Have you ever considered opening a hot dog food truck? We stopped into Howard's Hot Dogs to chat about his food trailer! Howard has the night shift, opening at 10pm and closing down at 2am. Everyone stopping in seemed very excited to get their late night chili hot dog. Howard doesn't do any events just focuses on consistency and customer service to build his brand further. We talk more about how he got started, entrepreneur advice and great late night stories! Check him out below!
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@6FigureRevenue
Hey thank you for the video I started 1 year an 1/2 ago and working Friday and Saturday 6 days a month making about 8k a month the days that I work sat/Fri is very stressing but I only work 2 days a week and 3 weekends
How often do you get held up?
That’s Awesome! I’m interested in starting up like you guys! Very inspiring!
$8,000 take home pay after all costs and taxes? For 6 days of work?
@@jordanbabcock9349cocaine ain’t cheap ??
8k in 6 days?
What are you charging, $25 for a hot dog?
If you are ever in Traverse City check out Howard’s Hot Dogs!
Great video. I just upgraded from a hotdog cart to a trailer.
A great video an in depth and candid statement about his position about what works for him and not a modified business model and his understanding of growing your customers not the menu.
Howard probably doesn’t realize he is living the Dream. Corporate and Government work is for the Birds. He is his own money, he reports to no one. Hope to achieve that independence someday.
He reports to the local health department along with local, state, and federal taxes. There’s alot of extra expenses he’s not talking about. It isn’t Easy Rider???
I agree about government and corporate, been there done that! I recently left the corporate world and am thinking about starting a food truck. Big decision for me.
@@moosespeak6140not to mention debt that people try to justify as (good debt) lmao
@@scaled-daddy22 in today’s time and age you literally have to go into debt to have a food cart or truck. Debt is debt when you can’t pay it.
@@moosespeak6140 nah not necessarily people go into debt because they don’t know how to utilize money
Just discovered this channel. Quality video, sound and content without all the fancy annoying editing like other channels. Please keep it up!
Listen to this man he speaks the truth. We sold shaved ice for twenty years.
My research into this type of business in the northeast found the startup cost and red tape cost prohibitive. Find a location, pay rent or share a percent of sales, insurance, licenses and permits, propane, running a generator, the cost of the trailer, overhead, cleaning and maintenance plus your time in shopping and prepping not selling food. I was looking at close to $100,000 before I would ever even make my first sale.
It’s honestly sad all the red tape. You get a burning desire and get beat down at every corner by fees, inspections, licensing, and other overhead. All of a sudden your 100% margin turns into 5%.
Also what makes no sense is the permits/inspections. If you’re serving trash word of mouth will make it known. Word of mouth is both a saving grace and a cruel reality.
Howard is a gem
2000 a week.
Liability insurance
Business license
Your health insurance
Your food costs
A permit to sell where you sell
If you have an employee so you don’t have to work 24/7, his salary + workers compensation.
Now how much are you making a week?
He’s right downtown where the bars don’t serve food past 9 or 10. I stumbled over there with my buddies and thought the inside of his trailer looked like a doctor’s office ?? clean kitchen and delicious food!
First time viewer and really enjoyed the video. As someone who owns multiple small businesses I’d like to add on to something he touched on. You really do control your own success. Being successful is usually a lot more work than people see or realize. Anytime I make a friend who works a normal 9-5 and learn I own my own businesses, they instantly think I can just take off and do anything I want since I control employees hours or make the rules but in reality that’s the opposite. Multiple weeks out of the year I’ll be working 7 days because an employee is out or a problem arises that I need to fix. As an owner your day never ends. At any point you could get a call for an endless amount of things that you alone can fix. I love being in the position I’m in because there are lots of positives but many people don’t understand the times you work extremely long hours or miss important family events because you have to make sacrifices to keep the ship afloat.
Heavy lies the crown.
I work for myself and never work more than 20 hours a week. I made 372K last year
I have friends that are the owner. I keep telling them, that is why I am not the boss, when things go wrong.
I thought it was very informative and what a great humble human Howard is
What a down to earth guy! This was interesting to listen to. I’ve started a couple business, some successful, some not. But no one is going to believe in you as much as yourself. It’s sometimes very hard to believe in yourself, but it’s the most important thing
The first Coney restaurant in Michigan, Todoroff’s Original Coney Island in Jackson, Michigan, was founded in 1914. Detroit’s American Coney Island opened just a few years later in 1917 on West Lafayette Street in downtown Detroit. Nathan’s began as a nickel hot dog stand in Coney Island in 1916 and bears the name of its co-founder Nathan Handwerker (1892–1974). But I still like a good Chicago dog
Me too, Gene’s and Jude’s.
I am so glad to see someone from Detroit has went to the UP to sell coney dogs. Good job and keep up the good work
Actually, he’s in Traverse City and that’s a ways south of the Upper Peninsula, but I get your point.
What a great, informative interview. As someone who is about to jump all in on a hot dog/pulled pork vendor next year, I plan on jumping in any opportunity to be at local events. I’ve had a side business with rebuilding and reselling washers and dryers for over 10 years. I do still enjoy it but I love grilling and chilling. I hope that by being in as many places as possible within the first few years, I can find a good regular spot to be. But, I às I currently work a part time job and the washer dryer stuff, I believe it is important to keep several avenues of revenue coming in to absorb any crazy changes in this economy. Stay Blessed yall!
You had me at pulled pork : ). Good luck
Low overhead, protected from the elements, good profits, low startup cost. If you are a people person, this is a great business!!
God bless this guy.
He’s got the perfect attitude & personality for this operation.
So refreshing to hear so much cristal clear cut to chase information with full transparency. Much respect, sir. God bless