MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — More than four million Americans hit retirement age every year. So, what do they do? Well, one man goes to the Dealers Auto Auction of Murfreesboro. He's not in the bustle of the bidding. He's outside in a small mobile shack; his shack.
"There you go, my man," said a voice inside a small blue shack on wheels, hitched to a truck.
Two boxes carrying hot dogs were handed to a customer out the window.
"This is Ken's Hot Dog Shack!" said Ken Key from inside. "I just figured that when I retired, if I don't do it now, I'll never do it."
Ken is an Army veteran who later went into HVAC work. For a really long time, he's thought: 'Wouldn't it be just great to run a hot dog shack?' He moved from Ohio to middle Tennessee to be closer to his kids, and he built the shack. After all, if you build it, they will come get hot dogs.
"What can I get for ya, man?" Ken asked another customer lined up outside the shack.
"Mustard, ketchup, and onions on it!" he answered.
"Did it surprise you when your dad wanted to become a hot dog dude?" I asked Ken's daughter Angel, who was helping around the shack.
"Kinda, but he needed something to do!"
Ken goes all over Middle Tennessee, but on a lot of Wednesdays at Dealers Auto Auction of Murfreesboro, the shack is back.
Ken knows all the regional rules out there for what goes on a hot dog.
"I go through a lot of ketchup," he laughed.
Ken doesn't judge.
"I want a regular hotdog, everything!" another customer said, walking up to the window.
"You want sauerkraut?" Ken asked. "Onion? Dill relish?"
He did say everything.
"It's snug in there!" I said to Angel, she and her dad huddled in the shack.
"Gotta go outside to change our mind," she answered.
For Ken, the shack gives him a couple things. For one, his dad and granddad passed on a work ethic that makes him want to keep working.
"My dad said if he ever sat down, he'd probably die," Ken said. "I took that to heart. You gotta keep movin'!"
Plus, Ken's a talker.
"I like to meet the people," Ken nodded.
There's also this. The shack lets him live out a dream.
"I always wanted my own business," he said.
For the more than four million Americans reaching retirement age this year, what does an Army vet turned hot dog shack guy have to say?
"Find something you like to do, something you love to do and go for it," Ken said.
Doggone it.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Happy Birthday to the YMCA of Middle TN. They just celebrated their 150th anniversary! A lot has changed with the Y over the years. I have personally seen some of that firsthand when I was a long-time board member at the Northwest Family Y and part of their Black Achievers Program. Forrest Sanders has a look back.
- Lelan Statom
