The health department received a complaint about Faulkner's stand, said Logan Ebeling, a health inspector with the city of Minneapolis. According to the city, all businesses that serve food to the public must pass city health inspections to get permitted. But instead of shutting down Faulkner's business, several city departments came together to help.
The health department, Minneapolis Promise Zone and the Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON) helped bring the hot dog stand up to code. The permit usually costs $87, but the health department covered that cost.
The city also helped Faulkner learn about the business side of things, like finance, marketing and pricing. Faulkner got a tent for overhead protection and a hand-washing station. The city also gave him a thermometer to check the temperatures of his sausages and hot dogs. All of these improvements helped Mr. Faulkner's Old Fashioned Hot Dogs get up to code.
"Surprisingly, I'm like, 'Dang, the city's not the bad guys in this situation.' They're actually the ones who are helping me," the teen said. "It makes me feel kind of—not kind of—really proud that people know what I'm doing."
