NYC hotdog prices and bodegas hit by inflation

August 2024 · 4 minute read

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Inflation is the wurst.

Street vendors are jacking up the price of classic New York City hot dogs as simple bodega staples skyrocket throughout the boroughs amid inflation, even as illicit “loosie” cigarettes remain relatively affordable, The Post has learned.

The cost of grab-on-the-go essentials like pretzels, bacon egg and cheese sandwiches, cans of soda and coffee were through the roof in the Big Apple this week — where the famous $1 pizza slice isn’t inflation’s only culinary casualty

Fathy Ebouelmagd, 29, runs a hotdog stand in Midtown and said he was forced to hike the price of a regular frank from $2 to $3 early last year.

“The customers don’t like it, they say it’s expensive, but everything is costing me more,” said Ebouelmagd, who operates Best Hotdogs in New York on West 49th Street and Sixth Avenue.

He said office workers once lined up for his beloved dirty water dogs — but now the crowds simply don’t cut the mustard.

“I used to have a line at 10 a.m., but there’s no regular customers now, it’s just tourists,” he said, adding less product turnover made the price bump necessary.

Hot dog vendors and bodega owners are jacking up the prices of NYC staples. UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The rising costs around NYC’s bodegas and stands. Getty Images

He now sells pretzels for $5, instead of $3. He charges $1.75 for coffee, up from $1.25 last year.

The Akeel Deli in Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood was forced to hike the price of deli sandwiches from $7 to $8 two weeks ago — enraging some shoppers, said manager Ali Muhammed, 50.

One customer got so mad about forking over the extra buck, she chucked a honey glazed turkey sandwich at Muhammed’s face, he recounted.

“They say everything costs too much and so they just grab it and won’t pay for it. It’s all because of inflation. I always have problems when prices go up,” he said.

Some bodegas increased the price of a classic deli sandwich by $1. Paul Martinka
Bodega clerks say the prices of everything from breakfast sandwiches to toilet paper have gone up. Paul Martinka

He said inflation took a cost-crunching bite out of ingredients in the turkey, roast beef, pastrami and chopped cheese sandwiches at the shop.

“Prices are fluctuating wildly,” he said. “Lettuce went up from $20 a case to $110 a case.”

In Harlem, the Deli Grocery on West 136th Street and Amsterdam Avenue raised the price of a BEC from $4.75 to $5 six weeks ago due to the soaring cost of eggs, said bodega manager Abdul Ali, 50.

“The price of everything is going up like crazy,” Ali said. “At the beginning of the year a case of eggs was $27. It’s gone up to $158 now,” he said.

The store also increased a can of soda from $1.75 to $2 six weeks ago, he said.

Other shops hiked the prices of everything from milk to chips and toilet paper.

Pizza at NYC’s 2 Bros, now costs $1.50 for a plain slice. Matthew McDermott
Stand owners used to have much longer lines before inflation hit. Corbis via Getty Images

The price of Lays of potato chips were bumped from $.75 to $1.25 at the The Good Morning Deli in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, said said store manager Ajeeb Aj, 45, of Astoria.

“We had to raise the price of 90% of our products,” Aj siad. “All our costs have gone up. It’s crazy. It’s incredible.”

But one bodega staple that apparently hasn’t fallen victim to inflation is loose cigarettes — likely because they’re usually bought out of state and sold under the table.

At at the Ward Food Market in Brownsville, three Newports went for $2 a piece — or $.66 each — down from $.75 in 2011.

A smoke shop aptly named “Tobacco Shop” on Sterling and Park places in Crown Heights was also selling three loosies for just $2.

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