It looks like I might need to get a trailer and not a cart.  With frozen yogurt, you are dealing with dairy (even though I’ll be mostly vegan) and it seems I’ll have a better chance of getting approved by the health department and the cities I want to sell in with a trailer.

The good news is that this solves the problem of how I transport it from place to place.  With a trailer, I just hook it up to my car and go. The bad news is it will be more expensive.

I searched the internet, and there really isn’t a trailer that exists that fits the bill for Yoga-urt.  It looks like if I do this, I will have to have one custom built for me.  After doing some research, I found a place in Los Angeles that will put together the plans that I need to submit to the health department.  I still have no idea if I can afford to build the actual trailer, but I met with the guy on Saturday and told him what I wanted.  As small as possible. Aluminum (instead of steel) so I can paint on it.  Generators.  Enclosed vs. Unenclosed.  I wanted unenclosed but he told me the health department will want it enclosed.  Square vs. Rectangle. etc. etc.  It was a very enlightening visit as he filled me in on how this would work.

He did not give me a price yet to build the cart and I was too scared to ask.  Once the plans are done in a week or so, I’ll get the price then. Regardless of the price, I’ve decided to go ahead and have the plans done so I know what this thing could be.  Also, once I have the plans, if I can’t afford to have the cart built by this company, I might be able to find a welder who can build the trailer for me within my budget which would be a huge relief.

I’ve also almost decided that I’m going to take the next step and submit the plans to the health department.  The company that is creating the plans will deal with the health department as part of their fee so it seems like a good way to do it.  However, I’m giving myself permission to change my mind on that if I want, as this can be done at any time.

Timing wise, once the plans are approved by the health department, I’ll have one year to build the trailer.  If I decide to move forward on the build immediately, between the health department and the actual construction, the soonest it would be ready would be August (1 month for health department, 2 months for construction).  That’s half way through summer and so it makes me think maybe I should aim for summer 2015 instead of this summer.  Then I can slow down a little, work my ass off the rest of this year saving money, and then get everything ready for next year.  Hmmm.  It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds!