What you need to know

Although a commonly purchased food, the hot dogs and sausages category struggled in 2017, declining by 5% since 2015 to reach $8.6 billion in sales. Consumers perceive products in the category to be too processed and unhealthy. Looking forward, the category is expected to rebound, with sales growth of 8% from 2017-22 driven by innovation in the dinner and breakfast sausage segments. Brands can try to combat negative health perceptions with product reformulation and free-from claims. However, players in the category may do better to communicate product convenience, versatility, taste, and affordability, all strong suits for hot dogs and sausages according to category participants.

Definition

This Report builds on the analysis presented in Mintel’s Hot Dogs and Sausages – US, April 2013 and Hot Dogs and Sausages – US, September 2014. For the purposes of this Report, Mintel has used the following definitions:

  • Hot dogs: Any packaged, refrigerated, or frozen hot dog or frankfurter (eg Oscar Mayer all-beef hot dogs).

  • Dinner sausage: Any packaged, refrigerated sausage primarily marketed as an option for lunch, dinner, or a snack (eg Johnsonville sweet Italian sausage, Hillshire Farm smoked Bratwurst)

  • Breakfast sausage: Any packaged, refrigerated, or frozen sausage primarily marketed as an option for breakfast or a morning snack (eg Jimmy Dean maple pork sausage links, Johnsonville original breakfast patties)

Hot dogs and sausages include all meat types (beef, pork, poultry) and forms (links, patties, ground/crumbled).

Excluded from the market size of this Report are vegetarian/meat alternative hot dogs/sausages, hot dogs/sausages sold through the service deli or grocery meat/butcher counter, and prepared items that include hot dogs or sausages as a component, such as frozen corn dogs or breakfast sandwiches.

Back to top