Hot Dog Trivia From Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs

CHICAGO, June 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Summer time is hot dog season and Nathan's Famous all-beef hotdogs celebrates with hot dog trivia to entertain your backyard guests.

• America's favorite sausage is popular at the picnic table – between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans will consume 7 billion hot dogs.
• San Francisco claims the highest per capita consumption, with 4.16 hot dogs eaten per person annually.
• Hot dogs originated in Germany or Austria in the 1800s.  Food historians in Vienna, Austria, claim the "wiener" for their own, noting it is named after Vienna (the German spelling is Wien).  Germans in Frankfurt, Germany claim they invented the frankfurter, which they also called a "Dachshund sausage."
• Americans will spend more than $1.9 billion on hot dogs purchased in supermarkets this year.  The top five markets (in order) for retail hot dog sales are New York, Los Angeles, San Antonio/Corpus Christie, TX, Baltimore/Washington D.C., and Chicago.
• On the Fourth of July, Americans will consume 150 million hot dogs – that's equal to nearly 75,000 hot dogs for each person living in Franksville, WI, or 17 hot dogs for every person in New York City.
• Coney Island, NY is the birthplace of Nathan's Famous all beef hot dogs.  Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker opened his small hot dog stand in 1916, selling hot dogs made from his wife's recipe.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt served Nathan's Famous hot dogs to the King and Queen of England in 1939 at a picnic he hosted in Hyde Park, NY.  
• The 94th annual Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest will be held in Coney Island on July 4.  In 2009, for the third year in a row, Joey Chestnut won the mustard yellow champion's belt by consuming 68 hot dogs in the allotted 10 minutes.
• Hot dog lovers can win a chance to be a judge at the 2011 Nathan's Famous eating competition at www.nathanssweepstakes.com.

About Specialty Foods Group

Nathan’s Famous hot dogs are produced and distributed to retail stores nationwide by Specialty Foods Group (SFG), a leading U.S. producer and marketer of a wide variety of premium branded and private-label processed meat products. SFG products are available through a wide-range of outlets including national and regional supermarkets, independent food retailers, delicatessens, club stores, convenience stores and foodservice distributors.

SOURCE Specialty Foods Group