The Hot Dog Sees Surge in Popularity as Those in Coronavirus Lockdown Look to Classic Comfort

Faced with the prospect of a summer spent largely at home due to restrictions put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans are turning to an old-school comfort they can enjoy just about anywhere: the hot dog.

The baseball game and barbecue staple is flying off the shelves to satisfy the cravings of people both young and young at heart. 

“They're delicious ... everybody loves them. They have an American nostalgia to them," Stew Leonard of Stew Leonard’s Grocery Stores told Inside Edition, noting the uptick he has seen has been impressive. 

“We sold 150,000 hot dogs last week,” he said. “That’s a lot of hot dogs.”

In fact, grocery store sales of hot dogs have spiked by a whopping 123%, authorities said. 

Experts believe families are stocking up on hot dogs in part because they can last up to 10 months in the freezer. That they need little time to prepare and are often a crowd pleaser among children doesn’t hurt, either. 

Brooklyn’s Coney Island neighborhood is the home of the hot dog, as the original recipe was developed at the legendary Nathan’s Famous. 

There, Inside Edition spotted people wearing masks as they waited on line for the comfort food. 

“It makes me feel a little bit better about what's going on,” one person said. 

“Very comforting, it's like the best hot dog I’ve ever had before.”

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