MNP Cookoff Challenge this Wednesday
September 11, 2019, 3:46 am
Kevin Weedmark
MNP and Nixon Electric will be going head to head in the Cook-off Challenge for Charity this Wednesday in Moosomin.
Each business has come up with a sandwich creation and people who come for lunch Wednesday will have the opportunity to try a sandwich from each of the businesses and vote for a winner.
Each group has a charity they would like to support, and the proceeds will go to the winner’s chosen charity.
Corie Wudrick-Mohr-butter, a partner with MNP, says the idea for the event came up in discussions among MNP staff.
“Another team member and I were discussing ideas about what to do for a team event to get some energy and excitement going, and the idea came to mind about having a cook-off amongst our own team and then it spiraled from there. We thought we would challenge another community-minded business and do this for the community and put back into the community. All proceeds are going to go to a local charity. I was trying to get our team members involved in a fun competition in a fun, friendly environment and give back to the community.”
She said she decided to approach Nixon Electric because of their community involvement.
“They are a community minded and focused business,” she said. “This requires some team effort to cook for a crowd, so we needed a business that has a sizable amount of team members to pull off this event.
“It’s going to take several of our team members to help prep and cook the food for this event so we were looking for a community-minded business that had some team members that could help with the event.”
What is MNP planning for its sandwich in the competition? Wudrick-Morhbutter says that will remain a secret.
“That will be a surprise and you will have to attend the event on Wednesday to find out,” she said.
“We did our own internal competition to come up with our sandwich. Last week we broke the team into two different teams, and they each created their own sandwiches and we voted on it last week. We know we picked some very, very tough competitors. We know Nixon will bring their A game, so we wanted to ensure we had a sandwich that would do well against whatever they were going to bring forward. I’m confident that our sandwich will be tasty, because we’ve already tasted it, but I’m sure Nixon’s is going to bring an equally tasty sandwich as well, so you will have to come out and find out what we’re cooking.”
Voting on Wednesday will determine what charity receives the proceeds.
“For $10 you will be able to try a sandwich from each business, and you will vote on your favorite sandwich. The winning team will then get to decide on who their charity of choice is. Our team has selected the Moosomin Fire Department as our charity of choice.
“We hope the weather co-operates and we have a huge attendance. We hope we get a few hundred people to come out and try our sandwiches. The more people that come out, the more money for the local charity.
“We have never done this before so we are hoping that this is a positive experience for everyone involved and then we plan to do this annually and every year put forth a competitor. As long as this year goes well, we hope to repeat this experience and we will be looking to find a new competitor to challenge next year.
“It will be right in our parking lot, on the side of Windover. We did get permission from the town to block off that portion of Windover for the time of our cookoff. We will have tables set up for people to enjoy their sandwich and drink.”
Dale Nixon said he is happy to take part in the cookoff.
“We were challenged by MNP, they asked if we would be interested, and we knew immediately this is something we would like to do,” he said. “It sounds like a lot of fun.”
What sandwich will Nixon’s have on offer Wednesday? Like MNP, Nixon’s is treating the sandwich information like a state secret.
“We can’t divulge that kind of information,” Nixon said with a laugh. “You never know who’s listening. This is privileged information.”
He’s hoping for a good turnout Wednesday.
“We’re hoping for a good crowd. The more the merrier. The money goes to a good cause, that’s what it’s all about, putting the money back into the community.
“It’s going to be a team effort. We had a small trial here a couple of weeks back. I ate a couple of sandwiches and gave them the Dale Nixon thumb of approval.
“We’re going to give some to our staff on Tuesday night and do a little prep. It’s going to be a team effort. We’re going to have fun with it.”
If Nixon Electric wins the challenge, the proceeds will be donated to the Southeast Integrated Care Centre Palliative Care program, in memory of Delbert Nixon.
