Now that’s something I don’t see very often, I thought as I approached the hot-dog cart among the vintage and antique furniture at the auction house. It looked as if it were fresh from the factory, without a smudge of dried ketchup, mustard or relish on it.
If it wasn’t brand new, whoever had owned it had kept it sparkling. Even the plastic coverings on the Hebrew National signs on either side were not punctured.
The cart was scheduled to be sold in two weeks, so the auction house had put it on display early, I figured, to give folks a chance to mull over the possibility of buying it and determining how to make such a business work.
If I had an inkling to sell hot dogs, I knew which kind I’d sell – the ones on the signs: Hebrew National. I don’t eat much meat any more, although I do have a taste for hot dogs now and then. When I did buy them, I chose Hebrew National because they tasted better than most and had none of the fillers.
Googling, I learned that selling hot dogs is serious business. One guy named Steve has a website with pointers on how to become a “successful and profitable hot dog slinger.” He sold books and products, and offered advice on how to make a go of it. He says on his website that he built his first hot-dog cart for $500 and grew the business from that. Now he sells products, writes books, coaches and consults with others on developing a hot-dog business.
I found another site that also offered tips, sold carts and more.
Here are some other interesting tidbits I learned about hot-dog carts:
Immigrants from Germany were the first to sell hot dogs from a pushcart in the 1860s. Two German towns claim to have originated the hot dog.
Nathan’s Famous began as a stand selling nickel hot dogs on Coney Island, Brooklyn, in 1916. It was founded by Nathan Handwerker, who was a Jewish immigrant from Poland. He had worked for another hot-dog stand on Coney Island, and began competing against his former boss.
Costco’s hot dog started out as an experiment in a single stand in front of its San Diego warehouse in 1984. It was manned by an employee who learned how to sell hot dogs by studying vendors at the San Diego Zoo. The company sold Hebrew National dogs and a soda for $1.50 (the price hasn’t changed, but the size of the hot dog and soda have. Costco now sells its own hot-dog brand in some places). The cart gave way to the company’s Food Courts.
The earliest hot dog carts in New York were made of wood and not very sanitary. A man named Ed Beller, who fled Europe ahead of the Nazis before World War II, was selling restaurant supplies when he got to talking to hot-dog street vendors. Beller came up with the idea of a lighter, cleaner metal and stainless steel cart.
As for the cart at auction, I wasn’t around when it was later sold. On eBay, I could find no Hebrew National street-size carts for sale, but other hot-dog carts were selling above $2,000.
