Why Hot Dogs Come in 10-Packs but Buns in 8

Have you ever ever purchased scorching canines and buns for a cookout, solely to understand you’re both two buns brief or two wieners over? You’d assume that, by now, the makers of America’s favourite ballpark snack would have solved this bizarre puzzle. Suppose once more. 

Now, this may sound like a foolish dialog to have at a time when many people are going through far more prescient issues. And also you’re proper—however hear me out as a result of generally fixing little mysteries provides us the braveness to unravel the larger ones. Child steps. Include me on this curious and historic journey to search out out why we will’t get our hot dog to bun ratio sorted. 

Earlier than about 1940, hot dogs had been purchased and offered from native butcher outlets and weren’t packaged as they’re as we speak. Consumers would merely ask the butcher for the quantity of sausages they wanted and can be charged by the pound. This brings us as much as modern-day meat packaging, whereby meat remains to be usually offered by the pound. One normal American scorching canine is roughly 1.6 ounces. For those who do the maths, that implies that it takes 10 hotdogs to get you to at least one pound. It merely is smart, from a meat-packing and butchering perspective, to promote them by the pound, not by the piece. 

Equally, trendy bakehouses are optimized for effectivity with requirements and methods set firmly in place. Buns are usually baked in clusters of 4 in pans designed to provide eight rolls apiece. It merely doesn’t make sense for many bakeries to utterly upend their manufacturing methods and pan designs to accommodate the common variety of scorching canines in a pack. 

The sunshine on the finish of the tunnel: In 2022, Heinz and Wonder Bread partnered to unravel this very difficulty in Canada by brokering a partnership to create 10-packs of buns. Perhaps an identical deal is on the horizon for the USA. Within the meantime, although, we Individuals will simply should discover a use for these two additional sausages.

My suggestion? Minimize these suckers up and make a small batch of pigs in blankets for brunch the subsequent day. Everyone wins!