Great story about a city government that actually does the right thing. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Teen's hot dog stand serves up food, inspiration with Minneapolis inspectors' blessing
Jaequan Faulkner stood under a shady pop-up tent, shuffling dollar bills and tucking them into a pink cash register, his hazel eyes locked on the next customer.
“You need me?” his uncle called from the screened-in porch as cars whooshed past on Penn Avenue N.
Without looking back, Faulkner, 13, waved him off and picked up his tongs, cradling another hot dog in its bun.
The pop-up Mr. Faulkner’s Old Fashioned Hot Dogs goes far beyond the traditional neighborhood kid’s lemonade stand. It’s a business with a permit from the city of Minneapolis.
Faulkner’s venture, a tabletop of hot dogs, Polish sausages, chips, drinks and condiments, will travel around the North Side this summer, including stops at the Minneapolis Police Department’s Fourth Precinct, the Minneapolis Urban League and Sanctuary Covenant Church. Eventually he hopes to move into a food truck.
The back story:
The business started in 2016 when Faulkner saw an old hot dog grill at his uncle’s house. After two years of starts and stops, Faulkner stuck with it this summer.
Then he hit a snag: The Minneapolis Health Department called. Someone had complained to the city about the hot dog stand.
But instead of shutting Faulkner down, the Health Department decided to help him meet its standards.
Health Department staff made sure he had the necessary equipment — thermometers, food containers, hand sanitizer and utensil-cleaning stations — as well as knowledge about proper food handling. Once he passed his health inspection, inspectors paid the $87 for the special event food permit, and the city-sanctioned stand opened for business.
Very cool and Jaequan Faulkner seems like a great young businessman. He will go far. It would have been so easy for the city to take the complaint and shut him down. This is the way it should be done.
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