FOOD NEWS
Why Don't Hot Dog Buns Ever Match The Number Of Hot Dogs In A Pack?
BY Matthew Spina
It can be annoying to run out of buns for your hot dogs, or vice versa, despite buying one pack of each. This problem is an accident of history, mixed with some industry inertia.
In the past, butchers sold hot dogs individually by the pound. Hot dog packs began appearing after World War II, but the practice of selling them by or weight persisted.
The 10-pack was what one pound of hot dogs usually used to weigh. Even for bigger-than-usual hot dogs, that one-pound pack had been the traditional target.
The number of buns offered in a pack depends on how the factory makes them. The standard pan fits eight rolls, and that same form is used to bake hot dog buns in clusters of four.
For efficiency reasons, buns packs are multiples of four, like the usual eight. On the contrary, hot dogs come in four, six, 10, and even seven packs, depending on brands.
As it's hard to make changes to already built factories and equipment, this mismatch persisted for a long time. However, more eight-packs of hot dogs are now appearing on shelves.