Pronto Pup is an amusement park and carnival food similar to a corn dog made with flour mix, which is used by restaurants and

street vendors A hawker is a vendor of merchandise that can be easily transported; the term is roughly synonymous with costermonger or peddler. In most places where the term is used, a hawker sells inexpensive goods, handicrafts, or food items. Whether statio ...

across the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Named for the speed of the cooking process, the Pronto Pup was invented in Rockaway Beach, Oregon and is marketed as the original corn dog. Pronto Pup batter is made with pancake batter, whereas non-descript corn dogs use variations of cornbread batter. While both include cornmeal, the difference is in the sweetness: corn dogs have it; Pronto Pups don’t. Today, the Pronto Pup brand reflects both the specific type of batter used for the first corn dogs and the shared brand name of restaurants who use the batter manufactured by The Pronto Pup Company based in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

. Outside of

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

, where they were invented, Pronto Pups are a common food found in county fairs throughout

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

, and

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

. Some differ from the original by using a

bratwurst Bratwurst () is a type of German sausage made from pork or, less commonly, beef or veal. The name is derived from the Old High German ''Brätwurst'', from ''brät-'', finely chopped meat, and ''Wurst'', sausage, although in modern German it is o ...

instead of a hot dog as the sausage.

Inventing the Pronto Pup

The Pronto Pup was invented in Rockaway Beach, Oregon by husband-and-wife team George and Versa Boyington in the late 1930s. The Boyingtons ran a small hot dog stand on the beach, selling them to tourists and locals. While vending concessions in Rockaway Beach, Oregon, George Boyington hit a breaking point over Labor Day weekend in 1939 when the rain came and ruined his stock of hot dog buns. While feeding the scraps of his ruined buns to the

seagulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, ...

, he began thinking of ways he could cook buns on the spot, as they were needed. From there, George Boyington developed the Pronto Pup, a

deep-fried Deep frying (also referred to as deep fat frying) is a cooking method in which food is submerged in hot fat, traditionally lard but today most commonly oil, as opposed to the shallow oil used in conventional frying done in a frying pan. Norma ...

solution that was portable for vendors and pleasing to taste. He named it the “Pronto Pup” for the speed of the cooking process. The Pronto Pup made its big commercial debut from a fountain shop window owned by the Boyingtons in

. Right from the start, the tasty treat was a crowd favorite: in September 1941, over 15,000 Pronto Pups were consumed at the Pacific International Livestock Exposition. While a few other places across the country claim to be the birthplace of the corn dog, no known claims predate the Boyingtons’ Rockaway Beach Pronto Pup invention.

Expansion

The Boyingtons trademarked the Pronto Pup name in 1942, and began selling franchises of the carnival treat. Their company, later called The Pronto Pup Company headquartered in

, would ship the franchisees the proprietary flour mix, but the rest was up to the business owners. There was only one rule: Pronto Pups could only be served plain or with mustard, but no ketchup. However, this rule was relaxed several decades later. Following World War II, servicemen who had sampled and helped build the immense popularity of Pronto Pups while stationed throughout the Western states, realized the possibilities in Pronto Pup shops for their own post-war business. Franchises sprung up from coast to coast and Pronto Pups become a national sensation. Very few of these original Pronto Pup franchise restaurants exist today, but Pronto Pups can still be found at many carnivals and county fairs courtesy of franchise street vendors.

Pronto Pup Franchises

Those who wish to visit the “home of the corn dog” can visit the Original Pronto Pup location in Rockaway Beach, OR. Founded in 1941 and as one of the few brick-and-mortar Pronto Pup franchises, they celebrate their history by also being home to the World's Largest Corn Dog and the World's Only Mechanical Riding Corn Dog at The Original Pronto Pup location off Highway 101. One of the largest in the Mid-West is the franchised Pronto Pup booth at the annual

Minnesota State Fair The Minnesota State Fair is the state fair of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Also known by its slogan, "The Great Minnesota Get-Together", it is the largest state fair in the United States by average daily attendance and the second-largest state f ...

owned by the Karnis family. "Pronto Pups make up roughly 55% of hot dogs sold each year at the fair."

References

Brand name hot dogs Food and drink companies established in 1941 1941 establishments in Oregon Companies based in Portland, Oregon Food and drink companies established in 1962 Privately held companies based in Oregon 1962 establishments in Oregon {{food-product-stub