History & Press

The Great Hot Dog Cookoff started as a modest, friendly, cooking competition for Kara Masi and her friends 5 years ago. 50 people hanging out around the grill in year one grew to 100 the next year, and 175 the next. After three years of running the hot dog cookoffs out of Kara Masi‘s backyard, we upgraded to the headquarters of lead sponsor, Kelso Brewery, in Clinton Hill in 2009 and brought on co-organizers Jennie Gustafson and Melissa Sands. We were back at Kelso in 2010 where we had 350 hungry guests, 20 teams of fierce amateur chefs, and great line-up of generous sponsors and volunteers. This culinary competition and fundraiser has raised over $13,000 to date for local charities including City Harvest, BARC Animal Shelter and the Food Bank For New York City.

This year, we’re expanding to 24 teams of chefs and 600 guests. We’ll be back at Kelso again this year, raising money for the Food Bank For New York City.

Reviews, Musings, Photos and Video from previous Hot Dog Cookoffs