What’s more Chicago than hot dogs?

According to S.Rosen, the largest manufacturer of poppy seed buns in the U.S., Chicagoans consume 840,978 poppy seed hot dog buns a week. That’s the equivalent to the length of 243 Willis Towers. That comes out to about 150,000 hot dog buns per day at an estimated 500,000 pounds of hot dog buns each week and about 6.5 million pounds of buns over the summer.

That’s a lot of hot dogs!

Ed Munoz has been counting poppy seeds for the S.Rosen’s family for 40 years. In his tenure, Munoz has counted over 3 billion poppy seeds. To give you an idea, that’s roughly the equivalent of the weight of 94 buses.

We first met Munoz way back in the early 1980s as WGN featured him counting buns as the Chief Poppyseed Placer, today was a full-circle moment, as we found Munez back at this desk counting away, keeping quality control at the forefront.

How many poppy seeds are on one bun?

“It’s an average of about 800 poppy seeds per bun, they usually have between 750 to 850, so that’s a good average,” he said.

To commemorate Munoz’s accomplishment, S.Rosen’s is honoring him with a Ph.D. (Poppy seed honorary Doctorate) and bestowing him with a special Golden Tweezer for this dedication and accuracy throughout the years.

“It’s been my privilege and my pleasure to work for this company for 40 years. This is what it’s all about, family, friends, and hot dogs,” Munoz said. “I’m the original big poppy.”

To find a learn more about the S.Rosen’s company, click here.

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