How to Run a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle

We are pleased to present these tips on the ever-popular Bunnings Sausage Sizzle! This article is a supplement to our amazing Sausage Sizzle Organiser Guide!

The Bunnings Sausage Sizzle is a popular fundraiser for schools and community groups because they’re low cost to set up, easy to organise and fairly straightforward to run. But there are sausage sizzles and then there are Bunnings sausage sizzles, where the concept is turned up to satisfy a captive audience of hungry do-it-yourself-ers. It’s such a classic, it now even has its own meme!

Anyone who’s visited a Bunnings on a weekend has no doubt seen a community group out the front manning the sausage sizzle.  As far as venues go for a sausage sizzle, the high volume of foot traffic can easily lead to a high turnover of snags, drinks and dollars raised.

However, the phenomenon that is the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle BBQ fundraiser is highly sought after by community groups and can book out months in advance. Jessica from NSW says her local Bunnings has a three-year waiting list, however for Suzanne in Grafton the wait is more likely measured in weeks than months.

To apply you will need to contact the person in charge of activities at your local Bunnings.  Often, the process involves a written request on your organisation’s letterhead, then, if you are successful in securing a date, you will be provided with an information pack (or be asked to attend an information evening) that will detail;

• Items that Bunnings will provide (normally BBQ, gas, and shade cover)
• Items that you need to provide (such as gloves, serviettes, wipes, disinfectant spray, BBQ tools etc)
• Catering requirements (suggested amounts of sausages, bread, sauce and drinks) and
• Logistical needs (OHS guidelines, council food handling requirements, insurance)

Bunnings do their best to make it easy for you to hold a sausage sizzle, however, they may put a limit on the number of people who can safely work in the BBQ area, plus they may set prices for sausages and drinks so that regular shoppers have a fair expectation of what to pay.

So, how much can you expect to raise at a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle?

The success of your sausage sizzle can be impacted by the weather, the season, and the size of the Bunnings store; as such the amount your sausage sizzle will raise will vary between locations.

Melanie, from Poowong in VIC, made $1,700 one year and $700 the next from their group’s sausage sizzles, and whilst other groups have raised just a couple of hundred dollars, there are rumours of some groups raising over $2,700.

Jane in VIC knows that the amount of funds raised can also vary depending on how much of the food you are able to get donated, so as soon as you have a date finalised then it’s a good idea to approach your local supermarkets, butchers and bakeries and ask them if they will donate some (or all) of the goods you need.

It’s also important to remember to ask your local Bunnings if there are any council restrictions or OH&S requirements you will need to meet (just to be on the safe side).

Three helpful tips from people who have held a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle BBQ Fundraising are:

1. Cook onions (their strong smell attracts hungry people)
2. Stay in mobile contact with the next roster of volunteers (in case you need extra supplies picked up)
3. Wherever possible have sausage sizzles on Saturdays over Sundays or weekday evenings (as they’re more successful). 

How far in advance must you book your Bunnings Sausage Sizzle?

When you visit the main Bunnings website looking for information about Bunnings fundraising barbecues, you will be instructed to send a request in writing (on your school or organisations original letterhead) to your nearest store, marked to the attention of the Bunnings Activities Officer. If you want to talk to someone in person, you should still bring along the official request in writing. Generally you won’t be given a choice which store you can have your sausage sizzle at, as you will be allocated a store close to your school or organisation. However you may be given a choice of dates, which may be at least four to six months in advance. There is no fee for booking a Bunnings community BBQ. When you formally accept the date, you will be provided with a comprehensive guide detailing operating procedures.

What information and support do Bunnings provide?

Your Bunnings store will provide you with an information pack with suggestions about the quantities of sausages and drinks which are usually sold on a typical day. Depending on the store it could be:

• 400-600 sausages
• 25-35 loaves of bread or the equivalent number of rolls
• 10kg of onions
• 5+ litres of sauce
• 200+ drinks including bottles of water, cans of soft drink
• For superstores, the expected quantities could be much larger.

They are very specific about what you can sell and the drinks you provide must be specific name brands such as Coke, Fanta and Lemon. They also set the Bunnings BBQ prices that you must sell the items for ie $3.50 for a Bunnings hot dog and $1.50 for a drink.

We have prepared a really cool quantity calculator - it’s one of the hundreds of free downloads in our toolbox - head here to register for access.

It is definitely worth asking your local store if you can hold a cake stall at the same time as your sausage sizzle. Please note only some stores allow this, and many do not allow anything other than sausages and drinks to be sold. Maddie from NICU Cheers says her daughter’s kindy has done this the past two years when holding a Bunnings BBQ in Melbourne’s north eastern suburbs, and the cake stand easily brings in the same amount of money as the BBQ. Most stores allow you to have donation tins on the tables.

