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" While the typical New York City hot dog costs about&amp;amp;nbsp;the same ($2) at every street cart, the fees charged to&amp;amp;nbsp;vendors can vary wildly. Some pushcart owners&amp;amp;nbsp;fork over&amp;amp;nbsp;just a few thousand a year, while others pay the city more than $200,000 just to park their carts in the right spots. According to the New York Times, Mohammad Mastafa, who has a cart on Fifth Avenue and East 62nd Street&amp;amp;nbsp;near the Central Park Zoo, pays the city $289,500 annually for his location. And he&amp;#039;s not alone. Four other cart owners in Central Park pay the city more than $200,000 per year. In fact, all of the permits that cost more than $100,000 are for carts located in the Big Apple&amp;#039;s most&amp;amp;nbsp;famous \u2014and largest\u2014green space. The price to run a hot dog cart in Central Park is rising higher than inflation. According to the New York Times, 10 years ago&amp;amp;nbsp;Mastafa would pay less than half of what he pays the city now. Every five years, the permits for the parks department carts go up for bidding. And it&amp;#039;s definitely a profitable venture for the city, which earns more than $4.5 million per year from&amp;amp;nbsp;pushcart concessions.  Because jockeying for permits is so competitive, none of the street food&amp;amp;nbsp;vendors interviewed for the article would divulge exactly how much their pricey carts net per year. But one of the vendor&amp;#039;s suppliers speculated that in order to turn a profit, Mastafa&amp;#039;s street cart would have to bring in more than $425,000 per year.  Do you think the city is charging too much money for the hot dog cart permits in Central Park? How many hot dogs do you think each cart sells in a year?  Follow Delish on Instagram. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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