One for the Team

From the front page of today's Boston Globe, the Patriots are launching a line of dogs and brats. I'm not a sports fan (at all), but I'm curious about two things. Would you buy dogs because they're labelled with your team? (I live within 10 miles of Gillette Stadium and I'm guessing they'll be a hit locally.) Also, the prospect of getting real "Sconsin" brats in New England is appealing, can anyone report on Klement Sausage Co. products?

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/08/08/first_and_ten____grill_one_again/

First and ten -- grill one again
Patriots enter the meat market
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff | August 8, 2006

The Fenway Frank could be in for some serious competition. The New England Patriots are rolling out hot dogs, bratwurst, and sausages named after the team, complete with the Patriots' logo on the package.

Starting this week at Gillette Stadium, fans will be able to choose from such selections as ``Patriots First Down Beef Frank" and ``Patriots Sack Attack Mild Italian Sausage." They will be available in grocery stores by early September.

Team executives say the idea is a natural fit because of the sport's long association with tailgating and tailgating's long association with grilling. ``It's the social nature of football," said Murray Kohl, executive director of sales for the Patriots, Gillette Stadium, and the New England Revolution. ``It's bringing groups together. Food seems to be an important part."

The Patriots don't plan to stop at meat; they envision an array of football foodstuffs. Not only are team executives mulling Patriots hamburgers and chicken wings, they also want Patriots barbecue sauce, ketchup, and mustard.

Though Patriots executives say they are the first team in the National Football League to roll out its own meats, the idea has precedent. Red Sox fans already can buy Fenway Franks in grocery stores, and NASCAR last year launched a line of hot dogs and sausages -- and even created NASCAR bologna. The slogan: ``Taste the excitement."

Just like football, stock car racing has a long association with food. The connection is one reason the idea could spread to more football teams, and even to other professional sports, said Jon Hickey , senior vice president of sports and entertainment marketing at Mullen , a Wenham ad agency.

``I can't believe I'm saying this about branded meat, but it makes a lot of sense," he said. ``It shows they support the things their fans enjoy."

To name the new Patriots meat, the team solicited ideas from front-office staffers, who racked their brains for alliterative football-meat phrases.

``Patriots pigskinz," though creatively spelled, fell short, as did ``Pats hut-hut! hot dogs," ``Hold'em hot dogs" and ``Patriots run-stuffer brats" (``Not quite the image you want," team spokesman Stacey James said.)

Another submission for bratwurst, ``Pats brats" sounded good in theory. But there was a catch: Fans might be way too tempted to pronounce it ``brats" (as in spoiled children) because it would rhyme with ``Pats." (Pronounced correctly, brats rhymes with cots.)

To pick the meat supplier, the Patriots food and marketing staff members tasted samples from suppliers around the nation. Of about 10 varieties tested, the new line immediately stood out, said David Wheeler, executive director of food and beverage for Gillette Stadium. ``I remember thinking that I loved the flavor," he said. ``It was juicy."

Patriots players will dine on the meats as well. The team plans to offer them on the training table.

The team will be supplied by Klement Sausage Co. of Wisconsin, which will pay the Patriots royalties once a minimum of hot dogs are sold.

Since the Patriots pack in more than 60,000 fans per game, that adds up to a lot of meat. The Patriots already sell more than 50,000 pounds of sausages and hot dogs over the course of the season. They are introducing bratwurst this year, and expect that to boost meat sales by at least 15,000 to 20,000 pounds. The Patriots meat will replace the team's other sausages and hot dogs inside the stadium.

Fenway Park, by contrast, sells 1.2 million hot dogs per season -- roughly 152,000 pounds. The park seats fewer people than Gillette Stadium but has many more home games. Locally named frankfurters are common at ballparks around the country, including Dodger Dogs in Los Angeles, Dome Dogs in Minneapolis, and Diego Dogs in San Diego .

The Patriots plan an advertising blitz in early September to launch the meats, including contests to win tickets and appearances by players in television commercials. The specific players have not been determined yet. Down the road, the Patriots aim to negotiate with restaurants to feature the products on their menus.

