Is Snoop Dogg Getting Into the Hot Dog Biz?
Sure looks like he might be.
Stephen J. Cohen/Getty
Is Snoop Dogg getting into the hot dog biz? Nothing is for sure yet, but it looks like he’s laying the groundwork.
In a December legal filing shared by Billboard, the hip-hop star apparently applied with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, under his given name Calvin Broadus, to federally trademark the phrase “Snoop Doggs.”
According to the application, filed under the guidance of attorney Lawrence E. Apolzon of the prominent trademark and copyright law firm Fross Zelnick Lehrman & Zissu PC, Snoop wants to use the term in “standard characters, without any claim to any particular font style, size, or color” for “food including hot dogs, hot dog sausages, sausages, turkey sausages, vegetarian sausages … for consumption on or off the premises.”
Retail product? Restaurant? It’s hard to know exactly what the entrepreneurial rapper has in mind.
Snoop has strolled into other non-music-related consumer ventures before, including a line of liquors called Indoggo Gin. (In 2018, the man behind the hit “Gin and Juice” also presided over a massive real-life gin-and-juice cocktail that set a Guinness World Record as the “world’s largest paradise cocktail,” so when Snoop throws his weight behind a consumer concept, history indicates that he definitely goes all in.)
And like a lot of celebs, Snoop’s in the wine business, too. So, given the star’s broad entrepreneurial interests and his nickname, a hot dog brand might seem natural.
On the flipside, though, Snoop has declared himself to be pretty seriously turned off by the hot-dog production process. In a memorable 2016 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the rap star was shown a video of hot dogs being made, and when he figured out what he was watching, he declared, “This is a hot dog?! … I ain’t never eating another … hot dog! …If that’s how they make hot dogs, I don’t want one. I’m good.”
Of course, maybe Snoop’s disdain for hot dogs is as much a motive as a deterrent. He has toyed with vegetarianism and veganism for a while and is an investor in and vocal supporter of Beyond Meat, at one point helping the brand roll out a Beyond Sausage Sandwich.
So, you know, Snoop Doggs and sausages are not such a stretch.
But before you get too excited, let’s be frank: A trademark application Snoop filed in 2011 for “Snoop Scoops,” a planned ice cream brand, was never put to use, Billboard noted.
Plus, Snoop is clearly busy with other projects, including a new single he just dropped with Heidi Klum. “Working with Snoop Dogg has always been a dream of mine,” Klum told Variety.
Still, if Snoop is going to drop Snoop Doggs on a waiting world, he may want to drop ’em while they’re hot.
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