Thursday, October 22, 2009
Metro columnist Dan Casey: Vendor puts her best footlong forward
A woman had to jump through several hurdles to be able to set up her hot dog cart in downtown Roanoke.
Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times
Mendy Songer (left), a 45-year-old from Bedford County, attends to customers at her hot dog cart, which was set up Wednesday at the corner of Third Street and Norfolk Avenue in downtown Roanoke. Her customers included (from left) Carol Hill, Sally Ann Lochli and Bunny Callahan.
Santana Sromo, 27, buys hot dogs for himself and his co-workers from vendor Mendy Songer. Songer started her business in August and has relied on the kindness of other businesses to get retail and storage space.
A hot dog from Do-Gooder Dogs can be decorated with chili, onions and any array of other ingredients that customers might want.
Dan Casey is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist.
dan.casey
@roanoke.com
981-4423
Dan Casey
Recent columns
- Take a look at Palin's rule book
- Firsthand violence unnerves NAACP leader
- Readers weigh in on several recent topics
Read Dan's blog
Mendy Songer is chasing a piece of the American dream, one mouth-watering hot dog at a time.
What's going to get her there, the ex-waitress hopes, is mirror bright and brimming with franks, steaming sauerkraut, melted cheese and homemade chili.
Her $300-a-month leased pushcart positions her as one of the free enterprise system's tiniest cogs. It also makes her the only street-food vendor in downtown Roanoke.
"It's crazy, I know," the 45-year-old Bedford County grandmother says with a chuckle. "But I love being in business for myself."
I ran into Songer and her friend, Tom Forbes, Monday when they set up in the Brandon Parking lot along Third Street Southwest, across from the Virginia Museum of Transportation.
That was their first day there, and they intend to be there each Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
As you might imagine, the location gets little foot traffic from the midday lunch crowd.
But it's the best Songer can do in downtown Roanoke, at least for now. Somewhat painfully, she has learned the free enterprise system isn't always free.
Songer started her business in August, and pulled a pretty good two-week stint along a public sidewalk beneath an overpass outside Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
Besides foot-traffic from visitors heading into the hospital, it is the unofficial hospital smoking area.
But just as she developed a clientele, a bureaucrat from city hall ran her off in what sounds like a classic municipal Catch-22.
Pushcart vendors aren't allowed on public property without city authorization, you see. And that's unlikely to happen because the Roanoke City Council has never adopted an ordinance to specifically regulate street vendors.
"They told me I could only be on private property," she says.
Someone else also tried to run her off at Happy's Flea Market on Williamson Road, where she sells franks on weekends. A competing vendor inside fretted she was stealing his customers, she says. A police officer warned her she might be courting trouble.
But Reed Pannell, a hot dog-loving businessman, came to her rescue. He allowed her to set up on his warehouse loading dock, spitting distance from the flea market property.
Her rent? Three chili dogs each Saturday.
Beyond all that, you might be amazed at the hoops one has to jump through to operate a lowly hot dog cart. It's enough to make you feel sorry for a bigger business.
Songer paid $50 for a city business license and $25 for a zoning permit. Her health department license cost $150.
She paid the state $100 to become a limited liability corporation, plus $10 to register her company name, Do-Gooder Dogs.
The biggest hurdle was finding a commercial kitchen where she can store her foodstuffs -- that's a state law, too.
She knocked on doors at more than 30 restaurants, churches, nursing homes, convenience and grocery stores, pleading. Every one turned her down until Penny Ray, the owner of Village Family Restaurant on Virginia 24, invited her in.
Something similar happened as Songer hunted for a downtown sales location. Finally she was able to cut a deal with Brandon Parking owner Sam Woody.
"It's funny," Songer says. "A lot of people are really rooting for you. They just want you to succeed."
The term "succeed" is relative, of course.
In her wildest dreams, Songer never expects to see the kind of business that some of her brethren in New York City get. Choice pushcart locations in the Big Apple rent for up to $53,000 per month.
On Monday, Songer sold 10 $2 franks, and on Tuesday she doubled that number. She showed up Wednesday, too, rather than at her usual Wednesday spot. She sold 25.
Nelson Graybill, 66, who volunteers at the transportation museum, was one of those customers.
"It's delicious," he said as he munched on the Nathan's frank. "I hope she does good over there. I won't have to bring my lunch every day."
It's still too early to tell if that location will be a success for downtown Roanoke's only street vendor. If it's a bust, there's always someplace else.
But I'm betting on Mendy Songer, and her dream, her good nature and her nothing's-going-to-stop-me attitude.
Photographer Stephanie Klein-Davis contributed to this column.
