The Medicine Hat Wayback Burgers is one of three participating local restaurants participating in the Burger it Forward Campaign, which donates meals to the food bank for every purchase of a special hamburger.--News Photo Anna Smith
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
The Burger it Forward campaign is back in the Gas City, supporting Canadians experiencing food insecurity one meal at a time.
Canada Beef, the organizers of the campaign, say food bank usage is at an all-time high, with close to 2.2 million visits to food banks in the past month. Roughly 23 per cent of these food banks exhaust supply before they can meet demand, something the campaign hopes to assist with.
Participating restaurants across the country will offer a signature burger, starting Feb. 1 through to Feb 28. Every sale of that burger earns an equivalent meal donated to Food Banks Canada, up to a maximum of 20,000 meals.
In addition, provincial cattle associations or partners will support their local communities through ground beef or cash donations to regional food banks.
“We’re thrilled to see such enthusiasm from Canadian restaurants for Burger It Forward this year, with participants and representation from most major cities,” said Canada Beef director of consumer promotions Kelly Hyde.
“The need for food banks has doubled in six years, and despite ongoing challenges, Food Banks Canada continues to meet growing demand. Canada Beef is proud to support that effort through Burger It Forward. By eating a Burger It Forward burger this February, Canadians can make a real difference in their communities.”
Participating here in Medicine Hat are Hometown, the Paradise Valley Golf Clubhouse and Wayback Burgers.
Hometown owner Adam Koch says he and his team were approached by Canada Beef to participate.
“They reached out, I want to say two months ago, and just kind of gave us some info about the program,” said Koch. “Since we’re obviously already big supporters of local producers and Canadian products and those kinds of things, it just kind of made sense for us to participate.”
He explained participation in the program is not costing them anything, as it is not costing a portion of the proceeds, rather that a donation is being made based on how many burgers they manage to sell during the time period.
On their part, the participating burger is a classic on both the regular and brunch menus, featuring beef from Sunrise Ranching Co. and housemade bacon jam, grilled red onion, smoked cheddar, arugula and bread and butter pickle. The brunch version is similar, but also includes a coffee dry rub and a fried egg.
Over at the Paradise Valley Golf Clubhouse however, their featured burger is brand new just for the month. Head chef Gavin MacCorquodale says while they weren’t trying to reinvent the wheel, they did want to offer something eye-catching.
“We’re doing barbecue glaze, and we’re doing it with pickles, lettuce, tomato and all the usual stuff,” said MacCorquodale. “What’s really interesting is we’re doing a purple slaw with it as well. So similar to regular coleslaw, except red cabbage, red onions and beetroot, so it’s really, really vibrant.”
Their burger will only be available during the campaign. The goal, says MacCorquodale, was to make something “Instagrammable” that still catered to the tastes of Gas City residents.
Wayback Burgers, not only in Medicine Hat but across multiple locations, has selected the chipotle cheesesteak burger. Those interested in participating need only order the meal in question to contribute to the donated meals.
“I always appreciate when there’s these kinds of social enterprises that are being launched, and it’s nice to see that people are taking food security seriously in our community,” said Koch.
