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Rowdy Dogs Opening This Spring While Martin’s ‘Helping Hands’ Continues Quiet Work in the Community

A familiar figure around Morristown’s food truck stops and farm supply yards is preparing to launch something new this spring. Alexander “Al” Martin plans to open Big Al’s Rowdy Dogs, a hot dog cart that will appear at festivals and events while also operating as a floating food service on the lake during the warmer months.

For Martin, the new venture is less about expansion and more about people.

He said the idea grew from a desire to give a longtime friend, Donnie Haney, a chance to work after serious health setbacks. Haney suffered a stroke and later stayed with Martin while recovering from open heart surgery because Martin’s home had no stairs.

“This is something he can still do,” Martin said. “I’ll handle the business side and let him run it.”

Martin is known locally through several businesses, including Big Al’s Bent Creek BBQ, a traveling food truck and catering operation, along with agricultural and fabrication work through Ironwood & Oaks and operations at Martin Farm.

But he is quick to redirect attention away from business and toward what he considers the real purpose behind it.

Money from the barbecue operation, he said, often goes directly back into a project he calls Helping Hands.

Helping Hands operates quietly and without paperwork.

When the tent is set up, anyone can walk up and receive a free meal.

In earlier years, Martin placed tear off tickets on the truck so people could hand one in at the window without having to ask.

“That way people could keep their dignity,” he said.

The effort has grown beyond meals. Martin described helping a woman obtain dentures and purchasing household appliances for a single mother with five children. He said the goal is simple.

“Our goal is to spread kindness,” he said.

An employee, Frankie Grey, admitted first impressions were misleading.

“I had heard Al was a real jerk so I stayed away,” Grey said. “When I finally met him, I couldn’t believe how kind he was. He would literally give away his last dollar.”

Martin acknowledges he can appear intimidating. He stands 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs nearly 400 pounds, but he credits his late father for shaping how he interacts with people.

“My dad taught me I had to be the kindest person in the room because I’ll almost always be the biggest,” he said.

Martin returned home around 2014 to help operate Nolichucky Vineyard after his parents divorced. He later built a barbecue truck and in 2019 took over Sam’s Meat Cleaver. After his father, a chief medical officer at Holston Valley, died from COVID 19 complications in 2021, the estate was auctioned, forcing Martin to rebuild.

He purchased property in Cocke County and restarted the barbecue business in 2022. Hurricane Helene destroyed everything he rebuilt, leaving only the trailer, but he began again.

“I’ve started over five times with only the clothes on my back and my son” Big Al says.

Martin said the setbacks shaped the Helping Hands mission. He tries to focus on people who have no support system rather than organized sponsorships or team donations.

“We’re helping people who are totally broken,” he said. “Every person that comes has a moment where somebody cares that they woke up that day.”

He often quotes advice from his father.

“Be the sermon,” Martin said.

He said the outreach is meant to be personal rather than preachy.

“Nobody likes to get hit over the head with a Bible,” he said. “The kindness you show somebody may be the only thing they hear about God that day.”

When the Helping Hands tent, donated by Morristown Signs, appears at an event, the message is simple. If you are hungry, you can eat.

Martin believes the work matters more than any business success.

“My businesses aren’t about the money,” he said. “The barbecue makes money, but it goes back into Helping Hands and the employees.”

As Rowdy Dogs prepares to open, Martin said the new venture follows the same purpose as the others. He hopes to give a friend meaningful work and create another opportunity to connect with people who need a reminder they are seen.

“Even if you’re at rock bottom,” he said, “you’ve got a hard foundation to start with, and the only way to go is up.”