Latest news with #DodgerDog
Los Angeles Times
08-05-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Archer to open meat snacks factory in Vernon, employing more than 200
The Vernon plant where Farmer John hot dogs were once made will soon be cranking out millions of pounds of meat sticks for a fast-growing Southern California snack food company. It will be the second manufacturing facility for Archer, which needs to expand beyond its plant in San Bernardino, Chief Executive Eugene Kang said. Part of the Vernon plant that Farmer John left behind in 2023 is being completely refurbished by Archer and will employ more than 200 people when it opens in September. The Vernon plant addition will cost about $30 million. Archer is taking over what was Farmer John's processing plant, Kang said, where Farmer John cooked ham, sausage and hot dogs. Farmer John supplied the meat for famous Dodger Dogs at Dodger Stadium for decades, but couldn't reach a new contract agreement with the Dodgers, and Farmer John stopped being the stadium's main hot dog provider in 2021. 'I don't know exactly what happened between them and the Dodgers,' he said, but 'we're now the official meat snack of the Dodgers.' The Dodgers recently signed a multiyear contract with Archer, MLB announced last month. Archer's jerky and meat sticks are sold at stadium concession stands, a satisfying development for Southern California native Kang. 'As a kid growing up, the Dodger Dog was ingrained in my childhood and my life,' he said. He also developed a taste for jerky while stocking shelves at his family's convenience stores scattered across Southern California's deserts. As a young man on a road trip with a friend to the Grand Canyon, he fell in love with jerky he sampled from a roadside stand. Kang tracked down the small jerky manufacturer near San Bernardino and set out to meet the producer, an 80-year-old man named Celestino 'Charlie' Mirarchi who was near retirement. Kang and his aunt bought Mirarchi's business in 2011 and used Mirarchi's recipe to build his own jerky empire. Archer achieved a breakthrough in 2014 through a partnership with Huy Fong Sriracha to create a sriracha flavored jerky. The new flavor caught the attention of some big retailers including Kroger and Sprouts, and helped Archer expand its reach, Kang said. Among the 30,000 stores selling Archer products today are Costco, Whole Foods Market, Walmart, Target, Albertsons and 7-Eleven. Kang said the company, which employs nearly 200, had a 90% increase in sales last year, mostly fueled by meat sticks, and will take in nearly $500 million in revenue in the next 18 months. The new Vernon plant, which will cost about $30 million, will focus on beef and turkey meat sticks, eventually operating three shifts a day producing 36 million pounds of meat sticks per year, Kang said. Most of Archer's grass-fed beef supply comes from Australia and New Zealand, the company said. Archer competes in the premium clean-ingredient, protein-rich and convenient snacks food category.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The Dodgers sell hot dogs for $7.99. The Diamondbacks sell them for $2.99. Why?
The Dodgers sell hot dogs for $7.99. The Diamondbacks sell them for $2.99. Why? Fans wait in line to purchase food and beverages before a game at Dodger Stadium earlier this month. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) In the seventh inning, fans rise and sing about buying peanuts and Cracker Jack at the ballgame. But what if the concession prices have risen so much that fans have to think twice about buying? At Dodger Stadium, a Dodger Dog costs $7.99. Advertisement As ticket prices have soared, a small but growing number of teams in all sports are offering a limited menu of basic concession items at fan-friendly prices. At Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a hot dog costs $2.99. Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall said team executives discussed whether discounting a handful of concession items would cost the team some revenue. It turns out, he said, they make more money that way. 'People feel like they're getting a bargain,' Hall said, 'and they buy more.' Read more: Bobby Miller struggles, but Dodgers complete sweep of Rockies The Chase Field $2.99 menu includes hot dogs, sodas, peanuts and popcorn. The Baltimore Orioles offer seven food items at $4 or less, including hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, pretzel bites and desserts. Nine other teams have value menus or $1 hot dogs for selected games, based on the fan value page on the league website. Advertisement At the Delta Center, home of the NBA's Utah Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club, the $3 menu includes hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and ice cream. The Atlanta Falcons, the NFL team credited with starting the trend, offer hot dogs, sodas, popcorn and pretzels at $2 each, with $3 items including sweet tea, peach shakes, nachos and vegan dogs. The Dodgers have studied whether to introduce a value menu at Dodger Stadium, team president Stan Kasten said. 'We will increase the number of transactions if we have lower prices,' he said. 'They say they make more money that way.' That would be great, Kasten said, except for what he said was an insurmountable obstacle. Advertisement 'I hate to say this,' he said. 'It's a terrible thing to say. I wish it wasn't true. 'We can't physically handle more transactions.' The fan experience would be worsened that way, Kasten said. The notoriously long Dodger Stadium concessions lines would get even longer, and the notoriously crowded concourses would get even more crowded. Dodger Stadium is built into the side of a hill, which cramps space for existing concession stands and kitchens and complicates any plans to widen the concourses. In 2013, the Dodgers needed to remove seats in order to expand concourses. The Dodgers allow fans to bring in their own food and drink, provided the food is in a small clear bag and the drink is in a factory-sealed bottle, no larger than one liter, and non-alcoholic. Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
18-04-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
The Dodgers sell hot dogs for $7.99. The Diamondbacks sell them for $2.99. Why?
