A hot dog stand has turned into a huge scholarship opportunity for a Bartlesville teenager.
Ryan Fouts was trying to find a job when he was 16-years-old. He says, “most places in town were fully booked at the time, they were just fully staffed. I couldn’t find anywhere to work.”
So Fouts became his own boss. He says he started “Ryan’s Dawgs,” and sold a unique hot dog called the “Shorties Dawgs.”
One evening, he was at Cooper and Mill Brewing Company in Bartlesville, when a group walked up. The Dean of Admissions for Central Methodist University was there.
Fouts says, ”it kind of ended up with me giving my elevator pitch and them buying a hot dog.”
Eventually that interaction would lead to Ryan getting a $120,000 scholarship, equal to a full-ride to the university. He says, “I really don’t have the money to pay for that education, so without those opportunities I’ve gotten, I really wouldn’t be able to go there.”
Selling hot dogs paved the way for Ryan to pursue business or a dental degree. It’s a reminder to think outside the box.
Fouts says, “I had the ambition and the drive to do something better than myself and bigger than myself.”
Ryan says he will also be bringing his small business to college. The University has a deal with him, where he will be selling hot dogs at CMU’s sporting and special events.
You can follow Ryan on Facebook to see where his hot dog stand will be each day.