IKEA Launches Plant-Based Hot Dog; Sells 1 Million in 2 Months

UPDATE: A few days ago, IKEA announced that it has sold one million vegan hot dogs, two months after launching the new menu item in Europe!

The video on Instagram was captioned with the following:

“We’re happy that you like the new veggie hot dog as much as we do! In the first two month IKEA stores in Europe sold around 1 million veggie hot dogs. From all of us at IKEA Food to all of you: 1 million times thank you for making planet positive choices!”

The veggie dog has since been launched in both the United States and Canada (you can check out our review here).

Earlier this year, Costco sold over one million vegan burgers in less than 60 days.

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May 11, 2021: IKEA‘s vegan hot dog is making its way to European stores this summer. While the U.S. was part of the “other countries [that] will follow in a second step” category, there is now an update.

In a recent feature in Press Herald, Peter Ho, sales leader for IKEA’s U.S. food division, stated:

“We do anticipate that the veggie dog will be offered in the U.S.”

Ho hopes to “begin serving the vegan hot dog in U.S. stores no later than early 2019,” once an American supplier is found. The hot dog will be served “topped with pickled red cabbage and crunchy fried onions.”

According to the article, Swedish customers have given the vegan hot dog a “95 percent favorable rating.”

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February 20, 2018: IKEA posted some exciting news for vegetarians and vegans on Instagram a few days ago. It announced that it would soon be launching a veggie hot dog in its European stores:

“Ready for some tasty news? IKEA Food is testing a Veggie hot dog in the IKEA Malmö store in Sweden! If you’re around, try it and tell us what you think of it.

The post added:

“Adding a Veggie hot dog to the IKEA Bistro range is part of our ambitions to include more plant-based ingredients in our food offer. The final version of the Veggie hot dog will be available at IKEA stores in Europe from August 2018.”

Michael La Cour, Managing Director at IKEA Food, stated:

“There is no point in creating a more sustainable option for our customers if it isn’t tasty. With the new veggie hot dog, we can inspire and enable customers to choose a plant-based, more sustainable option at an affordable price.”

While the hot dog is not advertised as vegan but rather veggie or plant-based, the Swedish retailer responded to an inquiry regarding the ingredients as follows:

“The Veggie hot dog recipe does not contain animal ingredients as such. But for this prototype and test production we cannot yet secure that all additives are 100% vegan. It’s work in progress!”

When asked if the veggie dog would be making its way over to the U.S., the retailer confirmed that while it would be introduced in European stores first, “other countries will follow in a second step.”

Lena Tashjian

Lena Tashjian manages content and social media for Clearly Veg. She focuses on vegan news, companies, guides, interviews, product reviews and more. You can contact her at [email protected]