Burrowed on a corner of Speen Street is what looks to be a random street food trolley, however, once you order, you won’t want to leave. The bright yellow sign hanging from the food stand front makes it a recognizable landmark in Framingham. Fast and affordable, this hotdog stand draws in many different customers looking for a quick meal.

Zippity-Do-Dog has been around since 2007 and has been under ownership of Roland Houle since 2019. Before Houle took over this small business, he was a computer consultant for most of his working life. Although being a computer consultant has its benefits, Houle says he couldn’t manage the extensive travel that came with the job. Luckily, Houle’s wife was flipping through a newspaper when she read about a hot dog stand that was being sold to a different owner. To Houle’s surprise, it was still available when he reached out for more details.

“When [I’m] working 16 hour days for two weeks straight, including weekends, and [I would] fly home from Europe just so [I] could take the flight so [I] can actually sleep, [and] that’s a problem,” Houle said. “My wife showed me the article and jokingly said ‘it’s too bad you didn’t know about this before,’ and I don’t know why, but something just said [to me], get in touch with the guy.”

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, several businesses either shut down completely or paused for health code violation prevention. This wasn’t the case for Houle and Zippity Do Dog though. The stand is located alongside an office parking lot that got shut down. When the pandemic hit, people piled in thinking of a quick, convenient and affordable place to satisfy their hunger, without needing to enter an enclosed restaurant at the thought of putting themselves at risk..

“I’m in the middle of an office park and TJX, right here used to be half my business and then Covid came and they were gone,” Houle said. “But all of the sudden I started getting a whole new group of people that were working from home but wanted to get out and get something to eat while not going to an actual restaurant.”

A perk to having a small close-knit business is the connections you make with your customers. When Houle sees his regulars, he already knows what they want off the menu. The trolley’s most popular hot dog is a basic chili cheese or an “awesome dog” that is topped with mustard and onion relish.

“I certainly know [customers] regular orders, but a customer favorite is called the Zippity- Do-Dog,” Houle said. “The speciality dog is a popular one with chili cheese right behind it, but just as a regular, an awesome dog all the way.”

Something that Zippity Do Dog takes part in, unlike some other restaurants, is a “pay it forward” system. The system is set up to give back to the people that might not be able to pay for food or are struggling with financial issues. If someone buys something from Houle’s cart, they can choose to pay it forward and buy something else for someone else that might not have the funds for food at the moment.

The inspiration for this arose when Houle was scrolling through Facebook and wanted to localize the idea for his business. It started last year on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving which is also known as “Giving Tuesday.” After starting this, Houle felt like it made an impact in the community and wanted to keep going. Throughout the winter his organization slowly came together and once spring hit, it was a big success.

“I stay open over the winter but it’s slow so I only got one or two [pay it forward orders] a week,” Houle said. “But once the spring started it was way more, and now I get two or three regulars a day,sometimes even four or five.I’m past 250 [donated meals] [and] I expect by giving Tuesday, the one year anniversary of the pay it forward program, I’ll be right around 300.”

Houle takes pride in giving back to his community through his passion for food. He has made a great effort to promote the “pay it forward program” and hopes to keep expanding the system to other food chains and restaurants.

“I just wish that more restaurants could figure out a way to adapt this,” Houle said. the ones that are doing it are local mom and pop shops.The big chains aren’t interested in doing anything like this, yet they’re the ones that it would be easiest for them to do without impacting their finances.”

For a handful of people, their business is simply just a business to them. But Houle takes pride in what he sells and the different components to his food that make it unique. Starting from a computer consultant ready to quit his job, Houle turned into a business owner that loves what he does.

You can find updates about the Zippity Do Dog food trolly @Zippty-Do-Dog on Facebook and Instagram.