Sightless vendor sees path
Hot dog cart rolls on road to success
Friday, July 4, 20081
AMHERST - Shawn Prak set up his hot dog cart for the first time Wednesday, in front of the North Pleasant Street post office.
Like most small-business owners, Prak is proud to be his own boss and is eager to give his customers high-quality products and service.
But Prak isn't like most small-business owners. He's blind.
Prak was born in Cambodia in 1979, and his family fled the political violence that tore through the country. He lost his sight after contracting measles at a refugee camp in Thailand when he was 3. He came to Amherst and attended Wildwood School, and later Perkins School for the Blind in Boston. He became a U.S. citizen six years ago.
Prak received training in Boston last year on running food kiosks in federal buildings. He started working in food preparation in January at the Campus Center at the University of Massachusetts, cleaning and cutting up chicken and vegetables. Although he plans to return in the fall, he always wanted to start a business, he said.
"I looked around, and thought (I would do) something with computers," he said. "I asked a lot of people, and thought a hot dog cart looked like fun. You go different places and meet people, as opposed to technology, which can be sort of anti-social."
His business is called Dog Gone Tasty.
He researched different types of carts, and bought one for $3,000 from someone in West Springfield with savings from his UMass job. It's 4 feet by 3 feet, 54 inches high, and has four burners that run on propane, plus a washing area and cabinets.
Prak spent a long time figuring out what type of paper hot dog trays were right. He went through Amherst's extensive permitting process, and was granted a license by the Select Board June 23.
The cart is stored overnight in Hadley, and a sighted employee hitches it to his vehicle and brings it downtown every morning. An employee also takes him to food wholesalers in Chicopee.
"I really don't want to rely on my Social Security income," Prak said. "It's not enough, and if I were to get something myself, I would feel better."
He sells both meat and vegetarian hot dogs for $2.80, with more for special toppings. He also sells sausage grinders, chips, soda, juice and vitamin water. He hopes later to offer breakfast fare, and maybe salads, spring rolls and pad thai in the future.
"My biggest dream if I do good is to franchise," he said.
He plans to be in front of the post office starting around 10 a.m., seven days a week. As long as he doesn't impede pedestrians, his cart has been approved by all the relevant authorities.
Is it a single, or a 5-spot?
So what does a blind vendor do when a customer hands him a $20 bill? The technique he learned in his Boston training is to ask its denomination, then hold it up in the air and announce how much it is.
"Most customers will tell you the truth, because if they didn't, there's a customer behind him," he said. No one wants to be caught cheating a blind vendor.
Some blind people and their advocates would like the U.S. Treasury to make bills of different denominations different sizes or textures. Coins are no problem for Prak, as he can tell them apart by their feel.
Prak and his wife, Sophan, who is also blind, have four sighted children, ranging in age from 6 months to 6 years, and they live in an apartment at Mill Valley Estates. The two are trying to bring up the children bilingual, but they want to speak in English, he said.
Increasingly, the children are able to help their parents to pick up a dollar bill that's fallen on the floor, or to say what type of soup is in a particular can. Asked what color his cart is, Prak asks his son, who responds that it is white.
"I've invested a lot of time and money in this," Prak said. "Sometimes I thought maybe I should just quit. Who's going to buy a hot dog? But I've gotten this far, and I'm happy I'm starting it."
Nick Grabbe can be reached at ngrabbe@gazettenet.com.
