Sharpe’s Burger Blitz a different way to promote Canadian agriculture products
Sharpe’s Burger Blitz was a success with 3,668 burgers sold in a week
March 2, 2023, 10:15 am
Sierra D'Souza Butts, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Sharpe’s Crop Services’ third annual Burger Blitz promoted Canadian agriculture and moved a lot of burgers—3,668 burgers were sold in the Moosomin, Fleming and Rocanville area from Feb. 13 to Feb 18, more than ever before.
Ten local restaurants participated in this year’s Burger Blitz selling burgers made from only Canadian agricultural products, timing it to coincide with Canadian Ag Day 2023.
The Burger Blitz also gave Sharpe’s a way to support local restaurants while promoting the ingredients used that come from Canadian agriculture. The number of burgers sold was up 1,000 from last year.
“We sold 2,600 burgers last year, but we also added two new restaurants for this year,” said Lori Yeske of Sharpe’s.
“The World-Spectator helped promote it, so everyone knew about it. That made it a lot easier for us.”
The 10 participating restaurants included the Red Barn, Cork & Bone, Witch’s Brew, Fleming Windsor Bar & Grill, Moosomin Dairy Queen, Nutrien Sportsplex, TJ’s Pizza, The Crate House, Blueberry Kitchen and the Rocanville Town & Country Golf Clubhouse.
Based on its success from previous years, Sharpe’s wanted to include more communities for this year’s event.
“The feedback we got from Rocanville was awesome, they said it was nice to be included in an event in Moosomin,” said Carly Miller of Sharpe’s.
“We had a few different places reach out in previous years who said they wanted to be involved. We thought we would talk to Rocanville because they’re in the area, to talk to Maryfield and try to get a few more communities involved.
“We asked Blueberry Kitchen and Rocanville Golf Clubhouse and they said yes right away.”
Next year Sharpe’s is hoping to possibly include a business in Maryfield.
Last year, Sharpe’s held their Burger Blitz during the week of family day. This year, they hosted it from Feb. 13 to Feb. 18, making it a six-day burger week.
“Every year we try to get some feedback from the restaurants and switch it up a little bit for the following year,” said Miller.
“Canadian Ag Day always falls on the 15th, so that’s why we decided to have it this week at this time, even though it was the same week as Valentines Day.
“I know last year, businesses felt that because it was held on the Family Day week, they had less business because there was lots of people away. That’s why we stayed away from the break week this year because we thought there was probably lots of people out of town.”
Miller said Sharpe’s Burger Blitz is also a great chance for the business to connect with the community in Moosomin.
“It’s great to put on something that gets everyone involved, from people of all ages enjoying the burgers to businesses coming up with their creations,” she said.
“We are a local business so it is nice to connect with the other local businesses in town through this event too.”
How did the idea for Burger Blitz come about?
Miller said the idea of starting Burger Blitz in Moosomin to help promote Canadian Ag Day came from a community doing a similar event.
“We actually got the idea from Winnipeg who ran the burger week, but we’ve always wanted to do something more for Canadian agriculture too,” said Miller.
“We have done lots of stuff at the schools in previous years, which is also where the idea came from which was challenging the local businesses to use Canadian products and maybe create their own feature burger with something that’s truly agricultural.
“We felt that the whole burger encompassed Canadian agriculture from every aspect.”
Restaurants from the area were happy to be a part of the event and are looking forward to next year, said Miller.
“Blueberry Kitchen Rocanville stopped in and told us she already has an idea for next year,” said Miller.
“Also Jarrod from the Cork & Bone stopped in and said it was fantastic, that he loves being a part of it.
“We haven’t really had any negative feedback. I think people are just happy to do it.”
Yeske mentioned that the Crate House and Witch’s Brew stopped selling burgers by the end of the event due to selling out.
“Blueberry Kitchen was also telling me that they had people come from Virden and Esterhazy to buy burgers,” she said.
“Also one day, they sent out 40 burgers to the mine.”
With Sharpe’s Burger Blitz bringing a lot of business into town, Miller and Yeske were asked how it feels to be part of having an impact on the community.
“It’s definitely outside of our realm of things,” said Miller.
“I feel like because we’re not on Main Street, this helps Sharpe’s get involved and helps to connect with the community a little bit more. We connect with our agriculture area a lot, but not necessarily with people who are in town. This is great for that.”
People who tried the burgers also got a chance to vote on their favorite burger, as well fill out a Burger Stamp Card for a chance to win $500 in a draw from every four burgers they purchased.
From the week of the event, around 486 people placed their votes online with the results of Red Barn having the highest number of votes, and Blueberry Kitchen being a close second. The other participating restaurants were not far behind.
Yeske said she was happy to see how many people took part in placing their votes for their favorite burger.
“That’s pretty good, that’s the best feedback we’ve had,” she said.
Sharpe’s staff also took part in trying as many burgers as they could.
“I got to try seven out of the 10 burgers,” Miller said.
“When we had a work meeting during the week, everyone ordered something different.
“I think across the board we probably got to every single restaurant, but maybe just not every single person got to try every single one.
“I also liked that for us at work it allowed us to get together every lunch hour and enjoy it as a staff.
“I hope that other businesses are doing the same thing as we are because we’ve had it a couple years now where our whole company, from Langenburg and all of the people from Sharpe’s, came together in Moosomin to eat the burgers in town.
“It is a cool way to get together as a group and have lunch.”
Excited to make Burger Blitz an annual event
Yeske was asked if she thinks Sharpe’s will continue to have Burger Blitz as an annual event.
“How can we not?” she said laughing.
“It helps get our name out there too. People usually stop and ask us too if we’re doing burger week again or not, a lot of people do ask.
“As well, right before we started thinking about it, businesses were asking if we were going to host it again.”
Based on the feedback they got from restaurants and people in the community from this year, Miller spoke about what Sharpe’s plans to do differently for next year’s event. “Depending on when Canadian Ag Day falls, we’ll see,” said Miller.
Miller said the event really helps spread the message about how important Canadian agriculture is.
“There’s so many different components of Canadian agriculture that all goes into it,” she said.
“That’s why we chose the burger because it encompasses several different sectors, whether it was pork, whether it was beef, whether it was grain, even lettuce, tomatoes. All of those different things can be included on a burger so that was the message we wanted to get out there, that every component of a lot of these burgers came from agriculture.
“As well, it celebrates Canadian Ag and supports local businesses. Sharpe’s is a local business too so we want to tie in the rest of every one in town as well.”
“Also to help give people a boost during the winter time, because it is pretty quite,” added Yeske.
In this year’s Sharpe’s Burger Blitz, Red Barn sold 654 burgers, Cork & Bone Bistro sold 260 burgers, Witch’s Brew sold 375 burgers, Fleming Windsor Bar & Grill sold 234 burgers, Moosomin Dairy Queen sold 608 burgers, Nutrien Sportsplex sold 312 burgers, TJ’s Pizza sold 100 cheeseburger pizzas, The Crate House sold 515 burgers, Blueberry Kitchen sold 415 burgers, and the Rocanville Town & Country Golf Clubhouse sold 195 burgers.
