Posted on 08/08/2009 9:28:16 PM PDT by ETL
Vets win, rivals & city lose in hot dog duel outside Metropolitan Museum
BY ADAM LISBERG
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Thursday, May 22nd 2008
A wiener war outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art is pitting military veterans against the city's hot dog king and taking a bite out of the city budget.
The veterans launched the frankfurter fracas three weeks ago when they parked their upstart cart on the sidewalk outside the museum, citing a state law that gives veterans special vending privileges in the city.
"We're entitled to be here, so we're here," said Dan Rossi, 58, a Vietnam veteran from the Bronx who built the cart, emblazoned with the name of a Marine friend, Sgt. David Gonzales, who was killed in action in 1970.
Their stand, though, is just a few steps away from a green cart that has sold franks, water and pretzels outside the upper East Side museum for years - paying the Parks Department $326,000 last year for the right. That's more than any other location in the city.
The veterans charge just $2 for a hot dog and $1 for a small bottle of water, leading the established cart and another nearby cart that pays the city $250,000 a year to drop their prices to match. The older carts charge $2 for water, however.
"Clearly, [Rossi] was taking business away from them. How much we don't know, but quite a bit," said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. "They finally asked to be let out of the contract."
Now the Parks Department is putting the spots out to bid again, recognizing that it might not rake in the same kind of revenue again.
"This is the No. 1 bid spot. That's why we're here," said Jason Sharpe, 48, a veteran from Woodhaven, Queens, who was working behind the grill Wednesday. "Columbus Circle would be a good location."
Thomas Makkos, the pretzel and wiener magnate who owns two Metropolitan Museum carts and many others in Central Park, would not talk about the dispute.
Behind a Makkos grill, though, longtime hot dog lady Iona Dumitru, 60, of Sunnyside, Queens, said the vets may soon cost her a job.
"I'm working for this company more than 20 years, and maybe now I lose my job because my boss can't pay rent like crazy anymore," she said, looking at the new cart. "He's a veteran. But he's got a lot of places in New York he can go."
WOW! Very Interesting. Thanks for posting and thanks more for your homepage. BUMP-TO-THE-TOP!
I guess it’s more interesting if you live in New York City and are familiar with the wagons outside the Museum. There are currently two of them owned or operated by war vets.
326,000 dollars. Let that roll around for a minute.
Then ask yourself. "Who is John Galt?"
Exactly! WOW!
Re: There are currently two of them owned or operated by war vets.
The two wagons in the Wikipedia photo I posted are not owned or operated by the vets in the Daily News article. Theirs are directly in front of the Museum.
That means he’s gotta be moving close to 1,000 dogs per day just to break even.
From the main article:
"Snack cart owner Pasang Sherpa of Queens had a deal with the city's parks department that required him to pay almost $643,000 per year for the vending rights near the museum steps."
“326,000 dollars. Let that roll around for a minute.”
How much does he gross?
I couldn’t make that much selling crack, let alone hot dogs.
I've often wondered what the annual take was for a street cart, after expenses ... now I know ... its a near MILLION DOLLAR business. Stunning!
One of the articles above states that outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art is the top spot in the entire city for hot dog vendors. That 600,000+ NYC Parks Dept rent charge might be for 2 carts.
Wow, who’d have imagined?
I’ve heard the Mob used to have a heavy piece of the hot dog vending business here in NYC.
Or it could be for one of the vans parked on the sidewalk, and not a cart. As one FReeper above figured, it would mean selling 1000 dirty water dogs per day just to meet the rent fee, and thats before expenses for inventory and operational costs. A whole lot of dogs there per day ... gotta be for one of the vans
There aren’t any vans or trucks there selling hot dogs. Just several large wagons like the long silver one pictured in the photo above and a couple of the small traditional ones with the umbrella.
The franks the vets sell are grilled, not boiled in water. And very good, btw.
I think you better recalculate. He’s behind by $310,000 of $643,000, so how does he take in near a million?
..and maybe now I lose my job...
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If it wasn’t for the Vets she probably wouldn’t be in NYC selling hot dogs....
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