Yay, gotta love the differing opinions.  And no TrentonDog we are in the same business.  I don’t sell BBQ, I sell hot dogs and I work off of a hot dog cart just like you.  Not a high priced concession trailer (yet) An average sale is anywhere from $6-$10.  For me taking cards is an investment.  We sell great products, but we try to provide more than the other guy.  We also try to make it as easy as we can for people to buy our dogs.  Credit card sales account for about 25% of what we do.  Would these people pay cash if I didn’t take cards?  Probably, no one else around here selling reindeer dogs.  But if we make it easier to buy, am I going to sell more?  I’ve gotta say yes.  And thanks Billy, hope to see you soon, but remember we do “bone” those snakes before we sell em.

I think you’re stretching it a little. We are not in the same business. I don’t sell reindeer dogs, elk dogs, rattlesnake dogs, etc. (my local HD would have a stroke) I don’t have a cream cheese gun, but I do have a cheese pump, does that count? 😀
 
I sell Sabrett’s in a parking lot, you sell designer sausages on a city street with a lot of foot traffic. Maybe accepting plastic will get you a few impulse buys on the street, but IMHO, you are just paying for your customers convenience. If your cc machine craps out, I doubt you’d lose any sales. I have never had anyone ask if I accepted plastic. It’s just a given that a street cart is going to be a cash transaction, at least it should be. 🙂
 
Credit cards work for some, but not for others – that’s something we can all agree on!

I think your both in the same business, hes just more creative and successful, thats what gives him the idea of offering more services and great customer service……………….That may sound stupid to some people, it looks like it works for him, go figure……………………..

ROFLMAO @ BillyBoi
 
Let’s analyze………
 

I think your both in the same business,……..

 
Billy – Like I said before, I sell Sabretts in Trenton NJ, he sells wild boar sausages and snake rib (boneless, lol) tube steaks in elitist hipster Denver CO. I’d be laughed out of town if I tried selling that frou-frou food on a street cart. Glad it works for him though. It’s all about earning an honest buck.
 
 

……hes just more creative and successful,…..

 
 
Bwaaaahahahahaaaaahahahahaaaa! More creative? You spin this as if I have no creativity, when this is further from the truth. I’d love to be creative with my menu, but theres them folks that call themselves the “health department” which severely limits what I can and cannot serve on my cart. You’re familiar with them, aren’t you?
 
And as far as successful goes, I consider myself very successful. This un-creative hot dog cart has exceeded my expectations in income and effort. (as in not too much effort) Sorry that it apparently didn’t do the same for you, but then again, you pay more in taxes than I make. (like I said, everyone is a millionaire on the intarwebs……..)
 

 …….thats what gives him the idea of offering more services and great customer service……………….

 
Once again, trying to cut down a forum member that doesn’t agree with you 100000% by saying he/she doesn’t have great customer service. You still gonna harangue lorna about telling people not to cook in ziplock bags because you think it is safe, even after a link from the manufacturer was posted instructing people NOT to do this? You are a little,,26,601512.001001002001001001001002002001001001001001001001001001001001002001001002001,25,96366,71.251.139.160
603235,603160,603160,2010-07-30 20:37:53.927000000,Re:How popular is chili”

Freind of mine has fast food type place in town and resisted credit cards for long time. Finally he gave in and while it hasnt really boosted his bottom line, it is amazing how many customers he used to have walk away.
 
His usual ck average is about 5.50 on cash but right around 8.00 on credit. He says the fees eat the difference so it balances out and doesnt have any upset customers anymore. Also has no restrictions on how much to spend to use it.
 
 
 
 

MC, if there was really a 2.5% inclusive rate everyone would be on board. I have a large operation and I only take cash……….Bill

Everyone in business is in the customer service business, but that is second to your primary business function. We are all in the food service business first, and customer service running a close second. IMHO, a B&M sit down restaurant will need to take credit cards but a vending cart or trailer does not.

4.3% is a lot. Would you be OK with a 4.3% increase in your income taxes? If you work for someone, a 4.3% annual raise is doing pretty good nowadays.

Trentondog, Have you tried to offer something from the wild side?  Unless you try it you can’t say you will be laughed out of town.  Introduce people to something different, you might be surprised.  Try it as a sample and give a piece away for free.  You won’t know if it sells unless you try. 

