Of hot dogs, shopping, and pricing

September 15, 2022 11:20 AM

Effective today, September 15, 2022, IKEA has raised the price of its regular hot dogs in Sweden from 5 SEK to 7 SEK. Ikea bryter korvlöftet (IKEA breaks hog dog promise) reads the headline of the article in Sweden's Aftonbladet tabloid, which notes that since 1995 you could eat a hot dog at IKEA for five crowns. That is, until today. This was big news in Sweden. Less newsworthy in Sweden but still of note: IKEA has lowered the cost of its vegan hot dog to 5 SEK from 10 SEK, while US vegan hot dogs have been cheaper than regular dogs for some time.

Aftonbladet quoted Marcus Carlsson, country manager for Ikea Food, saying "It's a statement for the planet" (machine translation). In July, after IKEA raised the prices of soda and ice cream, Carlsson told Aftonbladet that there were no plans to raise the price of regular hot dogs at that time, "but I don't know about the future."

It has long been claimed (by Aftonbladet reporters, among others) that IKEA's founder, Ingvar Kamprad, wrote in his will that the hot dog price was never to be raised. True or not, Kamprad's Bertil Torekull told Sveriges Radio that Kamprad must be spinning in his grave after the price hike.

Inexpensive food has been one key IKEA strategy for bringing in customers, according to Hoang Samuelson, who worked at an IKEA during the summer of 2010. Sometimes that food has included weird (by Swedish standards) hot dogs, such as IKEA's temporary black hot dog promotions in Japan (2016), Singapore (November 2021), and Malaysia (November and December 2021).

The giant's devotion to vegan food is fairly recent. IKEA's veggie dog is a healthier, more sustainable option to the original IKEA hot dog, wrote Kristina Manente in 2019 for Mashed in The Untold Truth Of IKEA's Vegan Hot Dog. In November 2020, IKEA opened a bistro (perhaps for a limited time?) within one of its Japanese stores and claimed it was the world's first bistro that specialized in vegan hot dogs. It offered 10 different dogs on the menu. (Go here for better images.)

Anna Starostinetskaya reported early this year that IKEA had "launched a Taste of the Future recruitment campaign to fill 150 innovation and technology roles in Europe. Candidates are invited to apply and bring their creative ideas to the interview, during which IKEA will provide a literal taste of the future by serving vegan meatballs prepared with a 3D printer which has been programmed to recreate the flavor, texture, and appearance of meat but without any animal products."

Of course, IKEA is far from the only profit monger to lure customers with cheap eats. Costco has charged $1.50 for its hot dog and soda combo since 1985, says Business Insider. Like IKEA's founder, Costco's founder Jim Sinegal was determined to keep the combo at the same price. According to an article from Today.com, "In a 2009 interview with The Seattle Times, a reporter asked him, 'If that price ever goes up, what will it mean?' 'That I’m dead,' he replied. 'We’re known for that hot dog. That’s something you don’t mess with.'

In July, the current CEO told CNBC that Costco hot dogs are safe from price hikes despite inflation. That's an easy promise for Costco to keep, since annual membership fees from customers "generated $3.9 billion in 2021, almost 80% of its profit that year," according to The Motley Fool.

TLDR; for post-shopping cheap hot dogs, look to Costco. For post-shopping vegan dogs, go to IKEA.

posted by Bella Donna (65 comments total)

Costco now operates two hot dog factories to attempt to keep the price at that $1.50 mark.

