New York City Hot Dog Vendors Pay More Than $200,000 For Permits

Authored by delish.com and submitted by Sahilmenon01
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While the typical New York City hot dog costs about the same ($2) at every street cart, the fees charged to vendors can vary wildly. Some pushcart owners fork over just a few thousand a year, while others pay the city more than $200,000 just to park their carts in the right spots.

According to the New York Times, Mohammad Mastafa, who has a cart on Fifth Avenue and East 62nd Street near the Central Park Zoo, pays the city $289,500 annually for his location. And he's not alone. Four other cart owners in Central Park pay the city more than $200,000 per year. In fact, all of the permits that cost more than $100,000 are for carts located in the Big Apple's most famous —and largest—green space.

The price to run a hot dog cart in Central Park is rising higher than inflation. According to the New York Times, 10 years ago Mastafa would pay less than half of what he pays the city now.

Every five years, the permits for the parks department carts go up for bidding. And it's definitely a profitable venture for the city, which earns more than $4.5 million per year from pushcart concessions.

Because jockeying for permits is so competitive, none of the street food vendors interviewed for the article would divulge exactly how much their pricey carts net per year. But one of the vendor's suppliers speculated that in order to turn a profit, Mastafa's street cart would have to bring in more than $425,000 per year.

Do you think the city is charging too much money for the hot dog cart permits in Central Park? How many hot dogs do you think each cart sells in a year?

ScootsScoots on February 15th, 2021 at 14:53 UTC »

Met a guy who ran hot dog carts. Offered to help all of us at school get one up and running if we wanted it.. He had a small team that worked for him. He claimed you could pull a middle class living operating these things no problem. If you had 2 or 3 you were making some decent money.

CountDrewcula on February 15th, 2021 at 14:29 UTC »

If I'm reading this right - still just $2 a dog. I'm in rural OK and the shit stand outside the local Lowe's charges more than that!

EDIT: No more, please. No more "$289,500/$2 hot dogs = 93.3 hot dogs per minute (or hdpm)". No more "Well, duh, it's NYC and you're in dumbass Oklahoma". If you scroll down that's all I've seen all day. The little orange envelope has become mine enemy.

mrtyndall on February 15th, 2021 at 13:55 UTC »

The article says the permits are auctioned so it’s not really the city driving up the price but the competition for the spot.