"Hot Dog-Prenuers"
Friday, October 31, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: Finally tonight, with layoffs growing, lots of people dream of starting their own business. While some are grand ideas, others are small and quickly up and running like selling hot dogs from one of those street- corner vending carts. Don't scoff. As Jeff Yastine reports, the slowing economy is leading to a boom of sorts in the hot dog vending trade.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: Sara Ortiz is a restaurateur, with a staff of one -- herself. And the menu, today and everyday is hot dogs, hot dogs, hot dogs. And just like real-estate, it's all about location, location, location. Hers is near the beach on Miami's Key Biscayne.
SARA ORTIZ, HOT DOG VENDOR: And the beach is good, because when they come from the water, they are hungry.
YASTINE: Weekends she may sell 500 hot dogs, which when you add it all up. means her gig is yielding some pretty good relish. You see them everywhere on street corners in New York. But who knew running a hot-dog stand could be so profitable?
LOUIE DIRAIMONDO, OWNER, ALL-AMERICAN HOT DOG CARTS: Back in here we have different carts that have add- ons. We have a cart with a grill, a popcorn machine, a sandwich press.
YASTINE: Louie Diraimondo, the self-proclaimed hot dog king may be just the person to ask.
DIRAIMONDO: This is the Chicago hot dogger, which has two burners and three pans. This is the New York City street cart, the most popular hot dog cart that we sell. It has two extra pans. It's wider on top. The breadbox is bigger. Then we have the all American hot dogger which is the flagship cart.
YASTINE: His company, All American Hot Dog Carts, has seen demand jump by 20 percent over the past year, the best growth in the company's 26 years. Diraimundo says it's related to the poor U.S. economy.
DIRAIMONDO: With the downturn of the economy, be your own boss, a lot of people out of work. It's quick easy startup. It could be a temporary fix on economics in someone's household. It could be long term.
YASTINE: But the business is not as easy as it looks. Many cities regulate where hot dog carts can be set up. Cities also enforce health department food handling regulations. Diraimondo says carts certified for health standards are a growing part of his U.S. business. But the hot dog cart making business is an international one. All American has sold its carts pretty much all over the globe, from Russia to Africa to Europe. There's a dealership in Japan and there's even talks in the works right now to expand into China and even Dubai. Diraimondo says many of those sales are helped by the weakness of the dollar over the past few years. Still, it amounts to a lot of business for a manufacturer like all-American, which builds its units from the wheels up in this Miami factory. The firms makes up to 100 a month at price tags from $1,600 to $4,400. As for the cart-owners, Diraimondo says some, with the right locations, at a major city street corner, can make $10,000 or more a month. Sara Ortiz in Key Biscayne, says her business doesn't do those kinds of numbers. But she says it's doing well enough that she's thinking of buying a second cart and like any growing small business, expand into a new location. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Miami.
GHARIB: So Paul, forget about bulls and bears, let's think hot dogs.
KANGAS: I'm getting hungry.
GHARIB: Yeah, they do look good.