The guide will also detail what volunteers should wear in order to comply with their Workplace Health and Safety standards such as disposable gloves, closed shoes (no thongs), shirts (no singlets) and long hair tied back.

What equipment do you need to bring?

Bunnings will provide an all-weather tent, tables, the BBQ and power. In most situations, the tent and BBQ will already be set up when you arrive. They will also replace the gas bottle if it runs out during cooking.

You will need to bring all your food (beef sausages, bread/ buns, sauce, drinks) plus serviettes, tongs, knives and eskies for cold storage. You will need oil to start the cooking (especially for the onions), paper towel, baby wipes or chux plus Spray’n’Wipe for spills, plus tools for cleaning the BBQ. Aprons are also essential, as is a box of disposable gloves for serving and cleaning. You will also need to bring enough ice to keep the sausages and drinks cold all day.

You can use specially designed hot dog holders or a simple aluminium tray to place the sausage sizzles in while customers are putting away their wallets or fussing around sorting out their kids. You will also need aluminium trays to store cooked sausages and large air-tight boxes for the cut buns. A roll of alfoil can be used to cover cooked sausages, keep them warm and protect from flies. Bin liners will be useful both for your own rubbish as well as bins for customers as some stores will not allow you to use their bins and you may be expected to take all your rubbish away with you.

You will also need to bring a float and cash box on the day. Your store will probably suggest what you need, but you need to be prepared for the first customer to buy a $3.50 sausage with a $50 note. A recommendation would be a $200 float with four $20, four $10, six $5,  $20 each of $1 and $2 coins plus $10 worth of 50 cents coins.

What are the Bunnings sausage sizzle times?

Stores will have their own requirements and they may also differ depending on the season, but there is generally the understanding that you need to be ready to serve shortly after opening and stay for the majority of the day. For example, Tanya needed to be ready at 8.15am with the first sales by 8.30am and they were expected to stay until 4.30pm.

How many volunteers do you need?

The size of the store will greatly affect how busy you are, but you should aim to have between 3 and 5 people per shift, which could be 90 minutes to two hours, or whatever is agreed upon by your group. Tanya’s group in Western Australia rostered 24 people over an eight hour day, with 90 minute shifts, while Carol’s Group on the Gold Coast only used a total of 9 people over a six hour day, with two hours shifts and an all-day supervisor.

Tanya recommends having an extra person on during the lunchtime rush (between 12 and 2pm) while Carol suggests visiting the store a few weeks before and chatting to whichever group is running the BBQ to see how many volunteers they have, and if they would suggest more/less.

Carol’s group also had a single supervisor who stayed all day and was responsible for making sure that everything ran smoothly. Having a single person there all day also means that handover between shifts is easier, as someone also knows what is going on.

A breakdown of duties could be:

• One or two people on the BBQ
• One taking orders and handling the money
• One assembling and serving the food
• One person on drinks

Where should you get your sausages, bread and drinks from?

It is up to you where you source your supplies from, and obviously the lower your costs the greater your profit. It is essential that you use any contacts that you have within your school community – find out if anyone has friends/relatives who can supply sausages, drinks and bread at cost (or even donate).

You may consider approaching your local supermarket to see if they will support your fundraiser by providing cheap or free supplies.

Carol’s group asked their local Coles and Woolworths to donate gift cards (which they did – $100 each) which the school then used to purchase the sausages and bread. They also asked all parents who couldn’t volunteer on the day to donate cans of soft drink and items such as sauce and napkins, which cut down on costs a lot.

Both Tanya and Carol strongly recommend purchasing pre-sliced frozen onions rather than attempting to slice 20kg+ of fresh onions.

How much profit can you make from a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle?

Tanya’s group in WA made about $1,000 profit for their days’ work, while Carol’s group in Qld made just over $1,500 and says ‘We would definitely do this again. It’s a very quick way to make over $1000 in one day, and it seems that you are almost guaranteed to make a good amount of money. Some groups have raised in excess of $2,000 or $3,000 at the larger stores on a busy Saturday.

What are the biggest challenges involved in a Bunnings BBQ fundraiser?

The two primary challenges seem to be getting enough volunteers to cover all the shifts on the day, and having someone in charge who is both highly organised but also unflappable.

Avoid having too many people on the organising committee. The more work and planning you do in advance, the more smoothly the day will run.

