Burger Days has officially kicked off with a total of 17 local restaurants participating this year. 

Christine Beaumont, President of the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce, says this is an exciting time for the chamber, the community, and the business community. 

“I was part of some of those tastings prior to this week, and the restaurant owners, the staff, everyone gets excited about this. For some of the restaurants, it's double their sales in the one week, so there's a lot of preparation going into it and it's all hands on board.” 

She notes there is an economic effect with the burger sales during this one week, and it doesn’t just impact the 17 restaurants a part of Burger Days. 

“I think there were 8,600 burgers sold last year and $160,000 produced by those burger sales alone, but it definitely impacts more than just the burger sales,” she says. “A lot of the ingredients are being sourced by local businesses, producers that are local, and then in addition to that, you've got people from outside of the community that are coming to Steinbach for Burger Days.” 

She says as far as tasting all the burgers goes, a lot of people in the community team up with their friends and split them up so they can get a taste of everything. 

“Even with my own family as an example, my kids are 11 and 13 and they're going ‘it's burger days next week, so when are we going to do our tasting?’ Sharing with friends and family, it just becomes a really fun event.” 

Beaumont says Burger Days creates a sense of camaraderie between the restaurants. 

“As an example, maybe they are themselves trying other burgers and then they're sharing with some of their customers about the other burgers. It's a really positive impact that gets the whole community involved.” 

She says it’s a great opportunity to get to know the owners and managers of these restaurants just a little better. 

“It's been nice to highlight them through the videos that have been produced, to get to see the faces and the stories that are behind the burgers. Because a lot of them are putting a lot of themselves into what they're producing.” 

Beaumont notes that something a little different about the event this year is that they have a brewery involved. 

“The Public is one of our participating restaurants, but they don't serve food, they serve beer. So what they're encouraging you to do is get together with your friends, meet at The Public, and have your burgers there.” 

The Public’s entry in Burger Days is the Cold IPA, a style of beer that is fermented at lower temperatures. 

There are awards that will be given out once Burger Days is over, the three different awards are Most Creative, Best Tasting, and Best Presentation. 

To vote for your favourite burgers, or to view all the different burgers that are part of Burger Days, go to steinbachchamber.com. 

If you vote, you are also in for a chance to win one of three local prize packs valued at $120 each. 

The chamber also encourages people to post selfies and use #steinbachchamber on social media while they're tasting the burgers. 

Burger Days runs from September 9 to 16. 

 

With files from Dave Anthony 

 

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