Food stands...

Today I was downtown and decided to buy a hot dog from a small hot dog vender who had a hot dog cart similar to this one...



I gave this guy service but must say, other than low price, I grade them, their food a 'D'.

Why?

1. For one, dude was busy talking with friend, waited till last minute to get up, stand up, instead of enthusiastically greeting me as I approached, strike 1.

2. Even while there, his friend continued talking 'street nonsense' as if I wouldn't mind, very unprofessional.

3. The only extras he had for dog were mustard, Ketchup and relish...that's it.

4. Hot dog wasn't barely warm, most people, including me, like dogs that are hot off grill or pot.

It was basically a poorly ran stand, yet it was in a prime hot spot to do sales, right across from bus station.

The guy working the stand, not sure if they owned it or were working for owner, was 27 something year old urban black dude, who looked like he could just as well been working at a labor ready day labor type job with shovel in hand.

Like I wrote above, there's a lot more to selling dogs, food, than just standing, sitting there waiting for someone to walk up.

Now their prices were low, dog only cost $1.00, so did chips, that's the only good thing.

But it was a basic dog, you can by better fancier dogs at the grocery store with more taste than his had.

I'll never buy from him again, but will explore other stands, and maybe even create real live news journal and rate each one on their service...

In fact, weather permitting tomorrow, I just may do that.
Take photo of person and stand, or just stand, buy 1 dog, rate it, rate service, and then write it up in a journal, print it and hand it out.

I know if I ever bought a hot dog stand, sold consessions, I'd be good at it cause I understand sales, and have personality to go with it.

Many of these hot dog cart types are dry, they just sit there, there's nothing interesting about them, no funny outfit, no music playing that all can enjoy, no humor, nada, yet expect to sell food to strangers, it don't work that way.

Every good restaurant owner knows, whether hot dog stand or lounge, that you build your business through reputation, repeat customers, word of mouth.

This Southern inner city dude knows nothing about hot dogs, nothing about relish, sower croute, chili, onions, ect.

A New York vender would kick his but in taste.

If this hot dog vender represents what would be my competition, I'd do great downtown, as word would spread that not only did my food have flavor, but so do I.

Unless you have like a minimum of $30,000 to invest, forget about this, and if did have $30,000 to play with, better ways to multiply your money than some brick and mortar stuff like this.