And don't forget the Volkswagen Currywurst. At one point VW had their own farm to keep up with the demand and keep costs low.
posted by JoeZydeco at 11:37 AM on September 15, 2022 [7 favorites]

Also this month, in Japan, the conveyor-belt sushi chain Kurazushi announced the price of its cheapest plates will increase for the first time since its founding in 1977. The minimum price will increase from ¥110 (US$0.77) to ¥115 (US$0.80).
posted by mbrubeck at 11:47 AM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

If Costco ever raised the prices of their hot dogs, people would riot.
posted by Kitteh at 11:51 AM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Thanks to a couple of posts here and on the Green, I'm reminiscing about my Scottish student days, and i remembered how my coworkers were telling me that I should check out Glasgow's Ikea for the meatballs and hot dogs and I didn't have the heart to tell them that, one, the Ikea in Malaysia (at the time only one outlet) was supposedly the biggest in the region and I don't need to recreate the experience of powerwalking for over an hour just to finish the circuit of all the sections, and two, since i do try to keep halal, I probably can't eat the meatballs anyway. I haven't had any of the hot dogs for a while though -- there's always a queue!
posted by cendawanita at 11:59 AM on September 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

Dang, that's great that Ikea US offers vegan dogs for cheaper than animal dogs. I feel like I'm doing good if I pay under triple at my grocers, but hopefully that will change as the costs of meat production become be less externalized/more understood and vegan dog production benefits from efficiencies of scale. Our regional chain Portillo's supposedly has nice vegan dogs; they have always been out when I stop by, but that also seems promising.
posted by SaltySalticid at 12:06 PM on September 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

I've tried the Portillo's vegan dog. It's not too bad, but just like the BK Impossible when you stack it up with all the toppings your palate kind of overlooks the faux protein.

The real winner is the Buona vegan italian beef.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:23 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

The IKEA vegan hotdog is one of my guilty pleasures. It's cheap and it's good.
posted by bifurcated at 12:27 PM on September 15, 2022 [7 favorites]

On the topic of equalizing the price for vegan choices, several cafés here in Amsterdam are now charging the same price for all milks, which I think is great.
posted by antinomia at 12:35 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

I didn't enjoy Ikea's veggie balls, but I'll give their vegan hot dogs a try next time.
posted by meowzilla at 12:38 PM on September 15, 2022

The veggie dogs are just an extruded version of the veggie balls. Sorry to disappoint.

The veggie substance does taste better in a bun with ketchup, though, in my opinion.
posted by saturday_morning at 12:43 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I guess this is just the way of the world after the dismal Swedish election. Can it really be a coincidence that Costco plans to open its first Swedish store just north of Stockholm in a few weeks?
posted by St. Oops at 12:55 PM on September 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

The veggie substance does taste better in a bun with ketchup, though, in my opinion.
posted by saturday_morning

Heh. When I was vegetarian and craving a hotdog I would take a bun and fill it with all of the toppings. It hit the spot. Mostly.
posted by Splunge at 1:01 PM on September 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

If you’d told me two years back, when I first started selling Korean hotdogs, that I’d be interviewed by the Guardian, I’d be like, ‘No way,’” exclaims Mari Riaz, founder and owner of Uh K-dogs ’n’ Juicy in Camden market, London. And yet here we are, in the calm before the lunchtime rush, discussing the street food trend she helped kickstart from her home kitchen in 2020, and which is now sweeping the UK. Today's Guardian on Korean hotdogs, which sound like improved corn dogs to me.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:11 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

A recipe for Korean dogs. It looks delicious.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:16 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Now, somebody do this for chicken wings in the US.

About 20-25 years ago, lots of bars and greasy spoons had ten-cent wing night.

Now, the best "wing night" deal you will find are wings for 50 cents!

The price of chicken has not gone up 500% in that span of time, dammit!

Someone needs to confront Big Wing, because they are making out like bandits while we're asleep at the wing switch.
posted by mreleganza at 1:26 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

5 SEK is currently $0.47 (USD) and 7 SEK is currently worth $0.65 (USD), so either way, those are some cheap hot dogs.
posted by General Malaise at 1:29 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

I'm enjoying the move of vegan food from "expensive luxury" to "competitive market so cheap" as I try to eat more of it and fewer animal products. Eating vegan food when I prefer non-vegan is one thing, paying MORE for the privilege is most annoying!
posted by one more day at 1:31 PM on September 15, 2022 [11 favorites]

Costco here in Canada had wings at their snack bar -- 30 wings for $20 Canadian, which was a stellar deal especially given that they were unusually generously sized wings. Then they raised the price to $22 and it was still a stellar deal. Than they never had them. Now they've taken them off the menu.

