Enjoy National Hot Dog Month — Before It’s Too Late!

Has there ever been a better time to enjoy a great U.S. innovation?

It’s already the middle of July and we’ve been guilty of a tremendous oversight—we haven’t mentioned that it’s National Hot Dog Month, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. (Be sure to check out their website for interesting information on all hot dog-related topics.)

SSCS understands as well as anyone the long and storied relationship between the hot dog and the convenience store. We’ve been writing about it since the first days of this blog.

The concept of the hot dog has evolved as tastes have changed and diversified since German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls around 1870 on Coney Island. Feltman was an innovator—sausages (frankfurters) had been around before they came to America—but he was the first to think of plopping one into a bun. Now the American consumer can choose from high end gourmet sausages to any number of weird, wild novelty items. All of them are worthy successors to Feltman’s original inspired thinking.

If you are a fan of the hot dog, and appreciate its familiar, comforting presence in a convenience store (often on a roller grill, an implement that is covered in detail by the website, rollergrill.com), this is the month for you. In honor of this celebration, here’s a list of some of the more popular (and sometimes historically significant) hot dog purveyors in the market. Just click on the name to access the website of the company.

• 1883 Oscar Mayer
• 1896 Corralitos Market
• 1905 Hebrew National
• 1905 BOAR’S HEAD
• 1910 Miller’s
• 1916 Nathan’s
• 1926 Evergood
• 1931 Farmer John
• 1934 Caspers
• 1957 Ball Park
• 1970s Niman Ranch
• 1981 Bar-S
• 1987 Applegate
• 1993 WELLSHIRE FARMS
• 2012 The Brooklyn Hot Dog Company Inc.

Of course you can enjoy hot dogs any time of the year, but there’s something that can’t be matched by having a hot dog in the middle of summer. Please take the opportunity, before it’s too late!