Hoffmann of the Month: July

As one of the biggest grilling days of the year rapidly approaches, I've selected a very fitting "Hoffmann of the Month" for July--the Hofmann Sausage Company!

As you can see on the above logo, Hofmann has been making and selling hot dogs from their Syracuse headquarters for over 130 years. I'm quite certain I saw some of their dogs in various bodegas while living in New York City, but for some reason they haven't been on my radar at all since I started giving out these monthly honors two years ago.

But then my sister Lori got my dad a Hofmann gift pack for Father's Day, and bought a bottle of their mustard for everyone in the family (thanks Lo!), and I knew I had found a perfect fit for this month's HOTM recipient. Check out this fantastic commercial:

For most of its history, Hofmann Sausage Co. has been content to limit the reach of "America's Greatest Hot Dog" to a single region of America. That all changed last year, when the family-owned company was acquired by a larger food conglomerate. Before long, Hofmann was using competitive eating legend Takeru Kobayashi as a brand ambassador, and a "Hofmann Hots" restaurant opened in Dallas earlier this year. (You can read a traditional review here, and a more tongue-in-cheek one here.)

But this expansion has not been without controversy. A few months ago the CEO stepped down amidst allegations that he created a fake job for his alleged mistress. (This likely explains why their homepage doesn't seem to have been updated since October 2012.)

Scandals aside, I can't wait to try some Hofmann Hot Dogs with my family this weekend. My family's connection to New York hot dogs doesn't quite go back to 1879, but back in 2009 I was in a hot dog eating contest. I chronicled it on my old blog:

1st training post
2nd training post
3rd training post
Final training post
Contest recap--with lots of pictures!

Ahh, memories. Congrats again to Hofmann Sausage Co. for being the very deserving "wiener" of July's "Hoffmann of the Month" honor!