We still have the little packets of garlic salt and lemon pepper in the console of the car in anticipation of wings making a return to the Costco snack bar, but it is less optimism and more laziness that keeps them there.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:35 PM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

As I recall, the hotdog at the end is some kind of psychological trick that makes you happy when you leave, because you get a shot of salty sugary food - alongside the gruen effect, another one of the tricks that Ikea uses on all it’s visitors. For me, the vegan/veggie hotdog I had during my last visit to ikea was possibly the worst thing I put in my mouth that year.
posted by The River Ivel at 1:44 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

The vegan hotdogs are made from returned furniture.
posted by lkc at 1:48 PM on September 15, 2022 [30 favorites]

Eating vegan food when I prefer non-vegan is one thing, paying MORE for the privilege is most annoying!

There are so many foods that are incidentally vegan. "Vegan food" as a specific term of art evokes the notion of a vegan replacement of an animal product.

So yeah, I wouldn't expect to pay more for e.g. a black bean burger, but paying extra for a carefully engineered patty that tastes and looks like meat, but isn't? That tracks.

I guess I'd wonder why vegan or vegetarian would want to emulate the hot dog of all things.
posted by explosion at 2:03 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

I guess I'd wonder why vegan or vegetarian would want to emulate the hot dog of all things.

I enjoyed the taste of meat and meat products so if I can still have that without actually having to eat meat then why not?
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 2:12 PM on September 15, 2022 [8 favorites]

Well, why does anyone eat a hot dog: it's salty, moist, filling, bland, and cheap. It's satisfying without being challenging, or rather, you can make it as challenging or unchallenging a food as you like with the toppings. Sometimes you want something easy, sometimes you want to draw on your food, the hot dog meets both use cases.

Really good hot dogs have a good meat flavor and maybe a snappy casing, and really good vegan dogs have a good umami flavor though I don't think they've ever really nailed the casing texture in any vegan sausage product. I prefer the carrot dog concept (I usually get the pizza at CostCo.)
posted by blnkfrnk at 2:36 PM on September 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

Is Costco hot dog a quality item? . I'm blessed to live in a town with a long history of sausage makers...German immigrants mostly. We still have wonderful hot dogs in a proper natural casing...
posted by Czjewel at 2:44 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

I guess I'd wonder why vegan or vegetarian would want to emulate the hot dog of all things

I once had two roommates who were vegans. All they ate (all I ever saw them prepare in the kitchen) were mostly freezer based nugget sims, shredded chicken sims, ground beef sims, and ungodly amounts of Daiya vegan cheese. And sauce. The only green thing they would eat on a semi regular basis were stir fry mixes with incredible amounts of soy sauce on them.

Even when their dishes were complex and composed, they were mostly focused on being reminiscent of an animal product dish. I once had vegan lasagna, tomato sauce with imitation ground beef, vegan ricotta (made from nuts I think), topped with daiya shredded cheddar mix. It was kind of grim. Daiya seems to struggle with melting.
posted by shenkerism at 2:54 PM on September 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

I guess I'd wonder why vegan or vegetarian would want to emulate the hot dog of all things.

It is a condiment delivery device.
posted by eckeric at 3:00 PM on September 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

Now, somebody do this for chicken wings in the US.

I remember at the restaurant where I worked in high school, 50 wings rang up at $10.66 including tax. I always used to imagine William the Conquerer throwing jugs of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce at King Harald.

