One of the secrets in the food concessionaire business is being able to keep costs down. In keeping costs down, one is able to make savings yet still be able to turn a profit on the sales. You need to be disciplined though when undertaking these suggestions, as one mistake can have grave effects on your clientele, just making you lose not only patrons but also profits from your end.
Get Supplier Discounts. As an entrepreneur, you have your suppliers as partners in your business. With the increasing demand for their business, you can then leverage for discounts be given for the volume orders you make. It may be as low as ten percent but this will be ten percent savings on your expenses and then earn more profit on lower expenses. If the supplier is unwilling to give straight discounts, then the next option is to extend payment terms for the purchases you make. In extending payment terms, you are given more opportunities to use funds for your own use instead of giving it to the supplier as payment. You can use this time and money to generate more profit and thus be able to order more and make payment for your supplier’s continued business.
Do Volume Sales. This involves a menu item and lowering the purchase cost for your patrons, regulars and clients. Since you are able to compute for the cost of the product and put a profit as your selling price, lowering the selling price to near the cost of production would necessarily entice your customers to buy more. In more sales, you earn profits still but this time by the volume. It not only clears up your inventory, it also provides as a good advertising ploy to gain new customers and make your regulars keep coming back for more.
Control Costs of Production. Many view this part of keeping costs down as cutting corners. This is also an integral part of your business and reducing losses due to spoilage or wrong ordering does this. Another way to control costs of production is to continually find substitute ingredients for your menu fare. You will always find an ingredient that costs cheaper than your current supplier. What is important though that quality should never be sacrificed for cost reasons. Once this is done, you are sure to see that your clientele would dwindle in numbers thus hurting your business in the long run.
As you can see, as the owner and manager of your hot dog cart business, you need to keep on finding ways to earn profits for your pockets. One way is to keep costs down and these three areas can be the primary ways in order for you to earn more. You can get supplier discounts, do volume sales and control costs of production. Once you are able to keep a ship shape enterprise, you are sure to be counting your money all the way to the bank.