How to Win a Hot Dog Eating Contest (with Logistics)

image description: a hot dog on a bun in front of three condiment bottles

Disclaimer: We’ve never won a hot dog eating contest. Or attended one. Most of us had never even watched the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest until this year. You can imagine how fascinated some family members were when somebody happened to turn on ESPN this July 4th. 

“They’re like pelicans,” one person whispered in horrified awe. “Where…what…How does this work?” 

“It’s like watching a train wreck,” muttered another family member. 

So if you really wanted to win a hot dog eating contest, a family-run logistics service probably isn’t the best source of advice. For that, you’ll have to find a…coach? A trainer? Are there people who provide that service? Probably. That said, there are lots of logistics concerns involved in this sort of thing. Here are just some of the things we noticed. 

Training and Preparation 

image description: person preparing to lift a barbell with weights attached

There’s nothing like watching a person eat more than 50 hot dogs to remind you of the capacity of the human spirit. Humans are fascinating, right? If we put our minds to something, we’ll make it happen. 

The key is training and preparation. If you’re a shipper or carrier, you already know this. If you’re going to be a top dog in the industry (sorry), you always have to plan. For you, this means finding the right logistics broker. For a hot dog eating contest winner, it means training. “They fast and drink water to stretch their stomachs,” explained a cousin. 

And now we know. 

Know Your Loading Capacity 

image description: a brown box labeled “storage”

“Okay, I get the water thing,” said one family member. “But like, there are other internal organs in there. Are they just supposed to move out of the way? This should still be impossible, right?” 

See, that’s the other key to hot dog eating contests: loading capacity. We actually know all about this one. We’ve mentioned that our founder used to drive trucks, and his trucking company is still in the Pearce family. 

Contest winners know their own loading capacity when it comes to hot dogs. Those who don’t win probably overestimate the amount of food they can handle. In trucking, this can mean deadhead miles and other difficulties. In competitive eating, it means losing a competition on live TV. 

Either way, know your loading capacity. It makes a difference. 

Commit to a Strategy 

image description: a black and white chess board with chess pieces

Competitive eating, like logistics, is all about strategy. Obviously, that strategy is going to look different, depending on whether you’re loading hotdogs into yourself or into a refrigerated trailer. With logistics, you have to strategize for things like snowy weather. With competitive eating, you have to strategize for…eating. It’s probably more complex than that. 

In any case, it turns out that there are plenty of strategies for winning a hot dog eating contest. We know this now, partly because the Wikipedia page for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest has an entire section devoted to them. 

“See, they’re using a strategy called “chipmunk-ing,” explained a cousin who knew more about competitive eating than we realized. You learn something new about your family members every day, we guess. Other strategies include “dunking,” “the Solomon method,” and the “Carlene pop.” Just don’t try Juliet-ing. Apparently, that one is cheating. 

Stay Loyal, Stay Hungry 

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Of course, you can’t win a hot dog contest at all if you’re not in the game. Yes, we’re talking about Joey Chestnut. The man who had it all. The man who once ate 76 hot dogs. The man who got kicked out of the 2024 competition for taking a sponsorship deal with a rival food company. 

See, that’s the thing about hot dogs and logistics: you’ve got to stay loyal. Take us, for example. Whether we’re talking about our shippers, carriers, or the agents in our agent program, we always commit to excellent service. We may never enter a hot dog eating contest, but we stay prepared, we strategize, and we put our clients first. If you want to learn more — about logistics, not hot dogs — get in touch with us today.