If you like sausage and you’re willing to get inked — an Alberta Ukrainian food company might just have the perfect deal for you.
Anyone willing to get a Stawnichy’s Mundare Sausage tattoo will get a free ring of the beloved product from the company every year for the rest of their life.
“The promo actually started as a joke,” said Jessie Patrick, marketing manager for Stawnichy’s Mundare Sausage.
“That’s the funny thing is, it blew up so quickly.”
Patrick said one of her supervisor’s friends went and got a Stawnichy’s tattoo and so they decided to have some fun with it.
“He took a picture and sent it to me and said, ‘Blast it on our social media,’” she explained.
“The responses were insane. Literally overnight we had thousands of people liking, commenting, messaging us asking if it was for real.”
Shocked by the positive response they got from the social media post, they decided to run with the offer. One ring of sausage per year in exchange for a Stawnichy’s tattoo.
“You just have to show us the tattoo and we’ll put your name on a list and you’ll get it for the rest of your life,” Patrick said.
Ryan Brodziak heard of the offer and couldn’t resist. He decided to go under the needle on Tuesday. He’s friends with the family who owns Stawnichy’s and thought — why not?
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“I’m from Vegreville, a good old Ukrainian town. And Mundare and Stawnichy’s sausage is just kind of like part of life,” he said, adding his favourite kielbasa is the traditional garlic sausage.
Brodziak chose the back of his leg for the bratwurst ink – a sausage link strapped to the top of a car, one of the company’s logos.
He loves food and said all of his tattoos “are pretty dumb,” so thought the deal was too good to pass up.
“All my tattoos are food related, though, so it kind of just made sense,” Brodziak added. “I just love food. It’s my number one.”
He said people who don’t know him think he’s a bit nuts for getting a tattoo in exchange for sausage. But those who know him say it’s par for the course.
“I thought my buddy was a little bit crazy for getting it, but he’s a pretty funny guy with some funny tattoos,” said Spencer Evans, owner of Easy Tiger Tattoo.
Evans is the artist who gave Brodziak the sausage tattoo. He thinks the promotion is a good business move, adding the sausage was already a popular choice at his shop before the Stawnichy’s deal came to light.
“We actually already had two people get this tattoo unrelated to this, so people are a big fan of Stawnichy’s, I guess,” Evans said.
“They just really like the sausage.”
Brodziak said he’d absolutely be up for doing this again if other businesses step up and offer similar promotions.
“If someone in Vegreville wants to give free eggs for the Pysanka, looking at Vilna mushrooms. You know, the perogy in Glendon – all the good stuff.”
Stawnichy’s Mundare Sausage was founded in 1959 and is celebrating its 65th anniversary this year.
Originally sold at the Mundare general store, Stawnichy’s sausage is now offered in retail locations throughout Alberta.
One ring costs about $9 and varieties include the traditionally smoked sausage, gluten-free sausage and cheese sausage.
Patrick said the tattoo should be at least four inches square in size. People can choose any of the company’s logo to permanently ink onto their body. Anyone interested in taking the company up on the deal can contact Stawnichy’s directly.
“Absolutely they’re going to be proud of that tattoo,” Patrick said. “(They can) show their kids, and they’re going to be bonded with Stawnichy’s for life.”
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