What's New At Saz's?
Saz's Catering - Official Caterer of the ABC Good Morning America
"At Your House" Series
On Friday, April 24th, we received a call from a representative of the Good Morning America production crew, inquiring as to our availability to cater a "BBQ Picnic" for a "specal" group of people at a park in Waukesha on the following Tuesday. Now those of you that know us can guess that our answer would naturally, be "yes, what time would you like us to start the picnic?..."
Well, the story climbs from here. The first thing that was said, was "this is a very special event and you cannot tell ANYONE about this.... we looked at your website and we liked what we saw about your BBQ catering. Our group may be about 300 people and it's for the "At Your House Series". We just completed a contest and a lucky family in Waukesha has been chosen as the winning entrant".
OK, 300 people, contest winner, picnic in the park... nothing out of the ordinary. We've catered larger events and this should go fairly smoothly. That was soon to change.
For the next couple days we began a dialog with the main producers of the At Your House program. A crew was flying in from New York and a site producer has just landed in Milwaukee and needs to meet with us. Now. This little BBQ in park was beginning to take on a new life of its own.
Good Morning America (GMA) producers now started laying the ground work, telling us that there were 5 locations around the country chosen for a potential "Live" broadcast BBQ in a residential setting. In each location, GMA went to all the neighbors saying they were throwing a BBQ and you all are invited. Well this little "You all are invited" got out to the local newspapers, saying GMA was throwing a party for Waukesha.... wait... what??? We got on the phone to GMA and mentioned this little "catch" to the party. Well, shortly thereafter a retraction was listed on the online source.
The secrecy over the whole event was that the "someone in Waukesha" was chosen as the winner and that the entire Good Morning America Crew was about to decend on our little community - and Saz's Catering is running point. Diane Sawyer, Robin, Chris and Sam were on their way.
Well being what we are good at , we cranked it up a notch and made it known that this little party was growing. 300 people will probably be in the first 30 minutes. Boy were we right. By the time the picnic was underway and th GMA morning show team showed up to work the crowd, the party swelled to well over 1300 people in just a couple hours.
3 commercial BBQ grills were cranking out the food as fast as we could and another truck load of supplies was enroute. Waukesha DID show up for the party.
This was only the beginning to our involvement. The production crew and setup teams (around 250 in all) were in need of breakfast (at 2:00 a.m., mind you) and there was going to be another breakfast for a large group around 8:00 a.m.. And by the way, "Can your Chef assist Sandra Lee in her cooking show that will be airing live in the morning on our Good Morning America Show....? Wait... what?
Only one answer to all the above - "SURE".
All we can say is that there was so much happening in only a few days and our Saz's Hospitality and Catering team really surprised and impressed the whole GMA product and lead teams.
And to quote our main contact, our friend Anthony from the GMA Crew -
"To the Unshakable Saz’s Staff,
Thank you so much for all that you did to make our GMA visit to Waukesha, WI one to remember!
From the last-minute requests, to the emergency food reinforcements, you handled it professionally with a can-do attitude and a smile. You have no idea how much more pleasant your staff made our “invasion.” It’s not every day you feed an entire community!! Well, not for us anyway…
Please extend an extra thank you to Mr. Paris for his amazing execution of the Sandra Lee segment. It looked, and tasted, just like it would have on our GMA set. No one ever would’ve thought that it was put together in the middle of North Racine Avenue at 5:00 in the morning.
You guys were great from start to finish. I really appreciate every single thing you did to go above and beyond the call of duty. I now truly know why everyone says, “Saz’s is the FINEST!”
Thank you from the entire GMA staff!"
Best,
Anthony
And to all at the Good Morning America show and friends -
"Thank you for choosing Saz's Catering - we deliver nothing but "The Finest"
Camp Heartland -
Dining Out For Life
April 30th, 2009
Saz's State House, together with Milwaukee area restaurants, will be generously donating 25% of food and / or Bar sales to benefit the programs at Camp Heartland . Thousands of people will dine out for a common goal to benefit Camp Heartland. This all day fundraiser features more than 100 restaurants, bars & clubs in Southeastern Wisconsin and the greater Milwaukee area donating their proceeds to Camp Heartland.