In the seventh inning, fans rise and sing about buying peanuts and Cracker Jack at the ballgame. But what if the concession prices have risen so much that fans have to think twice about buying? At Dodger Stadium, a Dodger Dog costs $7.99. As ticket prices have soared, a small but growing number of teams in all sports are offering a limited menu of basic concession items at fan-friendly prices. At Chase Field, the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a hot dog costs $2.99. Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall said team executives discussed whether discounting a handful of concession items would cost the team some revenue. It turns out, he said, they make more money that way. 'People feel like they're getting a bargain,' Hall said, 'and they buy more.' The Chase Field $2.99 menu includes hot dogs, sodas, peanuts and popcorn. The Baltimore Orioles offer seven food items at $4 or less, including hot dogs, nachos, popcorn, pretzel bites and desserts. Nine other teams have value menus or $1 hot dogs for selected games, based on the fan value page on the league website. At the Delta Center, home of the NBA's Utah Jazz and the Utah Hockey Club, the $3 menu includes hot dogs, nachos, popcorn and ice cream. The Atlanta Falcons, the NFL team credited with starting the trend, offer hot dogs, sodas, popcorn and pretzels at $2 each, with $3 items including sweet tea, peach shakes, nachos and vegan dogs. The Dodgers have studied whether to introduce a value menu at Dodger Stadium, team president Stan Kasten said. 'We will increase the number of transactions if we have lower prices,' he said. 'They say they make more money that way.' That would be great, Kasten said, except for what he said was an insurmountable obstacle. 'I hate to say this,' he said. 'It's a terrible thing to say. I wish it wasn't true. 'We can't physically handle more transactions.' The fan experience would be worsened that way, Kasten said. The notoriously long Dodger Stadium concessions lines would get even longer, and the notoriously crowded concourses would get even more crowded. Dodger Stadium is built into the side of a hill, which cramps space for existing concession stands and kitchens and complicates any plans to widen the concourses. In 2013, the Dodgers needed to remove seats in order to expand concourses. The Dodgers allow fans to bring in their own food and drink, provided the food is in a small clear bag and the drink is in a factory-sealed bottle, no larger than one liter, and non-alcoholic.
