After someone filed a complaint about a non-permitted hot dog stand in Minneapolis, the city health department took the only step it could: They helped the teen entrepreneur get the legal paperwork he needed instead of forcing him to close up shop.
Jaequan Faulkner, 13, has been running Mr. Faulkner's Old Fashioned Hot Dogs, off and on, for a couple of years. It all started back in 2016 when the teen found a hot dog grill at his uncle's house. But this year someone called the Minneapolis Health Department and filed a complaint about the pop-up food stand, the Star Tribune reported.
The health department took the extra steps of guiding Faulkner through the proper way to serve food to the public and made sure he had the equipment he legally needed to run his shop: thermometers, containers, hand sanitizer and cleaning stations for utensils. They also walked him through the correct way to handle food.
Faulkner passed his health inspection, and the city issued him a special event food permit. The teen didn't pay for the permit, but the inspectors themselves chipped in the $87 fee, the Star Tribune reported.
Business leaders also helped Faulkner develop his plan on making the hot dog stand profitable.
Faulkner planned on using his profits for extra spending money, the Star Tribune reported. CNN reported that he was also using the money to buy new clothes and shoes.
But Faulkner said that he's not doing it just for the money. "It's just something I enjoy doing," he told the Star Tribune.
Next year, though, he wants to help others with the money he earns. He plans to put 25 cents of every hot dog sale to raise awareness about youth suicide and depression, the Star Tribune reported.
Faulkner's permit is good for 10 days after issue, then he will move the stand to new locations including in front of an area police station which sponsored his next permit. Other organizations will pay for the permits to get through the rest of the summer, CNN reported.
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