From Iceland — Sausage Inflation At Famed Hot Dog Stand

Sausage Inflation At Famed Hot Dog Stand

Published November 25, 2020

Photo by
Art Bicnick

The sausages sold at the Bæjarins Beztu hotdog stand have gone up in price, Vísir reported this morning. They have increased by 30 ISK, from 470 to 500.

Guðrún Kristmundsdóttir, owner and managing director, said that the increase in price was due to rising input costs but primarily due to increasing wage costs. “Wage costs are well over 40% of income,” she explained.

The hotdogs cost 400 ISK in 2015, and were raised to 450 ISK in 2017. Hopefully we can all reach around in our pockets for spare change to afford 500.

The Bæjarins Beztu hotdog stand has been the subject of other dramas over the years. Three years ago, the eighty-year-old stand was moved for the first time since 1937. However, it was returned to its original location the following year.

The Bæjarins Beztu stand is essential to Reykjavík’s culture, predating Hallgrímskirkja by eight years. The stand was even historically blessed by Kim Kardashian in 2016, when she allegedly ordered a hotdog with ketchup only.

We’re not sure what the prices were in the 1930s, but we’d hazard a guess that they were a fair bit less than 500 ISK. We’ll brace ourselves for further changes over the next century or so. Such is life.

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