You want to know the answer, really? It’s because hotdogs are NOT sold in multiples of 10. Hotdogs, like all other meat, are sold by the pound. It just so happens that 10 “standard size” hotdogs equal a pound.
Look at a package of bun length hotdogs.. There are eight in a package, but the important thing to note is that the package is still exactly 1 pound.
Baked goods are a different story. Traditionally, they’re not sold by weight, but by quantity, usually buy the dozen. Sometimes by the half-dozen.
In the case of hotdog and hamburger buns, they’re sold in multiples of 4.
It also may have a lot to do with the packaging. Oblong packages are generally avoided. If hotdog buns came 10 to a pack, they’d have to stack 2 slabs of 5 buns which would make for an awkward, flimsy package of hotdog buns.
2 slabs of 4 hotdog buns makes a sturdy, squarish package of buns.
3 slabs of 4 hotdog buns would also make a nice square package.
Hamburger buns may also have had something to do with it. You may notice Hamburger buns are sold in qty’s of 8, two 2×2 slabs of buns. A nice square package. A 10 pack of hamburger buns wouldn’t work very well at all.
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