Hot dog cart finds home inside for cold season
Oct. 27, 2021
A hot dog cart that started this summer in Brandon has moved inside with the cooler weather.
Fred’s Franks is open Wednesday through Friday for lunch in Kingbird Coffee Shop on Splitrock Boulevard.
“We talked about waiting until the end of October. We’re like, we can try to endure as much as we can,” said Donna Cutrer, who started the business with her husband, Mike Blewett, in August after moving here from Florida. “One morning, we were in here getting our morning coffee before we would go outside to set up the trailer. We both walked out, stood outside for probably about a minute, and we’re like, nope.”
Blewett built a stand, and they set up in a corner of the coffee shop, which Cutrer’s brother Billy and his wife, Ellison, own.
“When we first started, we weren’t going to do fall and winter because we knew the cold was going to come,” Cutrer said. “We didn’t have the means to accommodate, just the trailer itself, in the outdoor weather, so we figured it’ll just be a summer gig. And then it started to get cooler, and everybody kept asking, ‘What are you going to do when it gets cold?’ and I’m like, what are we going to do? Our son’s in school. What are we doing while he’s in school? So we just decided to make a smaller cart, move it inside and keep going. What else? Sit at home? Daytime TV sucks. We might as well be in here.”
They use the coffee shop’s kitchen area for prep work and have warmers and a refrigerator in the cart for the ingredients.
The most popular hot dog on the menu is the Chicago dog, with tomato, onion, relish, pickle spear, sport peppers, celery salt and mustard on a poppy seed bun.
Coming in at a close second is the newer BBQ Big Beef dog with barbecue sauce, jack cheese, a pickle spear and French’s Original Crispy Fried Onions. It replaced the avocado dog when the price of avocados jumped.
Customers can build their own, or choose from the half-dozen specialty versions. Fred’s Franks serves all-beef quarter-pound hot dogs.
Fred’s Franks is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday and Friday. It’s occasionally open on Saturdays. Check Facebook or @fredsfranks on Instagram for updates.
