In answer to the many queries of, “When’s the next Newsletter coming out?” …. it’s finally here! It’s been a whirlwind few months at Missing Link, and administrative functions have taken back seat to sausage-making. Thanks to all of you, we’ve had to struggle to keep up with demand!! We are so appreciative of all the support.

It seems that we finally have enough staff to fill the freezers every week, so I’m back in the office on occasion.  Here’s what else is going on in sausage land:

SOCIAL MEDIA

Those of you who’ve visited our website in the last while may have noticed that we haven’t made many changes recently (for the reasons outlined above). This is another issue on our to-do list, and we’ll be making updates very soon. Our aim is to get our Facebook page up and running over the summer as well. Our Twitter “followers” are slowly growing, and every week we give away free sausage to one new follower. We also periodically run some fun contests, so if you don’t already track what we’re doing, check us out. Twitter is easy to use, and is a great way to find out the latest information in just a few seconds. Just key in @mlinksausage to see what we’re up to, and get a chance to win.

THE “NEW” CALGARY FARMERS’ MARKET

In case you still haven’t made it out to the “new” CFM (on Blackfoot Trail, just north of Heritage), now’s the time! The parking situations have all been sorted out; the leaks in the roof are almost all sealed up; the heating/AC issues continue to improve; and the quality and selection of vendors gets better and better. We have been warmly welcomed by the Deerfoot Meadows and area folks, and our customer base grows by leaps and bounds every weekend. It’s a hopping place. There’s always something new going on, with special events, contests and surprises on a regular basis. Don’t miss out! We’re open Thursday-Sunday 9-5 all year long.

THE NAACO TRUCK ON THE STAMPEDE GROUNDS

Calgary has some terrific food trucks, and the newest addition is no exception. The Naaco Truck recently celebrated its grand opening at the Kingsland Market, offering yummy neo-retro Indian cuisine. Even more exciting, they’ll be set up on the Grounds during this year’s Stampede. And guess who’s providing them with two flavours of sausage?

While you’re Stampeding, try some Naaco Bites – their take on a traditional corndog. This tasty concoction features our butter chicken sausage with a corn and chickpea batter, served with a salad of carrot and red cabbage, a date and tamarind dressing and whole grain mustard chutney. Or how about some Bolly Chips (their take on NAAchos) .. shredded mogo, carrot and cabbage salad with a lime and cilantro dressing, our chicken chorizo and smoked cheddar cheese. Spread the Naaco love!!

CANMORE AND COCHRANE DELIVERIES

We hear you loud and clear. You want us to come back out with another delivery! We haven’t forgotten you, and we’ll be starting to collect orders within the next two weeks, once the Stampede push is over.  Our aim is to deliver all your orders before the end of July. Thanks for being patient!

SUMMER ORDERS

Thanks to the many of you who’ve already placed bulk orders to take to the cottage for the summer; pack in your suitcase for the annual family visit back east; or cook up for the neighbourhood block party. Don’t be disappointed by the inevitable sell-outs at the booth each weekend. If you’re in need of a large quantity, drop us a line or call us to place your order ahead of time, and we’ll have it ready for you when it’s convenient. And just a reminder .. our City permit allows us to sell from our home (near Peters’ Drive-In) if you don’t want to make the trek to the Market on the weekends.

CHICKEN BURGERS

In response to overwhelming demand, a few weeks ago we began making chicken burgers. Holy cow, are they a hit! We’ve been selling out each weekend, so drop by early to get yours. Our burgers are a perfect 6 ounces each, are wrapped in twos, and sell for $7 a package. So far we’ve made about a dozen different flavours, but we’re willing to turn any of our flavours into burgers .. just ask! They’re great on the bar-b-q, take up little room in the camping cooler, and are so convenient after a busy day in the yard because they’re cooked from frozen.

STAMPEDE FEATURE FLAVOUR

The Calgary Stampede is commemorating its 100th anniversary this year, so we decided to celebrate with a feature flavour. Now don’t get teste .. you know we don’t do anything ordinary, and that we can be a little nutty, right? A lot of people said we didn’t have the balls, but we decided to tackle the challenge.

So … we’ve teamed up with Silver Sage Beef at the Market, who provided the key component of this special treat. I mean, really, what says Calgary Stampede more than prairie oysters?? You might think that we don’t know our lefticle from our righticle, but we wanted to pay homage to the brovaries, and create something really unique. Unveiling tomorrow, and available only during the next 11 days … goodness gracious, it’s Great Balls Afire!!

What’s in it? Thought you’d never ask! This tasty (it really is!!) concoction features chicken, prairie oysters, whiskey and jalapenos. Are you cowboy enough to give it a taste? We’ll bet the family jewels that you will. Why not cook some up for your Stampede breakfast? Huevos, anyone?