Every item on my menu needs to be approved by my local health dept. I have tried to sell other items that are considered normal street cart fare, and they bombed out. For example, I drove to Long Island, NY to pick up several cases of Gabila’s potato knishes. These are a regional street cart favorite – well, at least in New York – but not in Trenton! I put up signs that we sold genuine Coney Island square knishes, I gave out samples, etc. Couldn’t move more than 5 or 6 a day. I kept them on the menu until I sold off stock, and never re-stocked. Another item that bombed was Philly style soft pretzels. This required a trip to the local “Philly Pretzel Factory” every morning to get fresh product – then have it not sell. So trust me, I know my customers. A rabbit n’ rattlesnake sausage might sell a few, so people could say they ate it – but I doubt people will be buying two of them a couple of times a week like they do with Chili dogs.
 
I own a hot dog cart, and I understand the limitations of the cart. It’s not about the old, worn out cliche of “thinking outside of the box”. I already thought “out of the box” when I started the business. I am the only licensed cart in my town. (along with a lot of food trucks)

The problem is that most aren’t getting a 2.5% all inclusive rate. There are usually fees attached per transaction, and many companies rent or have high fees to use their cc equipment.
 
Do you have contact information for the company that is offering the 2.5% all inclusive rate? I’m sure they could get a lot of business if they truly are offering this rate without gouging for the use of their equipment.
 
-MC

If 2.5% is the total transaction that would allow the low volume Hd vendor to process CC’s. IMHO the guy on the street, doing $75 to $175 daily sales, isn’t getting the best rates for CC transactions. I feel in almost all cases, unless your HD cart is located on Wall street, most people have a few dollars for a few hot dogs…………..BikerJim may have a HD cart, but his pricing structure is a lot higher than most HD cart vendors. I see Banking fees going sky high in the near future, with all these extra fees making it even more difficult for the small business owner to survive………………….

… There is already a movement away from plastic, debit is taking over, maybe when the banks can’t make money off c cards they will hike debit fees to cover it. People will then return to cash…

You would be surprised at the amount of folks who are surprised that using the debit cards costs the merchants taking them. It’s when it costs the user that you will start seeing a change.  It’s possible that in the near future (like the next 5 years) will see a huge decrease in the “small” debit/credit card purchasers.  We have pulled way back on using our debit cards in lieu of cash, but for other reasons. I post on RV boards where they hotly debate the debit vs credit every few months.  It is surprising the amount of RVers who are shifting from plastic to cash for their smaller purchases.  They are often still using some form of plastic but we are often fueling up tanks at pumps that only take plastic and we are filling tanks that hold 35 to 200 gallons of fuel (and that’s not counting generator fuel tanks). Thats alot of cash to be hauling around.

I think that there is no “right” or “wrong” answer when it comes to taking plastic. It is a personal choice… kinda like what condiments to offer on your cart.  I do know that more and more places are not taking it.  We travel thru alot of small towns and so many small businesses say their merchant account and banking fees are breaking them.  We have run into a few small stores that have had signs posted “cash only, no checks, no credit, no debit”.  They have explained it was in protest to their bank hiking fees for taking those items.  And this was a few years back (South GA, a regional bank).  Because it was somewhat wide spread across a couple of counties, the locals took it in stride. The stores said they were surpirsed at how much of their $$ were eaten up in various bank fees and they were seriously thinking of staying cash only permanently. Since we were passing thru (several times over the course of several years), we don’t know how long they held out against plastic or if the bank “won”. But it was interesting.

…..The street food scene here has been changing alot in the last year or so.  Hell in the last 3 months.  It seems like every restaurant has jumped on the bandwagon and bought a truck or a trailer or a cart.  It is kind of cool.  There is some really interesting food to be had outside these days.   Serving up rattlesnake brats ain’t so crazy anymore around here.  I have had 2 carts for a little more than a year.  I was actually making more money with just one, but have now got the whole infrastructure in place to try and grow.  Commissary, employees, payroll taxes, all that crap equals less personal money, but the business is worth more.  So, now I’ve decided to open a restaurant.  Go figure.  Many things have fallen in place to make that happen.  But it won’t be 100% down, that’s for sure.  Opening this thing is either the smartest thing I’ve ever done, or the stupidest.  We’ll find out.  Not what I figured would happen when I started this thing.  I was just really sick of doing what I was doing before and this seemed like a good way out.  And yeah, still having way more fun than I should be allowed. 

Hey Jim, hope your restaurant is a smashing success!
 
