Bunnings sausage sizzles return in WA this weekend
Forget returning to the office, riding public transport, and the AFL being back in Western Australia.
Normal programming will officially resume in the west this weekend when Bunnings fires up its famed sausage sizzles outside selected stores.
Bunnings staff will celebrate the return of the sausage sizzle in WA this weekend.
The hardware chain was forced to cancel the foodie fundraisers run by community groups in March as the pandemic began to bite across Australia.
Managing director Mike Schneider said at the time organisers were having trouble finding volunteers and supplies to keep the iconic fundraisers running, as supermarkets everywhere ran low on even the most basic products.
But Bunnings said on Wednesday a semblance of normalcy would return for customers in WA as well as Queensland and South Australia in a carefully phased plan to resume the fundraising favourite.
Community groups which had sausage sizzles pre-booked during the lockdown would be prioritised for the restart, with 200 groups booked for the reopening this across the three states.
The hardware chain also donated $500 gift cards to those local organisations to help fundraising efforts, an investment totalling $1.2 million.
Bunnings chief operating officer Deb Poole said sausage sizzles had resumed without trouble in Tasmania and the Northern Territory as community groups adapted to new layout and hygiene measures designed to keep everyone safe.
"While our community groups are taking a number of extra precautions, what hasn’t changed is the great feeling of supporting a local community group and the unmistakable taste of an Aussie
sausage, bread and sauce," Ms Poole said.
Changes made include separate ordering and pick-up points to allow for 1.5 metres’ physical distancing, increased cleaning and signage, as well as extra team members rostered on.
The first Bunnings community sausage sizzle was held 26 years ago at the Sunshine store in
Melbourne, with more 40,000 now run each year Australia-wide by local community groups.
Bunnings was one of the first retail stores to implement extra precautionary measures to make its stores safer once COVID-19 cases took off across Australia in March.
These included limiting the number of customers permitted in store, and a maximum of four people in aisles across the store at any one time.