A 14-year-old Georgia teen recently broke the record for becoming the state’s youngest restaurant owner, according to CBS News.
Mason Wright is the proprietor of Mason’s Super Dogs, a takeaway restaurant in Stonecrest, Georgia.
Mason had the idea for his company when he was just 9 years old after seeing a hot dog cart in New York City that he wanted to import to the South.
He did not want to rely on his allowance for financial support. Mason told CBS News, “I thought I could take the business model and make it better.
Mason investigated a number of business opportunities, including dog walking, cutting grass, washing cars, and selling snacks. Ultimately, he persuaded his parents and grandparents to buy him a hot dog cart.
He promised that he would keep his grades up and bring home straight A’s, bringing his dad his report card every six weeks.
In 2018, Mason entered into a business competition at Morehouse College.
Although he lost, he convinced president David Thomas to let him sell his hot dogs on campus. He made a lot of money and realized he loved doing the work.
Mason developed his business plan at the Russell Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, catering the incubator’s movie nights on weekends.
“He said as long as I have straight A’s then I could sell hot dogs on-campus,” Mason told reporters.
“I had a lot of good foot traffic from students at all of the colleges in the Atlanta University Center and that was really fun.”
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Mason’s initial goal was to turn his hot dog cart into a food truck, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the plans and held up the process of receiving permits, business licensing, and health inspections.
Eventually, the teen came across a vacant property for lease and used his own money to rent it and fixing it up with the help of his family.
This past October, Mason’s Super Dogs opened, with the young restaurateur making history as the youngest restaurant owner in the state of Georgia.
The 200-square-foot restaurant serves over 400 customized hot dogs, including vegan dogs and fresh and innovative concept dogs like the Firestorm, a chopped chicken dog with buffalo sauce, and Professor Dilly, a hot dog served inside a jumbo pickle.
On opening day, lines formed around the parking lot in support, just like the ones he saw in New York that inspired him years ago.
Mason runs his restaurant full time, arriving at 7 am to homeschool for 3 hours and prep for one hour before opening at 11 am.
He and another employee prepare the food and manage the kitchen while his sister, mother, and aunt help operate sales and hand out the food to customers.
His restaurant is open Tuesday through Saturday until closing at 6 pm. “I’m usually doing most of the work, but we’re having fun doing it.
My customers are really friendly and nice…homeschooling is really fun.
My teachers understand that I have a business, so if I’m super busy with the restaurant, they’ll get with me if I miss anything,” Mason said.
The teen’s father, Jerome Wright, manages all of the shipments. He claimed to have known his son was unique from an early age and expressed his pride in him.
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“The only project he started and finished was Mason’s Super Dogs. Mason spends his entire life working at the hot dog stand.
He just speaks about that. Because his name is on this, he ensures that everything is correct.
I told him that chaos on opening day meant that he was making money and contributing to the community.
It says something that he was able to convince people to wait in line for an hour. I’m still in awe of how he did it “Wright remarked.
