Hot dog sales have been on fire since retail food sales spiked in early March. IRI Analytics reported that hot dog sales for the week ending April 19 marked the seventh week of multi-digit year-over-year sales gains. Dollar sales increased 29% and volume sales increased 21% over the week of April 19 versus the comparable week in 2019, IRI data showed. National brands make up 97% of total hot dog sales and grew 29% in dollar sales.

“With many lunch, dinner and snack occasions having moved from restaurants, campuses, school cafeterias and other foodservice establishments to at home, hot dogs very quickly ramped up as a go-to solution for a kid-friendly, protein-dense, versatile and easy-to-prepare solution amid the coronavirus outbreak,” said Anne-Marie Roerink, principal and founder of 210 Analytics.

Beef hot dogs represented more than 60% of total hot dog sales and grew the most, up 36%.

“The prolonged duration of the double-digit increases, particularly during Easter week and this week, going up against Easter 2019 sales, points to a higher everyday demand following the initial stock-up purchases,” Roerink explained.

Data also revealed that the surge in sales numbers shows that shoppers are in the market for all pack sizes, large and small. The most common pack size is eight hot dogs, representing 51% of all sales, which explains the somewhat lower growth rate. Even so, Roerink said larger pack sizes of 10 and 24 count have been doing very well these past few weeks, once more pointing to increased everyday demand.