty dollars a year and for that the members could be saving thousands a year plus have a common support group. SAMS club even charges what $35.00, $50.00 for a business. If I get enough interested vendors and members would you like to be involved on any scale?

Well I guess it was a bad idea by the amount of replies. I still belive it could work very well but can not do it by myself. It was worth a shot

Where's the thrill if every cart has the same dogs?

There are only so many good ones though right? LOL

I guess what got me started was the fact that the town I live in and most of the towns in my part of the state of Florida don't allow Hot Dog vendors at all and don't ask why is pretty much what I was told. I was thinking if there were enough vendors to put up a fuss we could change things at some point. If you want to sell hot dogs here in Safety Harbor you have to sell them at an event and pay the chamber plus pay for all your Lic, fees, permits and use a commissary. If you go to another location even 20 feet away, you have to get another occupational License and pay that fee as well.
Talk about organized crime!!

I'm not sure if the concept of creating a "group" would work.. But what really would be nice is starting a website that could be an informational resource for the vendors. Listing state laws, and even possibly breaking them down to County levels would be an awesome resource! Maybe line up some cart dealers that would give registered users some price breaks (in exchange for advertising).. You could probably even go as far as roundinig up some vendors that offer price breaks also... Many possibilities on this one...

Those are about the lines I was thinking as well. I was told there are a few sites out there that have similar things available one is for restraints on the west coast. But nothing quite the way you described. I will look into this and let you know what I find out.
Thanks Bob

Thank you for the feed back. In just two short weeks we have had over 114 responses were yes, 6 No or negative feed backs, 22 not sure but sounds like they may join. Thats 142 and still coming in. So it is a go and the site is in development. I will post it when it is up and running. I was surprised how many emails I received, even got a few from the UK. Thanks Skip. I want to thank everyone for there opinion and honesty I hope everyone will come and spend some time at the web site and enjoy what it has to offer. We will be using envision board for the forum which allows BOGS and I feel it is a little less work on the person doing the maintenance. We will have links to applications for different events around the country, some interesting news articles from different major cities. The members section will give access to different benefits for our users to take advantage of, from 401k to various types of insurance. Discounts on new carts dry goods and yes some brands of Hot Dogs if you are in the area that these discounts are set up. Some of the work we will be doing is writing letters to help ease the restrictions on vendors as they now stand one being in Florida that makes you get a different Occupational License for each location you move to, even if it is across the street. At $85.00 a pop that can add up fast in one year! We will as for one fee per county just like a restaurants pays one else pays this we hope to see go away. I will be coming to visit some of our members around the country to say thank you for what you do. You will know when I am there by the hot dog logo on each side and a smaller one the back of our motor home. We will be asking for you stories and posting them on the site as well. Again Thank You
See you around the cart