Michigan teen’s hot dog cart gets shut down before it opens
A Michigan teenager had his hot dog stand shut down by Holland city officials.
Nathan Duszynski, 13, saved up $1,200 to buy a hot dog cart to help out his parents who are sick. His mother has epilepsy and his father has multiple sclerosis.
Nathan and his mother checked with city hall to make sure he did not need any licenses or permits and they assured him that it was okay, according to NBC.
“We wanted to make sure,” Nathan’s mother Lynette Johnson told CNN News. “We stopped in there in person about a month ago and asked, ‘Do we need a business permit license?’ and [the city] said no.”
City zoning laws did not allow for food carts to compete with restaurants so they made him shut down his hot dog cart just ten minutes after he arrived. His cart was in a parking lot of a sporting goods store with eight restaurants located nearby.
“I was like, ‘Wow, I’m getting shut down already, and I haven’t even started,” Nathan said. “I’m just trying to bring in some money for [my parents] and the household when they’re struggling.”
“[The store’s owner’s] whole idea was that Nate could set up his cart here and help him promote the rental of his bikes.” Nathan’s stepfather, Doug Johnson, said told CNN. “It kind of worked hand-in-hand.”
A packing company heard about the incident and bought the cart from Nathan for $2,500,that is more than Nathan paid for it.
“[Nathan is] just a real go-getter, and at that age that’s unusual,” Carolyn Norman of Shoreline Container company said. “It’s unusual, I think, that they can relate to adults like he does and so he really caught our eye, so to speak.”
The company will let Nathan use the cart for special occasions, such as the wedding he has already lined up.
