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More News, Articles, Stories, and Resources for your Hot Dog Vending Business: Hot Dog Sales Hold Their Own: Economy be damned, Hot Dog Carts are STILL good bussiness (click here) "Miniboom of hot dog cart vendors a sign of the times": In hard times, the appeal of low-cost self-employment soars — and a tiny stainless steel restaurant on two wheels gleams.(click here) "New York City Hot Dog Vendor Pays $360,000 for Prime Corner": (He better sell a LOT of dawgs!) (click here) |
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Teens’ Education Goes
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It’d be easy for the guys to just get jobs as line cooks, or do yardwork. But they said they’re interested in more than that.
“I’ve always liked to challenge myself,” Blaine said. “I think we’ll be able to savor this, and look back on it.”
Blake, 17, who will be a senior at Bend High this year, was the one with the idea.
He’s worked at Bella Cucina Italian Cafe in the Sunriver Village Mall for several summers. Last summer, he said, he found himself staring out onto the mall while cooking. “I kept looking out and thinking, ‘How can I stop working for other people and start working for myself?’” Blake said.
Then came the flash of brilliance.
“The smoothie guy was a source of inspiration,” Blake said, pointing down the mall to a small smoothie stand that’s operated at the mall for two summers now.
“I was intrigued,” Blaine said. “I was looking for a summer job at the time, and I was wondering what to do with my life.”
Blaine, 17, used some of his own money to purchase a hot dog cart, which the pair happened upon at a Bend pawn shop. He even approached his school, Cascades Academy, with a business proposition - beginning Memorial Day he would leave school early each day for the remainder of the year to run his business.
After he presented a proposal to teachers and administrators with an outline of how the business would be an educational experience, they agreed. He expects he’ll have to ask for a similar excused absence through September, at which point the stand will close for the year. In the end, he didn’t have to miss school this spring because the cart didn’t open on time.
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But it didn’t deter the teens. They borrowed more money from Blaine’s mother and repaired the cart. They even had some graphics painted on it, blue and orange highlights on a shiny silver cart. They estimate they put in about 50 hours of labor fixing the cart.
“We’ve got some great before and after pictures,” Blake said. “It almost didn’t happen. But then we got the cart from there, and we were like, OK, we’re serious about it.”
So the guys did the paperwork, contacted the health department and licensed their business.
Blake’s boss at Bella Cucina offered to help him get the stand started, paying for permits and helping him slog through the process of getting approved for a business in Sunriver.
With her help, Blake contacted the Sunriver Owners Association and worked with them to get a location at the outdoor mall.
The boys prepared a three-page proposition, which they provided to the Sunriver Chamber of Commerce and the resort’s communications director, explaining why they wanted to open the business, what their goals were and how the new business would benefit Sunriver.
The stand was slated to open on Memorial Day weekend. But the teenagers got their first lesson in government bureaucracy, as their health department license failed to appear on time. Finally, on June 13, the pair sold their first hot dog.
Since then, they’ve been working seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
It’s not all hard work. The guys get visits from their friends throughout the day, who often help them with dishes or just hang out and listen to music. And when business gets slow in the afternoon, they sit in the shade and talk or use their computers.
The Sunriver Sizzler doesn’t just serve hot dogs with a variety of toppings. It also serves meatball, barbecue chicken and vegetable sub sandwiches, as well as drinks.
Right now, the approximate $6,000 they’ve made is going to pay off debts and keep the business running. By the end of the year, they hope to be debt-free and ready to operate on their own.
A bad day brings in $100; a good day, more than $150. Either way, Blaine and Blake intend to stick with it. “A few times, I’ve gotten discouraged because we’re not making money yet, I’m working for nothing,” he said. But when he spoke with a Bend hot dog vendor, he said he learned a lot.
“He said stay out there every day, be reliable for your customers,” Blaine said. “If one day you’re closed, people don’t like that.”
The stand has its regulars, mostly locals and maintenance workers at the resort. Once, a man came to buy a hot dog after hearing the pair sold good hot dogs. A Chicago native, the man was impressed, and promised to spread the word about their stand.
“Without the locals, we wouldn’t be open every day,” Blake said.
So far, the pair has closed the stand just once, because Blake’s car broke down.
Now everywhere the boys look, they see opportunities. Blaine thinks there’s real promise in a coffee stand, since the coffee shop in Sunriver, he said, always has a line. Blake wants to take the Sunriver Sizzler on the road, getting a permanent location in a building and then roaming the area with the cart. He also envisions a day when he could get a golf cart with a grill on the back and drive around the resort selling snacks.
“We’ve learned a lot,” he said. “Now we’d like to broaden our horizons.”
Story courtesy of the Bend (Oregon) Bulletin: http://www.bendbulletin.com