Hot dog carts hurt by public's efforts to save

BY Elizabeth Hays
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Tuesday, April 21st 2009, 4:00 AM
Ward for News

Food vendor cart on the courthouse plaza at the intersection of Montague and Court Streets.

It’s a dog-eat-dog world for Brooklyn’s top hot dog sellers these days.

The sinking economy has taken a big bite out of the borough’s top-grossing hot dog carts — which are now struggling to lure enough customers to pay their sky-high rents.

Vendor Timothaos Ayad, who pays the borough’s top-dog price of $48,000 a year in rent to the city to set up his cart outside Brooklyn Supreme Court, said business is down nearly 50% since August.

“I hope I will break even,” said Ayad, 46, a father of three, who has had the pricey contract for more than two years.

Ayad, who peddles $1.75 hot dogs and $5 gyros to the throngs of court workers, jurors and others passing through the bustling downtown Brooklyn spot, said he has been hurt by the fact that so many people now bring their lunches from home as a way to save money.

“In the morning, I see everybody coming by with their bag of lunch,” he said, adding he has decided to throw in the towel and not bid on the spot when it is up again at the end of the year.

“The job is too tiring and the economy is bad, so it’s not worth it anymore,” he said, adding he has to finish out his contract or lose his hefty deposit.

Outside Ayad’s cart, mom Jenny Guerra, 35, wouldn’t let her son Houston, 10, stop for a $1.75 pretzel because the family is tightening its belt after her husband’s retail employer stopped giving bonuses.

“My husband is packing his lunch and I’m packing snacks for the kids,” said Guerra, who tried to offer Houston crackers instead.

“I feel bad he still has to pay the same rent,” she said of Ayad. “But not bad enough,” she added.
In Prospect Park, where some of the next-biggest rents are located, times are also tough.

Tarek Elhashash, who pays $27,000 to operate a cart at the busy Ninth St. entrance in Park Slope, and another $20,250 to work the Ninth St. ballfields, is bracing for an even worse summer than last year.

“It’s hurting us very much,” said Elhashash, 32, whose business last year was already down 30% from the year before.

“The same customer who used to come to me and spend $10 on two hot dogs and two drinks and an ice cream, now they get one ice cream and they split it.”

Elhashash said he has also been hurt by brown-baggers.

“Now, people come to the park with their cooler and their own stuff,” he said. “Everybody is trying to save money.”

Still, Elhashash said there could be a silver lining to the bad economy, if streams of people cancel vacations this summer and instead head to the park for fun.

“I hope so,” he said. “Maybe then, it’ll be a good year.”