Permit Patty, go home. Minneapolis doesn’t need your meddling, because Jaequan Faulkner has got this covered.

Jaequan Faulkner is a thirteen-year-old budding entrepreneur whom any parent would be proud to call their own. He’s the owner/operator of a hot dog stand in North Minneapolis, and what’s more — he’s been doing this for two years already.

It all started in 2016, when Jaequan asked his uncle, Jerome Faulkner, if he could borrow his hot dog roaster. Jaequan got the okay, and it was off to the races for him. He began selling hot dogs that summer to get money for clothes, but now he operates his stand out of sheer love for business. And people:

“I see someone go by with a frown on their face. I’m there with a smile, then I see a smile on their face. I just made a smile on somebody’s face by selling them a hot dog.”

But every party has its pooper, and a few weeks ago some buzzkill reported Jaequan’s hot dog stand to the Minneapolis Department of Health for not having a permit.

And so bureaucrats are gonna bureaucrat and the city shut down the teenager’s hot dog stand, right?

Not so fast. Instead, the Minneapolis Department of Health stepped in to help Jaequan become legit. As director Dan Huff said:

“We can help him get the permit. Let’s make this a positive thing and help him become a business owner.”

And help him they did. Health inspectors showed Jaequan how to cook his hot dogs to the correct temperature. They provided him with a hand-washing station. In addition, they put him in touch with a local nonprofit that helps local entrepreneurs get started.

Those hot dogs look delicious, don’t they? I’ve seen a lot sketchier dogs on Buck Night at the ballpark. But everything at Jaequan’s stand looks first rate.

Oh, and there’s now an official-sounding name for Jaequan’s business, too. It’s “Mr. Faulkner’s Old-Fashioned Hot Dogs,” and you can find out more about this at its new Facebook page, set up by the nonprofit.

Now Jaequan’s permit lasts for only ten days, so he’ll be needing to move his stand. But a group has already stepped up to give him a place to sling his hot dogs: a police precinct! What a great way to help build bridges in the urban community.

After that, the Urban League and a local church will sponsor his next permits, so the stand will  be covered through the rest of the summer before school starts again.

This whole story could’ve ended badly, but it didn’t. City officials could’ve chosen to be hard-nosed nitpickers and shut Jaequan down. Members of the urban community could’ve responded by throwing down the race card. Instead, this young man learned valuable lessons on how to run a business. He pays his “employees” as well as his taxes. Moreover he earned his permit — the city just didn’t give it to him.

Yes this story ended well. And I have a feeling that Jaequan Faulkner has a bright future ahead of him.