- Business License
- Financing Arrangement
- Getting Health Dept. Approvals
- Searching for a Location
- Searching for Suppliers
- Regular Schedule & Events Calendar
- Selecting Your Cart
- Transportation
- Management Guide
- Hotdog Cart Operations and Maintenance Manual
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Marketing and Selling
- Tips for Success
Dress, Deportment & Hygiene Code
(Dress for Success)
A person’s overall appearance must be neat and clean to convey the attitude of professionalism required of the food service industry. The following are some good general guidelines for American hot dog carts:
Clothing must be clean without stains. Fresh change of clothing each day.
Clothing should not be frayed or worn out.
Shorts are permissible but no cut-offs, short shorts, or bikini bottoms.
Short sleeve shirts are permissible but no bikini tops, halter tops, or muscle shirts.
If the vendor does not have his own company shirts or hats, those worn must not have logos or messages that are offensive. Clothing without such logos or messages are preferred.
Males must be freshly shaven.
Hair must be clean and neat.
The cash apron must clean and neat.
Health Code Guidelines:
(Food Focused Healthy Hygiene)
It is also very preventable. In this case the old axiom “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is very true. One such incident could ruin your business.
The following are typical health code guidelines for American hot dog carts and these must be followed and strictly adhered to:
Finger nails must be clipped and clean. Long hair must be tied back, pinned or contained in some manner so as to prevent contaminating food.
Do not touch the food with your bare hands. All food should be handled using gloves, tongs, forks, spoons or other utensils.
Hands must be washed after using the toilet, coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose, using the phone, handling money, garbage or any or unsanitary or toxic item.
Hands must be washed upon re-entering the work area (the hotdog cart) even if you have just washed them in another place such as the bathroom.
You must also wash your hands after eating, drinking, smoking, washing dirty dishes or other equipment, handling raw meat or other food, or even before putting on gloves to handle food.
Hands must be washed using hot water and soap and lather for 15-20 seconds and then dried using a single use towel (such as paper towels), a clean towel on a roller dispenser, or by an air dryer. Do not use a multi-use hand towel such as is used at home.
The use of gloves should not be seen as a means to short cut proper hand sanitation. Gloves can also pick up and spread germs. You would not use gloves to handle raw meat and then also to serve cooked food as this would transmit bacteria from the raw food to the cooked food.
No smoking or tobacco chewing. (It is unsanitary around food, violates health code guidelines, and conveys a casual unprofessional attitude)
No chewing gum. (It also violates health code guidelines and conveys a casual unprofessional attitude)
Do not eat or drink when serving food. You must leave the food preparation and serving area for any of these activities. Move a short distance away from your cart. You must wash your hands when you return.
You are allowed to drink from a closed beverage container (such as with a lid) while in the food service area. It must have a handle to prevent your hand from touching the area that your mouth will touch or it must have a drinking straw. Wash it between uses or discard it.
“Poor personnel hygiene, especially lack of or improper hand washing, is the number one cause of food borne disease outbreaks in the United States.”
Do not work with food when you are sick, sneezing, have a runny nose, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting, dark urine or yellowing of the skin (jaundice) or fever. Do not handle food if you have an infected cut or burn, pus or boil. Wear gloves over any cuts, abrasions, or burns.
Clothing must be clean and not allow cross contamination between raw and cooked foods.
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