Why Hot Dogs Are Sold In Packs Of 10, But Buns Are Sold In Packs Of 8: A History Lesson

Hot dogs were first sold on the Coney Island boardwalk in 1867

By Samantha GuzmanDecember 28, 2017 9:30 am,

From KERA:

Hot dogs and buns are made for each other. But while hot dogs are traditionally sold in packs of 10, buns are sold in in packs of eight.

That’s something Andrew in Westlake noticed and asked about on KERA’s weekly call-in show, “Anything You Ever Wanted To Know.”

Before we do the math, we need a little bit of hot dog history, which begins at the beach.

Coming to America

Wiener and frankfurters are both sausages that were brought to the U.S. in the 19th century by Central European immigrants. By the 1860s, German beer gardens became common in American cities and these restaurants sold many of the German food staples like sausages, bread and potatoes.

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