San Francisco Carts and Concessions

San Francisco, United States

4

2 reviews

Contacts

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Telephone:
+1 415-974-3600
Website:
www.sfcarts.com
Address:
125 Stillman St, San Francisco, CA, 94107
at 3rd St
SoMa
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
0.3 mi4th St & Townsend St
0.3 miSan Francisco Megabus
0.4 miKing & 4th
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Today

Today –
Local time (San Francisco) 15:07 Sunday, 29 June 2025

Business hours

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Tuesday –
Wednesday –
Thursday –
Friday –
Saturday –
Sunday –

Description

Specialties

Let us bring the cart to you! We have an entire fleet of colorful hot dog, ice cream, pretzel, and popcorn carts, as well as trained staff, ready to deliver and cater your next special event, fund-​raiser, or office lunch.

Whether you’re celebrating a backyard birthday, handing out our famous grass-​and-​vegetarian fed Stanley’s Steamers hot dogs at a customer appreciation day, or feeding hungry crowds at an outdoor concert, we have a cart and a capability to meet every need. And while our hot dogs are what we’re famous for, we also have many other carts in our fleet. Just give us a call and we’ll bring the fun!

History

Established in 1974.

San Francisco Carts and Concessions is San Francisco’s first and oldest mobile vending business. Started in 1974, it began when Stanley Roth, then a student at UC Berkeley, tried to get a food peddler permit to sell pretzels for a summer to help pay for law school. The police department, before accepting any paperwork, required applicants to first obtain a «sidewalk occupancy» permit from the DPW. The DPW said it only issued such permits to construction companies, and the Board of Permit Appeals explained it had no jurisdiction over the issue without a formal denial. It was a classic «Catch-​22» that had kept food carts off the streets for years.

Undaunted, Roth applied for a Street Artist license and sold his pretzels as «Baked Sculptures of Flour and Water.» What followed was a 2-​year battle to obtain the first legal food vending permits in San Francisco’s history. The entire story is outlined at www​.sfcarts​.com.

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2 reviews of San Francisco Carts and Concessions

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Palo Alto, CA
We just rented one of the company’s ‘desktop’ versions of the hot dog stand for a event that we had at Stanford. It’s compact and easily fits on half of a 6 foot table.
We randomly picked this company from a Google search and couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome! The owner, was easily accessible for questions and worked to accommodate our crazy schedule for pickup and drop off. The unit was pristine clean, all the condiments were cut, packaged and ready for us.
This is what came with the desktop unit:
— condiments (chopped onions, relish, sauerkraut, sliced jalapenos) mustard (two kinds and organic) and ketchup
— serving unit for the condiments
— serving utensils
— unit (comes with umbrella)
— we purchased the hot dogs and buns (they are huge, really long)
— they provide a blanket to protect the unit during transportation
The desktop steamer easily fit the 50 hotdogs (looked like we could have put 100 total in the steamer). We filled the unit with boiling water (per Stanley’s suggestion) and it started to cook immediately. We kept all the dogs submerged and they stayed moist and tasted great. The bun steamer was fantastic. It’s a small compartment inside the unit that can fit 18 buns or so at a time. It really completed the overall hot dog eating experience! We set up 90 minutes before the event (again, per Stanley’s suggestion) and by the time people starting arriving, the unit was working in full force.
People attending the event really enjoyed the hot dog stand. Made the event more fun. It would be something great for parties at home as well because the unit is not expensive and is small enough to transport in a car.
I was impressed by the service, quality of food (people even gave compliments on the quality of condiments) quality of the unit itself, ease of use and again, the service. Picking a company randomly from the internet can be such a huge hit and miss, and we were so happy that we found a great company to work with.
We are hoping to rent the full sized unit for our next event.
Place rating: 3
Oakland, CA
Stanley’s Steamers sells steamed hot dogs via carts all over s.f. seems the original stanley was a pioneer in the art of selling from food carts.
to get around health reqs, stanley posted a sign saying his «pretzels» were not meant for human consumption. herb caen passed by, sampled his pretzel, publicized his situation, and the rest is gourmet history.
menu: many types of dogs and sausages.
sampling:
–orignal (4.50)
foot long dog, soft bun, crunchy snap, not much juice or taste. not as tasty as caspars. sauerkraut optional.
condiments available: mustard, ketchup, gluten mustard, relish, onions
foodnotes:
–dogs not so tasty, on bland side. pricey. 2,5 stars
–dogs made from cows 100% grass fed and vegeteran feed
–dogs sourced from niman ranch, vienna beef and aidells sausage
–clean hot dog stand. that’s about it.