At university, there was a Uni-Mart near my end of campus that had a two hot dogs and a fountain soda special for some insanely low price. I want to say it was under two dollars. I had it for lunch almost every day. If you came at just the wrong time the hot dogs would be cold because they hadn’t been on the roller long enough. Starved for time and money, I’d just microwave them. You could load them up at the toppings bar to make them more filling.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:04 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

> Of course, IKEA is far from the only profit monger to lure customers with cheap eats.
> Costco has charged $1.50 for its hot dog and soda combo since 1985,

My local corner drug store has its original soda fountain — alas temporarily closed in the pandemic but someday to reopen, I hope and believe. Coffee has been 5¢ a cup there since 1922.
posted by theoriginalkdawson at 3:36 PM on September 15, 2022 [7 favorites]

Can it really be a coincidence that Costco plans to open its first Swedish store just north of Stockholm in a few weeks?

When can we have a Daiso in the European Customs Union?
posted by acb at 3:43 PM on September 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

I found the only thing worse than a hot dog was a fake hot dog. That was an opinion I formed years ago, perhaps the state of the art has advanced.

I'm actually a real hot dog snob, so the occasion I eat them, bland and cheap are not words I'd use to describe them. I've never had a Costco hot dog, and frankly, the idea of an Ikea hot dog, vegan or not, fills me with no curiosity whatsoever. But I want to believe a good vegan hot dog is not an impossibility. I'm just skeptical.
posted by 2N2222 at 3:52 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

That plot twist at the climax of The Simpsons Lisa the Vegetarian was something.
posted by ovvl at 3:58 PM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

A good hot dog can be really tasty, and though it’s been awhile, I imagine vegan counterparts could be about as good, especially if they don’t skimp on the fat. A hot dog or nugget has to be the easiest thing to simulate, since they are the least like actual meat to begin with. But also, was anything ever killed to make a hot dog? I feel like processed meat replacements are a good start, but it’s not obvious to me where we need to be to reduce meat production. I suppose I should do my research.
posted by snofoam at 4:50 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

Meat production is around 10x intensive as plant-based protein and fat production, in terms of greenhouse gas emission, land use in calories per acre, water use per calorie, and by lots of other metrics too.

The main idea is you have to grow acres of corn and soy to turn into a lot of cow farts and poop and breath, and just a little meat, with lots of electricity and gasoline etc at every step.

Lmk if you need any pointers but this is a basic of energy cascades in terms of eating primary producers vs mammalian herbivores.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:10 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

If anyone can come up with a quality vegan version of the Icelandic vinarpylsur I wil pay them $3 per dog, bare, uncooked.
posted by aramaic at 6:19 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

I’d guess snofoam is wondering if the sale of hot dog scraps at the margin changes the likelihood of an animal being killed for meat.
posted by clew at 6:26 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

All demand for meat products encourages meat production. Basically every animal killed for meat is born by human animal husbandry to become meat; we don't like raise a bunch of cattle and hogs and then decide to let some roam free if we don't slaughter them to eat.

You're right though, hotdogs are a somewhat marginal usage. I still buy leather on occasion for similar reasons. I suppose if someone said they had hotdog as their only/main meat as a way of eating less meat I would respect that, but I also might suggest considering pescatarianism.

My point is not to vilify meat consumption so much as to heartily recommend that we be aware of the massive costs.
posted by SaltySalticid at 6:35 PM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

Those Korean dogs look gooood. At the last street fair I went to (pre-COVID), there was a vendor selling chorizo corn dogs; it was a large-ish chorizo on a stick, in slightly-sweet cornbread batter that had kernels of corn, green chiles, and small chunks of cheese mixed in, and deep-fried. They were amazing. I would say I ate an embarrassing amount of those dogs, but I was not even a little embarrassed.
posted by xedrik at 6:37 PM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

I have read too much Discworld to be entirely comfortable with cheap hotdogs.
posted by Merus at 6:53 PM on September 15, 2022 [11 favorites]

A typical cheap hot dog sausage is such a synthetic item it’s essentially meat pretending to be something else already.

A vegan hot dog is really just a different way of achieving that delicious something else. It not being made from meat is a boring implementation detail.
posted by grahamparks at 7:23 PM on September 15, 2022 [5 favorites]

A typical cheap hot dog sausage is such a synthetic item it’s essentially meat pretending to be something else already.