Only Missing Link has the cojones to make sausage out of … well, cojones.

And on that note, we’ll sign off. Yahoo!! Have a terrific summer.

Mick & Deneise Sherlock

MOVEMBER AT THE CALGARY FARMERS’ MARKET

During the month of “Movember”, many of our male vendors are sporting moustaches in support of prostate cancer research. Mick and I are sponsoring Aaron at Silver Sage Beef who thus far has grown a very pathetic representation of an upper-lip adornment. He needs your help to motivate those follicles! Contributions may be made directly at Silver Sage.

Starting this weekend, we’ll match every Movember donation made at our booth until the end of the month. As you know, prostate cancer hit much too close to home for us two years ago, so we are very pleased to be able to help out this worthy cause.

MISSING LINK “AMBASSADOR PROGRAM” A HUGE HIT!

A few months ago we introduced our new Ambassador Program for residents of towns outside of (but within reasonable driving distance of) Calgary. The idea of the program is simple: introduce a bunch of friends/family/co-workers/neighbours to Missing Link sausage. Collect orders for 10-packs, and forward the orders to us. Your friends will receive one pack of sausage for free, you’ll receive your entire 10-pack FOR FREE, and we’ll deliver the whole order to your town. Last month we made a massive Canmore drop, and we’re hoping to do another one in Cochrane in December (see details below).

We’re still looking for Ambassadors in Olds, Strathmore, and Turner Valley, so if you like free sausage, give us a call and we’ll get you started.

THE FIRST SIX MONTHS AT THE NEW CALGARY FARMERS’ MARKET

To say that our new location has been better than our most optimistic expectations, would be an understatement. In answer to the question we hear dozens of times every weekend, WE LOVE OUR NEW HOME!

Sure, we had some traffic issues to contend with in the beginning; yes parking was a challenge at first; sure the leaky roof caused some problems for a while, but … these troubles have now all been sorted out, and we couldn’t be happier with our new location. Residents and employees of Deerfoot Meadows and surrounding areas have welcomed us with open arms, and we’ve been busy, busy, busy!

If you haven’t yet checked out our new digs, now’s the time to come on down! We have a lot of terrific new vendors and a wonderful common area (complete with sunroom, fireplace and kids’ play area!) in which to hang out, enjoy some great food, and relax.

NEW HOURS AT THE MARKET

As you know, when our new location opened last April, a decision was made to open four days per week, including Thursday evenings. After five months of seeing more vendors than customers in the Market on Thursday evenings, however, our hours were revised. We expect that this will be a permanent change. With the possible exception of major holidays, the new hours for the Calgary Farmers’ Market are:

THURSDAY – SUNDAY 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, ALL YEAR LONG

If you want to beat the crowds, plan to shop on Thursday or Friday. Although the volume of customers increases each week, these are still the best days to wander the aisles relatively freely.

CFM CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE

This would be a good time to point out one of those exceptions mentioned above! In order to accommodate as many customers as possible, and to allow the vendors to enjoy a little down time as well, the Christmas/New Year holiday hours at CFM will be:

Thursday, December 15th to Sunday, December 18th – 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Monday, December 19th to Tuesday, December 20th – CLOSED

Wednesday, December 21st to Friday, December 23rd – 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

Saturday, December 24th to Wednesday, January 4th – CLOSED

Thursday, January 5th – REGULAR HOURS RESUME

RED DEER CHRISTMAS MARKET

Although we had previously made a decision not to attend any Christmas markets this year, popular demand has forced us to change our schedule a little. Accordingly, we WILL be attending the Red Deer Christmas Bazaar at the Westerner, on Saturday December 3rd, and Sunday December 4th. There is also a possibility that we may get a last-minute spot at the Sylvan Lake Market on Sunday the 4th, but that is up in the air at the moment.

Last year we sold out at Red Deer, and had to turn away a lot of disappointed customers. While we’ll try our best to accommodate everyone this year, we strongly suggest that you pre-order to avoid disappointment. Don’t forget, if you buy 10 packages, we’ll give you one more for free! And as part of our Ambassador Program, if you can find 10 people to order 10 packs each, YOU’LL GET YOUR ENTIRE TEN-PACK FOR NUTHIN! Please e-mail any pre-orders as soon as possible.

COCHRANE PRE-CHRISTMAS DELIVERY

It’s time for another Cochrane delivery! To all you Cochrane customers who’ve been asking if we’re coming back out before Christmas, the answer is .. Yes, if we receive enough orders. We’re hoping to be out there the week of December 12th. So … if you’d like to place an order, please do so as soon as possible, so we can fit your requests into our schedule.

CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS

Once again it’s that time of year to try and find a unique gift idea for the person on your list “who has everything!” Why not make it easy on yourself and give them a Missing Link gift certificate, or create a gift bag with a couple of packages of sausage and a bottle of Fieldstone Fruit Wine, or a jar of McFarlane’s delicious dipping sauce? You’ll find tons of other creative gift ideas throughout the Market.

