Hot Dog Cart In Sto. Dgo. part 2

[crodo1970]

First of all I want to thank to all of you for your observations and comments on my post?
Very helpful !
I have to tell you guys , I have been doing resarch on this matter for a long time and this is what I came up with or better yet why I would like to try doing it?

1.Hot Dog business ( chart ) has relatively low start up cost
2. It is flexible
3.Operational costs are low comparing to potential profits
4. If the Dogs are served fresh, with fresh and soft ( steamed ) buns from a chart that is well menteined and impacabely clean and if the staff is paying attention to the customers , customers are coming back more frekvently than to those who are not doing it. And this point, in my mind, is exactly where is a huge oportuniy as far as Santo Domingo is consrned.And I am talking here, as Snuffy has said, upscale area of town ( Naco, Piantini, Bella Vista, Arroyo Hondo...), with population that can afford cuality in life and is willing to pay for it. Now saying that I don?t want you guys to think that I will charge hunderts of pesos for one Dog. Hot Dog is fast and cheap food , and according to my resarch it can be sold at the same price that is been sold right now. Another point that I see as a opportunity are Special Events and Catering service. Not right on the beginning but after people get to know it they may like to have it on theirs parties !!!
Anyway there is still work to do and tomorrow I go to Santo Domingo ( I am in Bavaro now ) to check few things ( and I?ll let you know how is going on?.)Keep posting your opinions, it is of great help!!

P.S.

Anybody knows anything about permits, licences, and this legal stuff ??

Sorry about my English !!!


Happy and prosperus New 2006 !!!

Dean

 

[HOWMAR]

Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!!

 

[RHM]

Make sure you let us know where you set up shop.. I'm a sucker for a good hotdog.
Oh, and if you ain't gonna have real chili to put on top, don't expect me to show up more than once... LOL

Ditto. If and when you open be sure to let us know. I can guarantee that JD, Rob, Larry, Scandall and many more would give you a shot.

Scandall

 

[easygoin]

Give me one with sauerkraut and spicy mustard and the other with red onions and spicy mustard.... good luck

 

[HOWMAR]

These toppings sound great, but if you plan on using a Dominican hotdog you will have a bunch of disappointed customers. You can dress a Dominican hotdog up, but it will always be a mutt.

BTW Before everyone jumps on me, mutts make great pets, you just don't want to eat one.

 

[Criss Colon]

You Have A 100,000 To One Shot With Your Idea!

You are a nice person,who wants to start a business in the DR.Great! But you know absolutely NOTHING about the DR Culture! "Rich" Dominicans would sooner take a sharp stick in the eye before being caught buying food off the street!The "Hot Dog" crowd starts in the "Barrios" at about 9 pm.You must be poor and drunk to buy a "Street Dog"! And ,as "Howmar" says,Dominican Dogs Don't Rule!!
I am in Boston.First stop I made when I arrived,"Super Stop & Shop".What did I buy??? Two pounds of "All Beef" Hot dogs,1 pound of "Dourtmunder Bologna!!
Have some "Boarshead" olive and pimiento loaf in the "Fridge"! Have eaten about 5 pounds of "Smithfield" Bacon!!Why??? Can't get that stuff in the DR!!

I have cooked ALL BRANDS of Dominican Hotdogs,all kinds of ways.They just "SUCK" period!
Leave "Street Vending" to the Dominicans.They can live on 10,000 pesos a month working their a$$ of till 4 am everyday! CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

 

[Chirimoya]

Objection, your honour!

"Rich" Dominicans would sooner take a sharp stick in the eye before being caught buying food off the street!

Avenida Lincoln?

 

[RHM]

You are a nice person,who wants to start a business in the DR.Great! But you know absolutely NOTHING about the DR Culture! "Rich" Dominicans would sooner take a sharp stick in the eye before being caught buying food off the street!The "Hot Dog" crowd starts in the "Barrios" at about 9 pm.You must be poor and drunk to buy a "Street Dog"! And ,as "Howmar" says,Dominican Dogs Don't Rule!!
I am in Boston.First stop I made when I arrived,"Super Stop & Shop".What did I buy??? Two pounds of "All Beef" Hot dogs,1 pound of "Dourtmunder Bologna!!
Have some "Boarshead" olive and pimiento loaf in the "Fridge"! Have eaten about 5 pounds of "Smithfield" Bacon!!Why??? Can't get that stuff in the DR!!

I have cooked ALL BRANDS of Dominican Hotdogs,all kinds of ways.They just "SUCK" period!
Leave "Street Vending" to the Dominicans.They can live on 10,000 pesos a month working their a$$ of till 4 am everyday! CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

I was tempted to reply and disagree with Criss. But if there is one thing he knows...it's food!

Recognize his greatness. But don't give up on your idea.

Scandall

 

[MrMike]

I am afraind CC is right, I used to sell hot dogs in my internet cafe, I tried selling Hebrew Nationals with fresh buns straight in from the bakery, nice and steamy and kept fresh and steamy in the little steamer thingy they make for that.

