I was interested in the moveable nature of hot dog cart businesses, so I looked up what it was like to work one!
“What It’s Like to Work at a Hot Dog Cart” Excerpt
“The cart, with three steam trays, a two-burner propane grill, and condiments facing customers in the front, is quite a bit larger than the hand-pushed torpedos immortalized in A Confederacy of Dunces. Everything is streamlined to minimize movement, with the placement of all the condiments and supplies strategically arranged to get the hot dogs out fast. The only exception is the tomato slices, which can’t be kept outside the cooler very long on a hot day without turning to mush and which Hubby’s only stocks on high-traffic summer days. It’s simultaneously the most expensive ingredient and the biggest problem to manage.
When you’re selling hot dogs in a park, things can go from incredibly slow to MADNESS in the space of 45 seconds. A line draws a line. People want freshly-squeezed lemonade, which can take between 25-to-45 seconds per drink. A group will suddenly decide to go all-in on bratwurst when you’ve only got four in the cart and ten in the cooler. Commodities markets, based on quantitative output and historical cycles, will defeat educated, experienced traders half the time. Hot dog markets, based on what I can only assume is chaos theory and wizard magic, requires all the instinct, speed, and on-the-fly adjustment necessary of a cable-TV antihero.
Space is limited. The dogs and Polishes have a short life before going from delicious red to a sad paleness. Brats and Polishes need a char to finish, and people don’t like waiting for long periods at a cart. You’ve got to keep sausages cold until they need to be hot, and there’s not always enough time between the two states. So while you’ve got two regulars, a jumbo, two Polishes, and a brat waiting, you need to know exactly how many remain floating in trays, how long the charred sausages have been on the grill, and whether you have enough sauerkraut to satisfy the next four East Coast transplants.” (Carruthers, 2018).
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REVIEW
The hot dog stand is a classic business practice, however I was intrigued how it works. Maintaining a productive working kitchen in minimal amounts of space is interesting. The choice of location for each condiment or topping, and the amount of hot dogs ready to go versus sitting in the cooler is all a science to improve efficiency in selling the products. I hope to incorporate some of these things into my capstone project in regards to managing my space well. I want to draw an audience into my project without it being a huge billboard announcing it, and hotdog carts design is bold but still minimal. There also is something to the efficiency of hot dog carts that I would like to continue learning from. This business also relies heavily on knowing your audience and being able to cater to them in regards to the location where the cart will be that day, the amount of product, the different kinds of ingredients they have. All of these are going to be important for me when I am deciding which park I want to focus my design efforts at.
REFERENCES
Carruthers, J. (2018, August 10). What it’s like to work at a hot dog cart. Serious Eats. https://www.seriouseats.com/what-its-like-to-work-at-a-hot-dog-cart
Friedmen, J. (n.d.). Hot Dog Man (New York). Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/listing/72688772/hot-dog-man-new-york-city-color