Altogether, the Patriots are marketing nine ``Gridiron Grillers" meats -- four lines of bratwurst, three of sausage, and two of hot dogs. The label proclaims ``As served at Gillette Stadium." The plans for other Patriots' food items, such as barbecue sauce and chicken wings, are still in the exploratory stages.

Ultimately, of course, the new foods will need names. Two unsolicited suggestions: ``Patriots Blitz Barbecue Sauce " and ``Patriots Catch it Ketchup."

Sasha Talcott can be reached at stalcott@globe.com.



© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

When I was a crazy baseball fan as a kid, my mom bought me Yankee franks (they were lousy), and I also liked to get Big Yaz bread when we visited friends on Eastern Long Island. Yastrzemski was born in Bridgehampton, so there was a strong pocket of Sox support out that way. I am no longer such a rabid sports fan, but I know plenty who are, and have no doubt they'd buy a pile of **** if it was packaged with their team colors.

I am happy to report that Klements is a fine product.They are a local company here in Milwaukee,and produce everything from lunch meats to brats to sausage sticks,etc.While I am not a fan of pre-cooked brats, my husband is and they are the only ones he will eat.I like their regular brats and are a respectable substitute when I cannot get to my local buthcher for his home made items.

I have a problem with them going to Wisconsin for this product. After all, all hot dogs are local and we have some very good products avalible here. You would think that they would want to keep it close to home for advertising purposes and to promote local business. I will fire off an e-mail and a follow up letter to Bob Kraft and voice my oppinion. Chow Jim

Jim, the same crossed my mind. On the other hand, when they first came up with Fenway Franks they were just an existing brand repackaged at a higher price. At least this way there's a new product entering the already varied market (that may sink or swim on its own merits). And, if we can get a source for real brats, that would be a plus.

But fire away, and send my best to Bob!

They have Buckeye hotdogs here in Columbus, made by Ohio Packing Co. I had one once.

I did get my letter and e-mail off to the Patriots organization, also to a local state senator who is active in these matters. It just frosts my butt that these so called local teams in one breath can ask the state and community for give backs or funding and then take their business out of state. Don't get me wrong, those brats or sausage may be a great product but we do have many fine packing houses in our area. The old addage, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you". As I sit here typing and watching the early news this just reported, at Boston Garden they are going to put a surcharge of $2.50 on each ticket sold to cover the cost of updateing the Luxury Seating, at least they didn't say temporary surcharge. So this meens the common folk are paying for the corporate big wigs and beautifull people to sit in the lap of luxury. They probably serve Manhatten clam chowder in those boxes also. They are going to hear from me also. I really think that it has become time that the fans start a union and demand a seat at the negotiating table, after all we are the ones paying the salarys on both sides. Sorry about the rant, I hate to get this pissed off so early in the morning. Chow Jim

I do have to agree with your frustration that the product they chose was not local, or at least produced in your state.If Lambeau field offered anything but Wisconsin made products, there would be an outcry heard around the world.Keep up your mission......

Lead story in today's Globe Business, and unscientific taste test.

http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2006/08/18/dog_day/

Dog day
Pats, Sox -- or Oscar Mayer?! After a heated competition, a group of frank fans can't conclusively decide which one passes . . . er . . . the mustard
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Staff | August 18, 2006

In a city known for its Fenway Franks, in which even sports announcers have their own hot dog stand -- Jerry Remy's RemDawg's -- it's tempting to think that the last thing Boston needs is another hot dog. So when the New England Patriots unveiled plans last week for their own hot dog label, ``Patriots 1st Down Beef Franks," we admittedly were skeptical -- so much so, that we decided to put the new hot dogs to the test.

We recruited some of Boston's resident hot dog experts (a group of youth football players and cheerleaders from the Dorchester Eagles, a local Pop Warner team), borrowed their concession stand, and fired up the grill. With the stakes so high, some of the professional hot dog makers left little to chance: The Patriots sent over an official chef from Gillette Stadium to grill the dogs to their specifications (``The key is not to have it too dark -- nice and golden brown all the way around," he said), while Fenway Park's concessionaire, Aramark Corp. , left cooking instructions in a voicemail (Fenway Franks should be steamed or boiled, not grilled). For our taste test, we also threw in a control hot dog -- the Oscar Mayer Wiener -- for the sake of comparison.

