Hot dogs from a hearse?

LAKELAND - Jim Belcher is looking to build one heck of a good business with his Hellacious Hotdogs. He sells his funeral-themed food from a cart that he hauls around with a big, black hearse.

His plain dogs are called "stiffs." He also sells "cold soda from the morgue," and "body bags of chips."

Carolyn Hanes was stunned when she first saw it.

"I didn't know what to think, because I saw a hearse and a hot dog stand and I said, 'those two don't go together," Hanes told FOX 13, and laughed. "But it's cool."

Belcher's stand sits in front of Kathleen Tires, just north of Lakeland.

"Everyone needs a gimmick, and that's a good one," said Pat Yohn, one of the store's owners.

Belcher says most of his customers are young and middle-aged people who get a kick out it.

He says some older folks are put off by the death theme. But that doesn't bother him -- he is still having a devil of a good time serving up the macabre with a little bit of mustard.