![\"Nathan's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/nathans3gaby.webp.jpeg\")
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Nathan\u2019s Famous, the iconic Coney Island landmark company, has been sold to Smithfield Foods for $450M.<\/p>\n
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n
Nathan\u2019s Famous<\/a>, the Coney Island institution known for its hot dogs, has been sold to meat packaging company Smithfield Foods for $450 million, the company announced Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n Smithfield\u2019s had an existing, exclusive license to manufacture and sell the company\u2019s products in the U.S., Canada, and select stores in Mexico. That deal began in 2014 and was set to expire in 2032, but will continue \u201cinto perpetuity.\u201d<\/p>\n The acquisition, announced in a Smithfield\u2019s statement, \u201cwill secure Smithfield\u2019s rights to this iconic brand into perpetuity and enable it to maximize the Nathan\u2019s Famous brand growth across the retail and foodservice channels.\u201d<\/p>\n Smithfield President and CEO Shane Smith said that the deal was a \u201cmeaningful step\u201d in the company\u2019s evolution.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSince entering into our licensing agreement in 2014, we have made significant investments to build and grow the Nathan\u2019s Famous brand,\u201d Smith said in a statement. \u201cWith our manufacturing scale, marketing strength, product innovation capabilities, and retail and foodservice channel expertise, acquiring Nathan\u2019s Famous will allow us to take the brand to new heights.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Gratoff, CEO of Nathan\u2019s Famous, called the acquisition a \u201cnatural step.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt provides a compelling valuation for stockholders,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a long-time partner, Smithfield has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to investing in and growing our brand while maintaining the utmost quality and customer service standards.\u201d<\/p>\n Smithfield\u2019s added that the acquisition will help expand Nathan\u2019s portfolio, build customer awareness and bolster the company\u2019s existing meat\/pork presence. By 2028, the transaction is expected to achieve nine million dollars.\u00a0<\/p>\n Nathan\u2019s Famous was founded<\/a> in 1916 by Nathan Handwerker, where the iconic bites were sold for a nickel thanks to a $300 loan and his wife\u2019s secret recipe. Over a century later, they continue to be a landmark of the city and home to the July 4 hot-dog-eating competition. Last year, defending champion Joey Chestnut<\/a> finished 70.5 hot dogs and buns. Both companies said they would keep the annual contest intact<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nathan\u2019s Famous, the iconic Coney Island landmark company, has been sold to Smithfield Foods for $450M. Photo by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,6766,99,49011,119,49012,49013,49014,49015,9,24,63,38096,49016,49017],"class_list":["post-108890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-history","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-business-acquisitions","tag-coney-island","tag-hot-dogs","tag-iconic-brands","tag-july-4-hot-dog-eating-contest","tag-nathans-famous","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-food-news","tag-restaurant-industry","tag-smithfield-foods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Nathan's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/nathans1.webp.jpeg\")
The company is known for its hot dogs, Coney Island presence and July 4 hot-dog-eating contest.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n![\"Joey](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/nathans2lloyd.webp.jpeg\")
Joey Chestnut, the defending hot-dog-eating champion, ate over 70 dogs in the 2025 iteration.File photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n