I had to eat them all myself because my customers could not be persuaded to believe that a hot dog could be worth more than 5 pesos (this was 4 years ago) no matter what they tasted like.

So I switched to Mr. Hotdog (the ones that taste kinda like protein-enriched play-do) with cold stale buns for 5 pesos each, and as long as they were all dripping ketchup and mustard all over the damn place nobody cared, they paid 5 pesos for them all day long. Even if they were several days old.

 

[Uglystorm]

Avenida Lincoln?

Nu?ez de Caceres and Sarasota? and 24hrs!

 

[RHM]

Nu?ez de Caceres and Sarasota? and 24hrs!

Don't forget Ave. Bolivar and Maximo Gomez.

"Siempre abierto, siempre rico"

Scandall

 

[rafael]

The other problem is getting decent hot dog buns. I looked all over when I lived in SDQ. . . .no real luck. I used to bring down hebrew national dogs all the time. . . . .but finding buns was impossible.

 

[membruce]

I know nothing about the hot dog business except that I love a good dog. From a business standpoint, I can see a possibility for opportunity in these problems. Listen to what people are saying.

1)You won't be able to get good hot dogs / buns.
Meaning: solve this problem and you may be the only one in the DR with a good dog.
Options: Make you own weenies, import weenies, bake you own buns, buy bred roles and cut them for ?Dominican? hot dogs, import buns.

2)No rich sober local would buy form a street merchant.
Meaning: There is a problem with local street merchants. Maybe cultural, sanitation or quality. You may be on of a few merchants that you can trust.
Options: Marketing (you are not a street merchant you are a hot dog stand.), make the cleanliness and quality part of your product. Make it obvious to the customer that you take these seriously. If the problem is cultural, have some feature that would make your product different. Market to tourists.

Bruce

 

[Chirimoya]

I wish my camera wasn't being repaired. Last night we were driving up Ave. Lincoln and witnessed a long line of cars dominated by gleaming luxury models and SUVs 'del a?o' queuing up at the different street food stands in the empty lot near the Diario Libre building. I think the cross street is called Calle Francisco Henriquez.

 

[HOWMAR]

I wish my camera wasn't being repaired. Last night we were driving up Ave. Lincoln and witnessed a long line of cars dominated by gleaming luxury models and SUVs 'del a?o' queuing up at the different street food stands in the empty lot near the Diario Libre building. I think the cross street is called Calle Francisco Henriquez.

Are you sure what the product was that was being vended?

 

[Chirimoya]

Hot dogs, Cuban sandwiches and chimichurris is my educated guess.

 

[GringoCArlos]

Chiri - those aren't "Rich folks" - those are their drunken kids. Jevitos up the ying-yang. We have been INSIDE Adrian's, located kitty-corner across the street, and couldn't talk over the noise blasting from someone's jeepeta over there.

Once they're drunk, they'll eat anything, and chances are, the only one with money is the one driving daddy's jeepeta! Stick with the 5 peso hotdogs, and charge them 50 pesos. They won't know the difference.

 

[Chirimoya]

They're jevitos, I agree. I'm contradicting Criss Colon's assertion that 'rich' Dominicans don't buy food off the street. Rich, children of the rich - pretty much the same thing, and all the vendor cares about is volume of sales, not the 'class' of the client.

It's worth mentioning that this crowd is very much of the 'fashion victim' variety and even if you become popular for a while you may soon lose 'flavour of the month' status when something else comes along to replace you.

 

[easygoin]

Optimist

They're jevitos, I agree. I'm contradicting Criss Colon's assertion that 'rich' Dominicans don't buy food off the street. Rich, children of the rich - pretty much the same thing, and all the vendor cares about is volume of sales, not the 'class' of the client.

It's worth mentioning that this crowd is very much of the 'fashion victim' variety and even if you become popular for a while you may soon lose 'flavour of the month' status when something else comes along to replace you.

If you have clientele for your market to begin with and produce the same consistency over and over.... you have no problem, especially when people cannot enjoy that product anywhere else.


BTW ... hopefully you're the only boy on the block before competition arises.

 

[rafael]

Chiri - those aren't "Rich folks" - those are their drunken kids. Jevitos up the ying-yang. We have been INSIDE Adrian's, located kitty-corner across the street, and couldn't talk over the noise blasting from someone's jeepeta over there.

Once they're drunk, they'll eat anything, and chances are, the only one with money is the one driving daddy's jeepeta! Stick with the 5 peso hotdogs, and charge them 50 pesos. They won't know the difference.

These same jevitos are all about "status". . ..that is why they all switched to Miller when it first came out. . . .

If the hotdogs were marketed as being imported and from "nueva york" and cost more. . . . it is right up their alley. . .

heck a good hotdog would be also welcome wherever there are tourists! Colonial Zone? Beaches etc etc etc.