Toronto residents are used to seeing street-level hot dog wars erupt each summer among the city’s independent vending cart operators.

The annual ritual must be infectious.

Because this year, a separate battle has broken out between Shopsy’s and J. Kwinter Gourmet Hot Dogs, both of Toronto.

Throughout June, Kwinter has been running ads in support of its premium-grade frankfurters on the sides of city buses.

Not to be outdone, Shopsy’s, which is a division of Maple Leaf Prepared Meats, kicked off an exterior bus campaign of its own on June 20.

The Shopsy’s campaign, which promotes the company’s premium quality packaged wieners and corned beef products, will run until Aug. 14.

Alex Boyd, Maple Leaf’s brand manager on Shopsy’s, downplays the notion that the head-to-head ad campaigns signal the start of a hot-dog war among the major manufacturers.

But he points out that sales of premium-quality hot dots have been growing of late, so prepared meat manufacturers are naturally taking a closer look at the category.

He says the large number of street vendors operating throughout Toronto have popularized the hot dog, giving it a new upscale image.

At the same time, manufacturers have begun to produce higher-quality hot dogs, targeting the tastes of adults, rather than kids.

‘In the past, people always questioned what was in wieners,’ Boyd says.

‘However, now manufacturers such as Kwinter and Shopsy’s are offering quality products, and people’s perceptions are changing,’ he says.

Kwinter is a privately held company that distributes its hot dogs via company-owned kiosks in Ontario, including seven locations in Toronto, and through Loblaw-owned supermarkets across the country.

The Kwinter bus ads were created by Guidelines Advertising of Toronto.

Linda Pollack, a spokesperson for Kwinter, says the media buy runs until the end of the month, adding, the company does not plan to advertise further this year.

The Shopsy’s brand dates back to the 1920s, when a deli by the same name was opened on Spadina Rd. in Toronto.

Today, A&W Food Services operates a chain of Shopsy’s-brand delis in Ontario, but Maple Leaf owns the Shopsy’s name for the purpose of retail food sales.

Maple Leaf’s Shopsy’s line of products, which includes a broad range of meats and some salads, are distributed primarily in Ontario supermarkets

The brand also receives limited product distribution in Quebec.

The firm’s recently launched ad campaign, created by Toronto agency Geoffrey B. Roche & Partners Advertising, marks the first time the Shopsy’s brand has been advertised in about 10 years.