BBQ no snag to top cash

THE humble Bunnings sausage sizzle is close to a $10 million-a-year bonanza for Victoria’s sports clubs and community groups.

There was a staggering 9900 barbecues at 70 Bunnings stores across the state over the 2018 financial year.

The total equates to almost $1000 for each barbecue, with Bunnings pointing out it plays host to everything from sporting groups, schools and kindergartens to the Scouts.

Waurn Ponds Bunnings is one of the best-performing sites, pulling in on average $3500 in one-day takings.

Chief operating officer Debbie Poole said the tradition had been going for two decades — kicking off at the first store in Sunshine — and each community group kept “every cent they raise from everything they sell”.

“We try to give as many different groups in the community the chance to host a sausage sizzle by keeping waiting lists to a minimum, although they are very popular,” Ms Poole said.

Ms Poole said cake stalls were also on the rise.

RMIT associate professor of marketing Dr Con Stavros said the sausage sizzle had an important place in Aussie culture “not just from retailers, but also sporting venues and even many polling booths on election day”.

Teaming that with the desire to be charitable created an opportunity for clubs to rake in dollars, he said.

“You then couple that unmissable visual presence with the compelling smell from the snags, the sizzling sound and the opportunity for customers to validate their guilty pleasure with a donation to a good cause and you have a winner all round,” Dr Stavros said.

Top Australian chef Shane Delia — of Maha and Biggie Smalls — said the snag itself was now a culinary icon.

“You can’t get more Aussie than a grilled fatty sausage from the barbecue on some airy white sliced bread,” Delia said. “It’s simple food that brings people together and makes them feel good. At the end of the day that’s the role of food in our community — to bring people together so they can communicate and find some common ground.”