The results: There was no clear-cut winner (or shall we say, wiener), but the Patriots' dogs came out with a slight edge. It seems that Boston sports fans not only can't agree on whether the Patriots or the Red Sox are the city's No. 1 team -- they also can't agree on which one makes a better hot dog. In our test, both teams' dogs attracted their share of partisans, but also their share of detractors.

``This one's the bomb," said Briana Vaughn, 12, of the Patriots' hot dog. But she had some harsh words for Oscar Mayer Wieners (``I wouldn't let my mother buy them") and the Fenway Frank (``Never again").

Others disagreed. One of our tasters said the Oscar Mayer Wiener tastes ``just like Oscar Mayer bologna" -- a compliment in his eyes -- while another pronounced it ``the best hot dog I ever tasted."

Andrell Reed, 12, called the Fenway Frank ``sweet" and ``special." But perhaps he got a little swept up in the excitement of the free food: He gave all three of our dogs the highest possible score, and wrote that they would be good for kids because ``kids love hot dogs."

Our unscientific taste test contained plenty of flaws. Though we originally recruited eight Pop Warner football players and cheerleaders for our panel, one wandered away before the final tasting and the another voted twice on the same hot dog -- giving it two different scores. After disqualifying those entries, we wound up with a panel of six.

The Patriots' dog placed first, earning an average score of 4.17 out of five. Oscar Mayer took second with a score of four, while Fenway Franks earned a 3.17. (It was dragged down by two testers who gave it the lowest score, a one for ``terrible," but boosted by two more who rated it a five for ``fantastic.")

``The Fenway Frank is obviously an icon of ballpark food: Red Sox fans have come to know and enjoy the quality and the taste of the Fenway Frank," said David Freireich, an Aramark spokesman. ``We're proud of our product and what it adds to the menu and the traditions."

A Patriots spokesman said his team is happy to win, but that he had expected it to be by a larger margin. Oscar Mayer did not comment.

The adults, too, were split on the hot dog issue -- perhaps even more vehemently so. The Patriots' hot dog ``is just like, `POW!' " said Zoe Barkon of Dorchester, whose son plays on the team. ``It's juicy. You bite into it, it kind of squirts in your mouth." The Fenway Frank also squirts, she said, but ``it doesn't squirt with flavor -- it just squirts."

But the notion that a hot dog should go ``POW!" and ``squirt with flavor" did not resonate with everyone. The Fenway Frank is ``not that intense," said Cornel Brown of Mattapan, who liked it better for that reason. After the children's taste test, several Dorchester Eagles coaches and parents sampled the dogs and offered up their opinions.

A few labeled the Patriots' hot dog as too salty. One parent described the Fenway Frank as ``meatier" and ``tastes more natural." A coach, Tom Goulet, said: ``It doesn't have as much skin, and I just like the spiciness of it."

On the same night as our hot dog taste test, the Patriots' chef cooked hot dogs for the entire Dorchester Eagles organization -- more than 100 players, cheerleaders, parents, and coaches.

Perhaps the most ringing endorsement of the Patriots' dog came from the Eagles' coach, Terry Cousin. It wasn't because he proclaimed it ``off the hook" and ``bananas." (That means ``good," he explained.) It was because he knows what he is talking about: His nickname is Beef.

Sasha Talcott can be reached at stalcott@globe.com.



© Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company

Jim - this and some other posts about local dogs got me to looking at packages of some products I don't buy. Apparently Fenway Franks are now made by Sara Lee in Cincinatti.

Time to take on the Red Sox?

Sports themed foods are rarely any good.

The ad for Ball Park Franks states "they 'plump' when you cook 'em!" Anybody have any idea just what that means, and why you would want a hot dog that would do such a thing? Just asking. Fred

quote:

Originally posted by fhoran

The ad for Ball Park Franks states "they 'plump' when you cook 'em!" Anybody have any idea just what that means, and why you would want a hot dog that would do such a thing? Just asking. Fred

Make you feel you're getting your money's worth I suppose. I think it's all the filler expanding when they cook. Ballpark Franks aren't very good, I try to find some of the better brands like Sabrett, or better still, good local brands.

I grew up in Baltimore. When I was there, we would only buy the Esskay Orioles franks - which were almost certainly exactly the same as their regular franks.