Baseball and hot dogs are an American summer tradition that’s been together for a long time.
The recent start of the baseball season would typically be great news for the hot dog industry, but president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council Eric Mittenthal says even without fans in the stands, it’s still great to have baseball back.
“It is, in that we love baseball and there is a great tie between hot dogs and baseball. Obviously, people are used to enjoying hot dogs at baseball games and they can’t this year. But we know that people are definitely eating hot dogs in considerable amounts throughout the duration of the pandemic thus far.”
He says the lack of baseball for most of the summer hasn’t put a damper on hot dog sales.
“No, hot dog sales have been booming. We saw huge spikes at the beginning when everything was shutting down, and the summer season is always a very popular hot dog season. That’s when we sell the most hot dogs throughout the year, and so the amounts haven’t been quite as elevated during the summer season because it already is a time when people are eating a lot of hot dogs. But they still remain elevated and I think even over the last two weeks since the baseball season started, we’ve seen small spikes in the amount of hot dogs people were eating.”
Mittenthal says baseball teams are creative when it comes to food at their ballparks, including hot dogs.
“Oh yeah, there’s not just a competition on the field, it’s a competition at the concession stand as well, and so the teams are really looking to outdo each other when it comes to different creations they’ve made with hot dogs. We’ve seen all kinds of different toppings and concoctions, so it’s definitely part of the fun for fans at ballgames. You go for the baseball, but you also go for the culinary experience, or at least in normal times, and hot dogs are a big part of that.”
Mittenthal encourages fans to be creative with their hot dogs this summer, but it’ll take some work to keep up with some of the more creative hot dogs on ballpark menus.
“I tend to be a traditionalist, so when I’ve gone to different ballparks around the country, I’ve eaten the standard hot dog and I’ve tried some different ones as well. In Cleveland a couple of years ago, I tried one called the ‘Thomenator Dog.’ It had pierogis on there and sauerkraut, and it was named after their legend, Jim Thome, and that was one that stood out to me. I had one in Milwaukee that was called ‘Bratchos,’ It was bratwurst with potato chips, and it was really good, so yes, they’ve all been really great.”
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