What to carry depends on what you like and what you think will
sell. "I gave 100 people a list of products and asked which
they would buy," Rizza says. "Most people said
sunglasses. I determined sunglasses appeal to a variety of
ages."
The next step is choosing a cart. Carts come in many sizes and
styles with varying capabilities. There are carts for specific
types of food, some with refrigerators, grills, steamers--even
small ovens to bake on location.
Determine your needs before ordering a cart, says Jeffrey
Morris, president of All A Cart Manufacturing Inc. in Columbus,
Ohio, a cart design and manufacturing company. "List your
products and the equipment required to make or display them,"
he says. "Also draw a simple layout of the cart to give [the
manufacturer] an idea of size requirements."
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Think versatility, especially with food. Don't limit
yourself to making one item, in case it doesn't sell well and
you have to switch gears.
"What sells might be completely opposite from what you
thought," says Gerardo Gonzalez, director of food service at
the Statue of Liberty in New York City, which has several carts,
and president of Gonzalez & Associates, a Piscataway, New
Jersey, company that consults on mobile merchandising and
food-service start-ups.
You can get a good deal on used carts, but Clark, who also sells
custom-designed carts, urges caution. "People buy a cart they
think is cute--only to find out they've purchased someone
else's headache," she says. "It ends up costing more
to modify than to buy new."
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