This is why I've switched to plant-based microwave burritos. I figured that I was eating highly processed scraps anyway, and the whole point was to just get something quick in a pinch, so I might as well just do seitan. They are OK.
posted by anhedonic at 8:42 PM on September 15, 2022 [6 favorites]

I once bought a veggie corn dog while a friend bought a meat one and we were each on our second bite before we realized they’d switched our orders. Salty sweet paste, yeah.
posted by clew at 10:45 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

The vegan hotdogs are made from returned furniture.

Having seen what damp can do to a Billy bookcase, I suspect that at least some of the furniture is made from returned vegan hotdogs.
posted by flabdablet at 11:11 PM on September 15, 2022 [13 favorites]

I’d guess snofoam is wondering if the sale of hot dog scraps at the margin changes the likelihood of an animal being killed for meat.

Yes. I feel like hot dogs are essentially a by product. I am very aware of the environmental impacts of meat in general.

As far as pescetarianism as an alternative, I would probably be more inclined to eat a hot dog than many kinds of fish for sustainability reasons.
posted by snofoam at 11:27 PM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

Before we get too dogmatic on either side of the vegan vs mechanically-recovered-non-meat-chicken-byproducts wars, suggest reading Simon "scyther" Fairlie's book Meat: A Benign Extravagance which puts the case that meat can be incorporated into a holistic sustainable agriculture: most convincingly as pigs raised on kitchen waste and weeds. That idea doesn't scale well, of course.
posted by BobTheScientist at 11:50 PM on September 15, 2022 [4 favorites]

Oh, delighted to eat meals of vegetables, nuts, pulses, beans instead of meat: but I need* something to put in my tea, and vegan milk has been more expensive than cow milk, which annoys me since the cost of production should be lower.

I guess I could go to Earl Grey.

* want
posted by one more day at 11:56 PM on September 15, 2022 [1 favorite]

A vegan hot dog is really just a different way of achieving that delicious something else. It not being made from meat is a boring implementation detail.

A friend of mine has a vegetarian sausage roll recipe (effectively sausage meat in a pastry wrapping) that is, from memory, finely ground walnuts and cream cheese, with herbs and spices. It it the best sausage roll I have ever had, especially given it's such a low bar.
posted by Merus at 12:32 AM on September 16, 2022 [4 favorites]

About once a year, I forget why I don't eat hotdogs and give in to my constant cravings. Last time, that happened in IKEA, and I bought the vegan dog. YUCK!! I couldn't finish it. And I should have known better, because I don't like their meat version either, or the köttbullar. IMO there is too much sweetness in savory Swedish food in general. (Except for the fancy gourmet stuff, which is very fancy, and I haven't tried surströmming). When in Sweden, stick to the ficka, the cakes are delicious.
Now, when I'm in IKEA and crave condiments in a bun, I go to the McDonalds next door. Which I suppose says something about how vile I find those hotdogs.

I don't eat hotdogs in general because of the aftertaste. I really like eating them, and here the tradition is to have them with a bottle of chocolate milk. Good. But then for several hours there will be that aftertaste.

But thanks for an amazing post, Bella Donna!
posted by mumimor at 4:51 AM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

I didn't enjoy Ikea's veggie balls

Really? I can't resist their hot veggie balls! My mouth's watering just thinking about those balls!
posted by Naberius at 6:06 AM on September 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

Ikea retracts their decision after public outcry – "A sausage is a sausage, no matter its form. Always 5 kr at Ikea".
posted by Vesihiisi at 7:13 AM on September 16, 2022 [3 favorites]

The IKEA vegan hotdog is one of my guilty pleasures. It's cheap and it's good.

You're really extremely catholic if a vegan hotdog is a guilty pleasure.
posted by srboisvert at 12:03 PM on September 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

The S.F. Bay Area also weathered a hot dog controversy: two sides of an Armenian-American family both started hot dog restaurants here in the mid-20th century. Casper's (history) versus Kasper's (history).