Have a plan in place for buying more sausages/bread/buns/sauce/drinks if you run out early. You will need one or more volunteers, preferably those who live nearby with a car, and who are happy to make a quick trip to the shop. Make sure they have access to an esky and plan in advance how they will pay for and get reimbursed for the food.

We’ve crowdsourced some tips for schools groups a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle:

Suzanne Rogers Bunnings in Grafton have been great for Happy Paws Grafton. Waiting times are not long, they always make sure the space is good, staff are helpful and often the fund raising is successful.

Jasmin Pearson they’re good, our club held one this year one of our best fundraising days.

Rachael Grogan Have always been great for us. They are VERY popular so you have to book early here but totally worth the effort!

Melanie Wallace We have to get our requests in the year before and just wait to be given a date. We can’t choose unfortunately! But if it’s a good day weather wise, it can be fabulous. If it’s too hot or too cold, not so successful. One year we raised $1700, the following year $700. Hit and miss but worth the effort!!

Leeann Henao-White Sometimes my hubby goes to Bunnings just for the sausage sizzle!

Rachael Grogan Melanie, we apply that early too. Last one we made $1200 – was a perfect day and everyone was out DIY’ing and buying our sausages!!! :-). We ran out and had to send for more sausages a couple of times!! We have our next one in a couple of weeks!!!

Melanie Wallace We missed out this year unfortunately, but with a new Bunnings being opened soon closer to us, we hope to get two dates for next year to make up for it!

Jessica Whitmore i have just asked them if I could do one to raise money for novita and I have a 3 year wait at my Bunnings

Cathy Maguire Our local bunnigns is now doing ‘sizzles’ every day of the week. We just rang last week and got a mid-week date for October! We have tried for the past 2 years for the weekends, but no luck yet.

Nickers Roden We have 2 per year for our Kindergarten. We have permanent dates each year. Bunnings supply all the equipment, and you provide food, drinks, sauces etc. You keep all the money raised. It’s a great community partnership!

Robyn Bell When we get a BBQ it’s great. But it seems to be hit & miss at Bunnings Nunawading. One group I help is likely to not get one this year, yet another has had 2 and 2 more dates for the rest of the year! Weekends are the best – weeknights are a bit touch & go.

Kristy Spiegl Our Bunnings has an application process that is tedious and a long waiting list on top of that. But earns an average $1500 in six hours, so kind of worth it!!

Maryanne Martin Once you get your date locked in Bunnings requires one person to undertake an OH&S course … it’s advisable that two people attend this as someone from your group who has done the course must be at the fundraiser the entire time.

Jane Danzi We’ve had two over the past couple of years and were turned off last year by the poor financial outcome – only a couple of hundred after all the work to meet council restrictions and Bunnings restrictions. I know some groups do very well and I think part of that is getting all the sausages, buns and cool drink donated. We aren’t keen to try again.

Chez Leggatt we find it difficult to get ppl to help…but it is a good money maker….have to write asking at the end/beginning of each year

Kate Holzapfel Bunnings Carseldine is excellent!! Staff are wonderful, all you have to do is bring your bread and sausages. Great profits too.

Heather Barnes Bunnings at Munno Para is a regular spot for us. We normally get a few Saturdays a year (this year they messed up the bookings but we’re on a last minute list). Usually pretty good fundraiser for us. If we do three a year then we generally don’t need to do much else fundraising. The administration can be a bit hit and miss at times though.

Rebecca Smith We did one at Bunnings Mile End and all profits went to the school, we did have to bring everything but the profit was amazing! We did have to book a year in advance but it was def worth it and I hope to book another one soon.

Mary Gardam Our local Bunnings now holds a draw every quarter to see who the lucrative weekend spots 

Carol Put a very organised person in charge!

Tanya:

• Check the AFL footy fixtures – it was a quiet day for us because an important AFL game was being televised.
• Bring a bread knife.
• We ran out of onions early so don’t put too many on the hot dogs.
• Bring an extra bottle of mustard – it was surprisingly popular.
• We had leftover cool drinks – the weather was probably too cold for them.
• We needed a better handover process between shifts: you should show the new people where things are, so time isn’t wasted looking for things when a new shift came on.
• Bring hats – even if you’re in the gazebo, you will still be exposed to the sun.
• If you have one, wear a uniform showing your school/club.
• Bring a metal Thermoserver or something to keep sausages/onions warm.
• Consider some vegetarian sausages – but check with your local store first.
• Buy drinks when half price at Coles/Woolies

For more information on how your community group can organise a Bunnings sausage sizzle, contact your local store or visit the Bunnings website.