Nathan’s Famous, the brand behind the annual July Fourth hot dog-eating contest, is now a part of the Chinese-owned meat company Smithfield Foods.
Smithfield, which announced the $450 million all-cash acquisition Wednesday, now has jurisdiction over the contest and the Nathan’s portfolio of packaged products, and company-owned and franchised restaurants. It has been a subsidiary of China’s WH Group since 2013.
Smithfield told The Associated Press that the contest, broadcast each year on ESPN in front of a crowd of about 30,000, will continue.
The contest is held in front of the flagship Nathan’s restaurant on Coney Island, which was erected at the site of the hot dog stand first opened by the brand’s eponymous founder Nathan Handwerker in 1916.
The first recorded Nathan’s hot dog-eating contest occurred in 1972, though the brand says that informal eating contests began in 1916, and that the 2025 contest was the 103rd since then, according to the AP.
The contest’s online hall of fame goes back to 2002, and features the victories of rivals Takeru Kobayashi and the 2025 champion Joey Chestnut, who has won it 17 separate times, and who holds the all-time contest record at 76 hot dogs consumed in 2021.
Smithfield has held the rights to sell Nathan’s packaged food products throughout the U.S., Canada and at Sam’s Clubs in Mexico since 2014. The Smithfield license for the Nathan’s brand was set to expire in 2032, but will now last in perpetuity.
Prior to the sale, Nathan’s was dealing with heightened costs due to a declining supply of cattle and inflationary pressures.
In its second quarter Securities and Exchange Commission filing for fiscal year 2026, Nathan’s said its cost of sales was 24% higher year-over-year, including a 20% increase in the average price per pound of its hot dogs.
To partially offset these costs, Nathan’s said its products sold through its food service branded product program had a price that was 11% higher year-over-year, while the branded products sold by Smithfield saw a net year-over-year price increase of 19%.
