J. Kwinter Hot Dogs Returns This Summer
The legendary Toronto hot dog brand is making a comeback after shuttering in 2015. The original recipe is back.
Nearly a decade after closing, J. Kwinter Gourmet Foods is reopening this summer with the same recipe and quality that made it a Toronto institution.
The family-run hot dog empire started in 1978 when Jack Kwinter opened a North York production factory. He'd spent years apprenticing with European sausage makers before launching his company in Toronto. By the 1990s, J. Kwinter dogs had become the official frank at the Rogers Centre and expanded nationwide—the only independent brand to co-brand with President's Choice.
When Jack died in 1990, his wife Simie, daughter Bren, and son Lawrence kept the business running for another 25 years before closing in 2015. But the brand didn't disappear entirely. A separate company launched Kwinter's Hot Dogs in summer 2025, which confused loyal customers who noticed the taste was different.
That confusion sparked the comeback. Bren Kwinter, her son Dylan, and Dylan's wife Hilary Notkin decided to bring back the original. They reconnected with a sausage maker who worked in Jack's factory and spent years recreating the product exactly as it was made—same recipe, same quality, same smokehouses. "We set out to recreate the identical product exactly as Jack made it," Notkin told blogTO. The relaunch cements what longtime fans already knew: the original matters.