Jerome "The Hot Dog Man" Sanders prepares a cheesesteak for a customer near Main Street Station. (Photo courtesy Jerome Sanders)
Every city has an assortment of widely loved characters that touch the lives of many. In Richmond, a hot dog or cheesesteak holds the potential to spark a lifelong friendship.
Many locals consider Jerome “The Hot Dog Man” Sanders and his business to be an essential feature of the city. Sanders has served up hot dogs, hamburgers and cheesesteaks at Little League baseball games and other events throughout Richmond for over 20 years, running a solo operation aboard his food trailer, The Hot Dog Man RVA.
“To be able to be a one-man show is very amusing,” Sanders says. “The idea is just to get up and get your mast set. You have a schedule, you know what to do, and everything just snaps into place.”
Apart from his hot dogs, Sanders is perhaps best known for his energetic and engaging customer service. He says his passion for service came about in 1982 when he worked at a grocery store.
“The owner taught me customer service is treating people the way you want to be treated,” Sanders says, “and I’ve been that way ever since.”
Many regular customers are drawn to Sanders' overwhelming kindness, generosity and can-do attitude.
“Jerome is a guy you can see smiling from a mile away even if he has a mask on,” says Gary McDowell, co-owner of Main Line Brewery, a venue where Sanders often operates.
“He’s gotten us out of a bind so many times," McDowell says. "We’ll call Jerome whenever a different food truck cancels on us, and he bails us out all the time.”
In early February, Main Line set up a GoFundMe campaign to show appreciation for Sanders and his consistent generosity.
“We’re just trying to help a friend, because this all started with him helping us,” McDowell says.
According to McDowell, the idea to raise funds for Sanders arose when he showed up at the brewery one day in a commuter van he had recently purchased with the hopes of renovating it into a fully operational food truck. Main Line’s marketing director, Monika Dunton, then got the idea of setting up a GoFundMe to help Sanders pay for the van’s renovation.
“We really wanted to do [an in-person] fundraiser event, but with COVID, we thought it’d be safer to do things digitally,” Dunton says. “I had a feeling we’d reach our goal, but not overnight.”
Likely thanks to Sanders' work across the city, donations came in almost instantly, more than doubling the campaign's original goal of $5,000.
Sanders was shocked to see how much traction the fundraiser managed to garner.
“When [Main Line co-owner] Sterling [Roberts] showed me, I was like, ‘Wow,’ ” he says, “and everybody waiting to see [the truck] just can't wait to see it.”
Sanders says that in addition to financial support, he has been met with countless kind remarks.
“They started donating and contributing, you know, just wishing well,” he says. “People were also telling me I deserve it, ‘You’re a great guy.’ ”
According to McDowell, the cost of outfitting the truck will likely exceed the amount raised, therefore donations will continue to be accepted for the foreseeable future in case more people want to contribute.
The most desired upgrade is a deep fryer, which will greatly widen Sanders’ menu choices to include new items such as french fries, chicken tenders, hush puppies and many other assorted fried foods. The fundraiser will also allow Sanders to move from a cash-only payment system and begin accepting credit and debit card payments.
Though the upgrades will provide many new opportunities for Sanders and his business, their absence has never been a hindrance. According to Dunton, “Nobody goes hungry” under Sanders’ watch, even if they don’t have money to pay.
To Roberts, when Sanders is at Main Line, the combination of his food with the brewery’s beer and entertainment is “sort of like a Fourth of July cookout. It’s comfort food.”
To show donors how the truck is being outfitted, Main Line is in the process of putting together an itemized list to explain where the money is going, McDowell says.
Main Line’s fundraiser is not the first time the community come together in support of Sanders. In 2017, a GoFundMe campaign was set up to help pay for medical bills after Sanders was assaulted while cleaning up following an event. Just like the Main Line fundraiser, the 2017 GoFundMe raised more than $10,000.
“He really deserves it,” Dunton says. “I just want to see him achieve his dream.”