Casper's supplier also sells their dogs in local markets, with wonderful package art. No vegan dogs yet; the closest option is a chicken dog.
posted by JDC8 at 12:25 PM on September 16, 2022 [4 favorites]

bifurcated: "The IKEA vegan hotdog is one of my guilty pleasures."

I don't understand - guilty???
posted by davidmsc at 1:04 PM on September 16, 2022

OMG Vesihiisi, I totally missed that story because I don't usually read the tabloids. Great update, thanks so much!
posted by Bella Donna at 1:53 PM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

A friend of mine has a vegetarian sausage roll recipe (effectively sausage meat in a pastry wrapping) that is, from memory, finely ground walnuts and cream cheese, with herbs and spices. It it the best sausage roll I have ever had, especially given it's such a low bar

No offense to anybody, but walnuts and cream cheese kind of make me wince. However, youtube channel Glen And Friends Cooking does an Old Cookbook Show once a week that, last year, had a wartime (vegetarian) 1943 Mock Sausage Patties using lentils and Grape Nuts that sounded pretty promising.
posted by 2N2222 at 3:56 PM on September 16, 2022 [2 favorites]

You're really extremely catholic if a vegan hotdog is a guilty pleasure.

Or Discordian.
posted by mbrubeck at 3:56 PM on September 16, 2022 [3 favorites]

I don't think Discordianism has any prescriptions on the hotdogs themselves, as opposed to the buns.
posted by acb at 4:00 PM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't think Discordianism has any prescriptions

Hey, if you can buy the drugs legally, go for it.
posted by zamboni at 4:08 PM on September 16, 2022 [1 favorite]

I don't think Discordianism has any prescriptions

Hey, if you can buy the drugs legally, go for it.

I remember when I was playing Messala in Julius Caesar, one of my problem lines was, "Cicero is dead, and by that order of proscription." One of the problems was, I had to make sure it didn't sound like "prescription" without making it sound like I was deliberately trying not to make it sound like "prescription."

(My other problem line was in the same scene: "Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor." That one was just hard to get out without sounding like Daffy Duck.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:53 PM on September 16, 2022 [4 favorites]

In this thread I learned:

IKEA sells hot dogs (never been in one).
Discordianism wants me to eschew by beloved, squishy, buns.

Glad that didn't lead to condiments discussion...

(Coming off a two month hot dog binge. Wish I had gotten some at the store earlier)
((Hebrew Nationals with some cheap-ass Franz buns. Catsup, lol, mustard, Jalepenos and mmmm))

(((And I would totally try those Korean hot dogs I saw somewhere in the MefiVerse)))

I want a hot dog.
posted by Windopaene at 6:23 PM on September 16, 2022 [3 favorites]

The IKEA vegan hotdog is one of my guilty pleasures. It's cheap and it's good.

I laughed at the guilty pleasure too. I live within 3 miles of the Emeryville IKEA and bike there occasionally solely for a couple cheap vegan hot dogs. It's a good $2 lunch, and cheaper than it would cost me to make myself. I haven't bought anything from IKEA in years.

The vegan hot dogs at my IKEA come with purple sauerkraut and mustard.
posted by mrgrimm at 12:11 AM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

with purple sauerkraut and mustard.
Now that is worth biking for!
posted by mumimor at 5:40 AM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

Do other countries have both the plant and veggie balls as separate items? I’m team plant balls all the way. The veggie balls are bland as hell.
posted by mosst at 7:11 AM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

Are... are plants and veggies not the same thing?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:02 AM on September 18, 2022

The plant balls are vegetables pretending to be meat, the veggie balls have no such pretensions.
posted by zamboni at 1:06 PM on September 18, 2022 [2 favorites]

Also, at least in the US, the plant balls are served with the traditional gravy/lingonberry/potato combo, while the vegetable balls are served with a tomato-based sauce.
posted by mosst at 6:24 AM on September 20, 2022 [1 favorite]