By Hilary Anderson
Contributor

Ron Berger never imagined hot dogs would play an important role in his career. Now the St. Lambert (Skokie) principal—spends several Saturday mornings each fall selling them at Northwestern University’s Ryan Field.

Berger discovered the somewhat unique money-making project for his school and decided to give it a try. Now he—with the help of a group of dedicated parents, alumni, junior high students and friends of the school—operate two hot dog stands during Northwestern’s home football games.

“This is our seventh year of operation [at Northwestern],” said Berger. “All of the money we make—so far, $29,412—goes into the school’s technology fund.”

The revenue has made possible the purchase of 17 computers, one file server and 10 printers, he said.

“We also were able to wire the entire school,” he added. “Now every classroom has Internet access. The cost would have been around $20,000 but because we had the money available, it was much less. The funds from running the hot dog stands have been put to very good use.”

Operating the two hot dog stands requires a massive coordination on Berger’s part.

“I send a letter to the parents at the beginning of the school year and ask them to sign up for one or more of the six home games at which we operate the [hot dog] stands,” he said.

“I also tell them about it at our first parents’ meeting. Sometimes we send a special notice if we’re short of people or there’s a special game like there was a few Fridays ago. Each volunteer then receives an instruction sheet of what to do.”

Berger says operating the two booths smoothly requires a team of 20 people. Each person’s commitment requires about six hours of work from setting up to cleaning up after the game. A game start of 11 a.m. usually requires a St. Lambert volunteer to work from about 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Berger’s incentive to parents with children in St. Lambert’s school is a one-time only $50 tuition credit to be used toward the next payment.

Berger—a hands-on principal—supervises one hot dog stand. A parent guides the second. “Both of us have to be here before anyone else,” he said.

“We arrive around 7 a.m. and do an inventory before the selling starts and then once again after we close down. We have to be careful that everything matches up.”

The St. Lambert hot dog stands sell the usual football game concession stand-type food: Hot dogs, polish sausage, soft pretzels, nachos, pop, candy and hot chocolate.

“Cold days are like gold,” Berger said.

“People drink hot chocolate and keep coming back for more. The demand sure helps our revenues but we have to dress warmly because there’s no heat in the booths.”

Everyone working the hot dog stands is required to wear a uniform purple hat and shirt.

While the doors open 90 minutes before game time, Berger is never sure how much food he and his group of volunteers will sell.

“We don’t know from one game to the next how much money we’ll make because you never know how much food people are going to eat,” he said.

“People like to tailgate.”

Berger adds much depends upon how many people are at the games, which team Northwestern is playing and how well they are doing.

The hot dog stands St. Lambert’s operate are under the jurisdiction of Sodexho, a national company that operates concessions at major college arenas.

St. Lambert—like other groups working with Sodexho—receives 10 to 12 percent of the gross revenues made at each hot dog booth.

“We bring in an average of $7,000 to $11,000 per game depending upon attendance,” said Berger.

“That translates to $700 to $1,100 each game for our technology fund.”

Berger adds that any tips received at the booths are put into the school’s 8th grade overnight trip to Springfield, Ill. fund.

“We average about $350 in tips and that helps offset the cost of the trip for our students,” he said.

“That, along with their other fund-raisers, can reduce the cost of the trip for each student by $100 per person. It’s an incentive to get more of our 7th and 8th graders to help us at the booths.”

Berger says future revenues received will go towards purchasing new computers, updating others and the overall upkeep of them.

“Working the hot dog booths just kept evolving,” Berger said. “It’s become a win-win fundraiser for everyone here at St. Lambert’s.”