Meat+Poultry - January 2018 - 105

partner of the Rockettes' show.
And in a food fight for the ages, there were
no losers in the Bacon versus Taco battle
of 2017. The joint promotion featured the
Lehigh Valley (Pennsylvania) IronPigs and
Fresno (California) Grizzlies. In 2014, the
IronPigs created an alternate jersey featuring
Bacon USA emblazoned across the front.
But in 2016, the IronPigs team, which is the
Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's
Philadelphia Phillies, donned the bacon jerseys
every Saturday.
"You throw a lot of ideas on the wall and
see what sticks," Jon Schaeffer, vice president
of media and communications for the team,
said at the time. "I remember thinking the idea
was so wacky and so unique that I had a feeling
it was going to take off."
The IronPigs website stated that the
amount of bacon sold at Coca-Cola Park
doubled, and "...The original bacon cap
remains one of the top-selling lids in the
history of Minor League Baseball. With
widespread interest and publicity, the bacon
logo quickly sold to each of the 50 states as
well as Australia, Japan, Germany and the
United Kingdom..."
The Bacon USA jerseys and caps proved
to be so popular that another minor league
baseball team took notice. The Fresno
Grizzlies, the Triple-A affiliate for the World
Series Champion Houston Astros, adopted a
taco logo for the Grizzlies alternate jersey, and
proclaimed California's Central Valley "Taco
Capital of the World."
But the real magic happened when the
general managers of the two teams leveraged
the brands and logos to create a social media
sensation spurred by a nationwide poll with
one question: Bacon or Tacos?
In the end, bacon won the popular vote. To
seal the victory, the Fresno Grizzlies wore the
IronPigs' Fighting Bacon caps during a home
game against the Sacramento River Cats.

PLEASING PORK LOVERS
Gracie Volker, who with her husband Jim
Rutolo, co-own and operate Gracie's On
West Main in Leola, Pennsylvania, filled her
menu with special meals that put bacon
in the spotlight, such as a bacon sampler
featuring four slices of locally-sourced,
hardwood double-smoked bacon, two slices

of caramelized brown sugar bacon and two
slices of Irish bacon. The upgraded deluxe
bacon sampler includes every kind of bacon
Gracie's offers - double-smoked, caramelized,
Irish, sweet garlic chili, Worcestershire black
pepper, meat loaf bacon, a bacon of the week
every week, and a side of bacon jam with
toast points.
Rutolo makes the bacon jam, and each
batch requires about 15 lbs. of bacon combined
with molasses, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce
and expresso to produce 5 lbs. of bacon jam.
Also on offer is a bacon and cheese
sandwich; buffalo bacon bits with smoked
cube slab bacon; a triple-bacon BLT and bacon
green beans; and there's maple bacon walnut
pie for dessert.
Of course, there's still bacon and eggs
for breakfast. But in spring of 2017, Gracie's
sponsored a seven-course dinner with bacon as
the signature ingredient across courses. There
are plans to sponsor another dinner in 2018.
"I could take off everything on the menu
containing bacon, and some people probably
wouldn't notice," Volker said. "Obviously, there
are a lot of non-bacon items on our menus. But
a lot of customers would realize it right way,
because they come here for the bacon."

The deluxe bacon sampler
from Gracie's on West Main
features double-smoked,
caramelized, Irish, sweet
garlic chili, Worchestershire
black pepper, meat loaf
bacon, a bacon of the week
and a side of bacon jam.

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