As PEI Burger Love wraps up its 6th year, once again hungry Islanders have helped to set record numbers.
This year, there were 163,170 PEI Burger Love burgers enjoyed across the Island, up from last year’s 145,000 sales numbers. That’s more burgers than the entire population of Prince Edward Island.
PEI Burger Love is a multi-award winning campaign, and is a month-long celebration of 100% Island Beef. Created and marketed by Fresh Media, the event is presented in partnership with PEI Cattle Producers and PEI Department of Agriculture & Fisheries.
“We’re extremely proud that our idea continues to grow and really bring people together across the Island”, said Melody Dover, President of Fresh Media. “PEI Burger Love is driving economic development throughout many of our communities, and we couldn’t do that without so many people supporting local every April.”
When the grills were turned off at the end of the campaign, sales of just the burgers was over $2.2 million. It is estimated that the minimum overall economic impact was over $3.5 million in just 30 days when organizers factor each burger purchase included a combination of side, beverage and tip.
“Our Island cattle producers take great care in producing some of the best tasting, nutritious beef in the world”, said PEI Cattle Producers' Chair Brian Morrison. “We are pleased that the campaign continues to grow in popularity each year with restaurants delivering some amazing burgers combinations, promoting Island Beef!”
This year, 73 local restaurants competed to have their culinary burgers vie for the title of ‘Most Loved Burger’. When all the votes were tallied, the winning burger was The Brick-inator from The Brickhouse Kitchen & Bar in Charlottetown.
This winning burger featured a 7oz Island Beef patty, four strips of candied bacon, gouda blend cheese, butterleaf lettuce, onion rings tossed in Frank’s Hot Powder, and house-made 'The Brick' sauce on a toasted herb cheesy bun, garnished with onion rings and dill pickle. With it being the Most Loved burger, The Brick-inator will remain on the menu for Islanders to enjoy for the rest of the year.
"I want to congratulate, not only this year's Most Loved Burger winner, but all restaurants who participated in this year's campaign. We had another successful year of Islanders showing their love for local beef and Island products at 73 restaurants Island-wide. On behalf of the Government of Prince Edward Island, I thank all Islanders and visitors who supported our local economy in many ways by participating in Burger Love over the past month," said Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Alan McIsaac.
A new component for the campaign was the official PEI Burger Love Day where for every burger sold during this specific 24-hour period, Atlantic Beef Products would donate a quarter pound of beef to PEI Food Banks. When sales for this day were collected, there was over 8,000 burgers sold during the one day which equals 2,015 lbs of beef being donated.
PEI Burger Love also gained national exposure as the campaign was featured on Canada AM, ICI Radio-Canada in Québec and Eat North food blog, as well as featured on several Nova Scotia-based food blogs who made weekend burger trips to the Island. In addition, of the over 213,000 web visits the campaign’s site received during the month, over 30% of the traffic was from off-Island, further marketing Island Beef to the rest of Canada.
“From our team, Island farmers, the local markets, to all the restaurant kitchens and service teams, everyone works extremely hard to make PEI Burger Love an unprecedented success year after year”, added Dover. “With the support of our burger fans, we look forward to seeing where we can grow from here.”