Los Angeles Times
30-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Knock at-home hot dogs out of the park this baseball season
This weekend, consider the Dodger Dog. On Thursday, our baseball boys in blue returned to Chavez Ravine for the 2025 MLB season. But the game also marked the return of one of the world's most legendary stadium eats: the Dodger Dog, an icon since 1962, which features a 10-inch pork hot dog that's either grilled or steamed. Whatever your preference, it's always a nostalgia trip. Its recipe, of course, has changed over the years. For most of its life, the dog itself was made by Farmer John in Vernon, which called for more than 5,000 pounds of meat, spices and corn syrup in a single batch. In 2021 Papa Cantella's — also based in Vernon — took up the meaty mantle and remains the current maker. At the stadium, there are corn-dog variants, plant-based spins, bacon-wrapped iterations, kosher versions, chili-topped options, fried dogs, gluten-free alternatives and more. The glut of glizzies is never-ending because, contrary to L.A.'s reputation as a green-juice-guzzling collective of health fanatics, this is a hot dog city. According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council's latest published records, Los Angeles was the country's top consumer of hot dogs in 2023, eating more than 30 million pounds annually. That same organization found that Major League Baseball fans consumed 18.3 million hot dogs in 2019 — with Dodger fans eating 2.7 million of them. Whether the Dodger Dog is a great hot dog is a decades-old debate among Angelenos, but one thing is certain: This hot dog is undeniably a part of the city. 'I don't think anyone thinks it's a good hot dog and that's OK, you know?' said restaurateur Tommy Brockert, a lifelong Dodgers fan. 'But it's nostalgic, it's part of the experience. It doesn't have to be good, it just feels right.' Brockert owns La Sorted's, a popular Dodgers-themed pizzeria. After operating in Silver Lake since 2021, last fall he debuted a Chinatown tavern that's plastered with memorabilia near the stadium. He added hot dogs to the menu at this location in honor of the Dodger Dog and occasionally serves a Dodger Dog-inspired pizza, which tops a sauce base of yellow-mustard béchamel with mozzarella, provolone, sliced hot dogs, fried onions and cornichons. This season, he's also planning on offering a Japanese hot dog, plus a rotation of glizzy specials themed to whatever the visiting team's regional hot dog might be. (This weekend, La Sorted's ran Coney chili dogs in a nod to the Detroit Tigers.) A hot dog 'is a part of the baseball experience, you know?' Brockert said. 'I think that it kind of made sense, being the brand that we are.' The restaurant serves a Vienna all-beef frank, as opposed to Papa Cantella's, which is traditionally all pork. La Sorted's slides its dogs into potato buns, and splits the franks down the middle for extra char. Brockert's preferred toppings — called 'Tommy's Way' at the Chinatown pizzeria — are equal slicks of Dijonnaise and Philippe's hot mustard. Dodger Stadium proudly squirts Morehouse mustard and basic ketchup from its condiment dispensers, but at your own grill you can be the flavor MVP and mix it up like Brockert. Here are a few ways to spruce up hot dogs for home(-viewed) games. Eating out this week? Sign up for Tasting Notes to get our restaurant experts' insights and off-the-cuff takes on where they're dining right now. When feeding a crowd, it doesn't get more festive — or L.A.-appropriate — than re-creating one of the city's street-vendor icons: the roving hot dog cart, with its scent of bacon, hot dogs, jalapeños and onions thick in the air. Former L.A. Times Test Kitchen director Noelle Carter crafted her own makeshift version for home parties, and you can too. 'Bacon-wrapped hot dogs,' Carter wrote, 'They're the unofficial street food of Los Angeles. It's all but impossible to escape their seductive aroma after a sporting event, concert or night on the town.'Get the method. This recipe can be made by hand, mixer or bread machine, and leans on optional ingredients like malt powder and sesame seeds to customize the hot dog bun of your nostalgia. Here, cookbook author and recipe contributor Marcy Goldman shares her bun how-to (and a few memories of coaching her sons' baseball team) with the L.A. the time: 2½ hours. Makes about 10 buns. Australian chef Curtis Stone whips up his own 'tomato sauce,' or ketchup, for sausage rolls, but this condiment is versatile and delicious on just about anything that calls for a dip or spread (I've even used it atop meatloaf). Certainly there are Heinz purists, and if ever a cause called for the bottled stuff, it's a traditional hot dog, but if you're looking to take your dogs to new gastro heights, opt for Stone's take. It's got sweet, roasty notes from caramelizing onions with tomato paste and depth from chipotle, which all find balance thanks to the subtle bite of apple cider the time: 1 hour plus chilling time. Makes about 1½ cups. A simple yellow mustard does the trick for most dogs, but sausages — and any grilled meats, truly — are often bettered by the tang of a sharper mustard. Carter, our former Test Kitchen director, crafted a recipe for a mustard that uses hard cider, apple cider vinegar and fresh apples for a fruitier edge, but one that still packs a punch. If you're making this recipe, be sure to let the mustard sit a few days before use, as it takes time for the flavors to mellow and coalesce. 'Once you've perfected it, you'll want to make a larger batch to share,' Carter writes. 'Homemade mustard makes a great gift. And no one has to know how easy it was to make.'Get the time: 15 minutes plus chilling time. Makes about 1⅔ cups. Fluffy-battered and fried to a golden crisp, corn dogs are nearly as iconic as their more straightforward glizzy brethren. Get Goldman's recipe here, which calls for a few simple ingredients and comes together quickly. Just don't forget the wooden the time: 35 minutes. Makes 10 corn dogs.