I looked online for pre-cooked wild game sausages and could not find anything local, most of the sources were out west. (those demographics again!) I guess east coast folks aren’t into the wild game scene. Although I can get wild game at some frou-frou restaurants in nearby New Hope, PA. (I keeed, I keeed)
 
In any case, the restaurant business is a tough one. I have two uncles that owned restaurants for years. They were successful, but said that it was a lot of work too. One of them starting running vending carts (along with the B&M establishments) and said they were a gold mine without the staggering overhead and management hassles. Both sold off all their operations and are now retired comfortably.

I was asked by one of my blog readers just about this. So I ran a poll. So far, it seems as though over 60% of those polled are taking cash only. It appears as though most cc users are charged a 2-3% for cc usage as well as a .15c fee on top of that for each transaction. Since mobile food vendors usually have smaller bills, these rates hurt them a lot.

Please note these fees do not include any additional cost if you rent or purchase a machine to process these bills.

-MC

Are the participants in the poll mainly hot doggers or are they mobile kitchens on wheels selling “high dollar” lunches. (cheesesteaks, bbq, etc.)

 
Gourmet Food Truck meals aren’t always expensive. If you look at the taco trucks, their prices do fall in line with hot dog vendors. Specifically to your question, I cannot tell exactly who has answered our poll question, we cover the entire mobile food industry, so it could be a mix of both.
 
-MC

Well that’s cool.  How do you process them?  Wireless?  Are the fees steep?

I take only cash and think I need to add CC.

Dave

Hey WD, I hope all is well on the home front, how is the grill working out in the trailer ??????????……. You said you only pay 2.5% per transaction, thats only .25 cents per $10 sale. Is it that low because you own your own equipment. Is there any other fees associated with each transaction or monthly charges ????????????/ thanks for bringing up this post, we have some new vendors starting out and this info may be helpful……………..Bill

Actually, thank MobilCuisine for bringing this one back up. His survey says 60% of those polled take cash only. I think this number would be higher if the poll was comprised only of hot dog vendors. Like I said before, if I had a nimitz class food trailer selling BBQ and other higher ticket items, I’d probably be taking plastic. A credit card machine at a hot dog cart is not going to benefit the cart owner IMO. I don’t want to give away my money to the banks if I don’t have to. I doubt people around here would suddenly double their appetite if I accepted credit cards. They’d probably use the card for convenience, even if they had the cash in their pocket. In which case, the vendor pays for that “customer service”. Biker Jim is OK with that, but me and some others are not.
 
 
A flat 2.5% per transaction with no other fees sounds too good to be true. Who is the processing company?
 
 
 

Wow what a thread!  With the world the way it is today having the ability to accept CC’s for a purchase is a good thing.  We all have to adapt in order to grow.  Many things are just the cost of doing business. 

That was never in dispute. The argument (or discussion) is, is it absolutely a necessary part of doing business.
The answer is yes and no depending on your customers and type of business, I have built a business with out it. Some can’t live without it.
Some will say eventually you will have to, when big box came here it was going to be the end of the world for small stores, yet they survive.
There is already a movement away from plastic, debit is taking over, maybe when the banks can’t make money off c cards they will hike debit fees to cover it. People will then return to cash.
Someday I may have to join the crowd but for now I’ll keep the money.
At least that’s what I thought it to be about.

Every merchant agreement that I’ve seen states that you cannot charge a service fee or “minimum” purchase. The people that do this are in violation of their merchant agreement. If someone calls to complain, their merchant account will probably be pulled. I know someone that this happened to. They had a $15 minimum charge. In my prior business, I offered a discount for cash instead of a service fee for credit. (probably still could’ve lost the merchant account)

How about, “In order to enable us to keep providing credit card service, we request that you do not use your credit card for purchases under $10”? It worked for a couple of stores with whom I used to consult.

Paypal has come up with something in the last couple of years; a straight 10% with no per transaction fee for micropayments. Maybe places which specialize in under-$10 purchases can get some kind of micropayment deal?

Bart

Hey WD, I hope all is well on the home front, how is the grill working out in the trailer ??????????……. You said you only pay 2.5% per transaction, thats only .25 cents per $10 sale. Is it that low because you own your own equipment. Is there any other fees associated with each transaction or monthly charges ????????????/ thanks for bringing up this post, we have some new vendors starting out and this info may be helpful……………..Bill