A GREAT BIG THANK YOU FROM US TO YOU!

And it’s also that time for Mick and I to thank you once again for another incredible year. Our customers rock! Here are some of our most memorable moments of 2011:

• Winning FFWD’s “Best of Calgary” competition in the Best Kept Secret category
• Being added to the menus at Dairy Lane Cafe and Blue Star Diner, and to the shelves at Nutters in Airdrie
• Receiving an email from former Calgary customers who now live in Toronto, to tell us about the birth of the newest Missing Link fan in the family
• Being told by a new customer that our product has “blessed her family”
• Being able to help out two severely-ill children who are unable to eat many foods, but who have enjoyed the specialty sausages Mick has created for them
• Hearing from customers in B.C. that “we often manufacture a reason to drive to Calgary just to pick up an order of your sausages”
• And our favourite .. the former Calgary customer who’s moved to Mexico and tells anyone who asks that she only misses three things in Calgary – her two children and … you guessed it … our sausage!

Thanks to everyone who has indeed, “blessed us” this year. We wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season and the very best in 2012.

Seasons greetings,

Mick & Deneise Sherlock

NEW FLAVOURS

As you probably know, Mick is always anxious to add another new flavour to our list! We’re unveiling our newest one this weekend, and we think it’s a real winner! Introducing … Fromage a Trois (an intimate blend of three cheeses, with a hint of jalapeno, just to be naughty). Come on into the Market this weekend and be one of the first to try this sexy new flavour.

And check back in a week or so when we roll out yet another new invention, first ordered by one of our commercial customers. We describe this flavour as “Maple and Apple team up to salute New York”. We’re pleased to unveil … The Big Mapple. Yummy!!

CANMORE AND COCHRANE DELIVERIES

Thanks to the many loyal Cochrane customers who recently placed dozens of orders. It was fun to set up shop two weeks ago at the lovely Cochrane Farmers’ Market (held every Saturday from 9:00 am – 1:00 pm). And for those of you who’d like to get in on the next delivery, just send us a note. I’m hoping to go back out to Cochrane the last day of the Market (either September 24th or October 1st, still to be determined), so get your orders in now.And as promised, we’ll be making another trek out to Canmore sometime within the next while (likely mid-September) so please start sending your requests in soon.

TESTIMONIALS

We receive so many kudos from customers … through emails and phone calls; comments at our booth; blogs; published articles and the like. We appreciate every one of your accolades, as well as the time and effort it takes to pass them on, and we wanted to recognize your kind words. We’ve send all the lovely comments (with your permission of course!) to Danny, our web guru, who’s in the process of compiling them all and posting them on our website. Watch for our new Testimonials Page soon.And speaking of kudos … did you catch food critic John Gilchrist giving our sausage a thumbs-up on a recent edition of Breakfast Television? Thanks John!

NEW PLACES TO ENJOY MISSING LINK SAUSAGE

Since the last newsletter, we’ve been very busy with new commercial customers:

• For all you Airdrie customers, you can now find us in Nutters Bulk & Natural Foods at 400 Main Street. Let Manager Amanda know if you’d like her to carry a particular flavour
• You can also now find us on the breakfast menu at Dairy Lane Cafe on 19th Street NW in Calgary. Dairy Lane was recently recognized for the Best Breakfast in Calgary, so if you haven’t already done so, it’s well worth trying! And as an added bonus, Dairy Lane will soon be offering a Redneck chicken burger prepared by . . . guess who!
• Diner Deluxe on Edmonton Trail has been serving our Canadian Maple Eh! sausages on their menu for many years. New owners Vince and Ryan, have been trying out some new flavours recently, including a chicken burger which apparently received rave reviews! BTW, the Diner was also recently recognized as one of the three Best Breakfast Spots in the city. (Hmmm … who thinks we should go for the hat trick??!)
• If you’re in the Bridgeland area, check out the just-opened Blue Star Cafe, also featuring our chicken sausage on their breakfast menu. Rumour has it that you may soon be able to try out one of our lamb flavours in a burger as well

STOCK-UP TIME!

And finally, the decision we’ve delayed as long as possible – an upcoming price increase. Although we’ve managed to maintain our prices for more than three years now, increasing costs have finally caught up with us. We’ve weathered a 40% increase in raw goods since our last increase in July of 2008, so we feel that we have no choice but to raise our prices by $1.00 per package, effective Thursday, September 1st. Thank you for your understanding.Why not drop by before the end of August and stock up at the old price? As always, we’re happy to put an order together for you, so just give us a call or drop a line.

Thanks everyone, and enjoy the rest of your summer.
Cheers,
Mick & Deneise Sherlock