Join us at Saz's for lunch or dinner and help us break new records for a very worthy cause.
For more information on Camp Heartland go to www.campheartland.org
Brewers vs Cub Series Weekend
Opening Day - April 10th 2009
Game Time 3:05 p.m.
- Bus transportation to and from the game - $5.00
Reservations recommended - Food & Drink Specials
Saturday -
Brewers vs Cubs
April 11th
Game Time 6:05 p.m.
- Bus transportation to and from the game - $5.00 per person
- Special Ticket Package - $70.00
Limited Supply - Call Now
Includes: Marquee Bleacher Ticket, Tailgate Buffet at Saz's,
Bus ride to and from the game. - Live music after the game featuring "Modern Giants"
9:00 p.m. - 1:00 a.m. - Food & Drink Specials
- Saz's Buffet only $20.00 (no other inclusions)
Saz's Signature Smoked Sausage
Saz's Shredded BBQ Pork
Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwiches with Sweet n' Spicy Sauce
House Recipe Cole Slaw
Ranch Beans
Kettle Chips
Pickles and all the Fixin's
Sunday
Brewers vs Cubs
April 12th
Game 7:00 p.m.
- Bus transportation
to and from the game - $5.00
Reservations Recommended
Breakfast at Saz's?
Yes indeed! Move over Tiffany.
Chef Rob has come up with great new breakfast items that will be served only on Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Sort of a Saturday Mini Brunch, if you will. We all know that sometimes we go out for a lunch on Saturday and breakfast sounds good about then - Here now, are the new menu items for your future enjoyment:
Scrambled Eggs with Cheese Hashbrown Casserole. $8.25
- Choice of grilled ham or bacon; white, wheat or rye toast and a side of fresh fruit.
Grilled Waffles with Cheese Hashbrown Casserole. $7.95
- Your choice of apple fruit topping or syrup with a side of fresh fruit.
Cinnamon French Toast with Cheese Hashbrown Casserole. $7.95
- Choice of apple fruit topping or syrup with a side of fresh fruit.
Breakfast Wrap. $7.50
- Scrambled eggs with onion, pepper, mushrooms, ham and cheese. Served with cheese casserole and a side of fresh fruit.
Come on in and give us your thoughts.
Saz's Sauces are Internationally Famous
When former Milwaukeean, Lynn Hemera (Torgerson) moved to New Zealand, she knew there was one thing missing from her favorite meals prepared on the "Barbee" - Saz's BBQ Sauces.
So when she wanted to surprise her husband with Saz's Sauces, a chartered plane trip to Milwaukee was the first thought, but time was not in her favor. As a back-up plan, she thought, 'Could Saz's Award Winning BBQ Sauces be flown to me Down Under? Barbecue season is starting now, and no one we know is flying down to see us anytime soon, what shall we do?'
After a few emails and phone calls, we decided to give this a try. With a little research and pricing, USPS was chosen as the most economical way to get our Saz's Sauces to the southern hemisphere. The Post Office has a Priority Mail International Flat Rate Box that holds a maximum of 20 pounds and for less than $50, we just might be able to squeeze a few bottles of sauce into the box and fly this package down to the Kiwi's in New Zealand. 
Well, as it turns out, we were able to get 6 bottles of Saz's Original and a couple bottle of Saz's Sassy Sauce comfortably packed into the box. After filling out a Customs Declaration form in triplicate, we turned over the box to the USPS and bid the package farewell. If all goes according to plan Lynn would get her Saz's Sauces in about 6-10 days.
Our next email was sent to Lynn letting her know that the merchandise had been shipped and she can expect to get the package in about 6 days. We left instructions to let us know when it arrived so that we would be able to tell how long it actually took, what was the condition of the package upon arrival and did anyone in the postal employee chain help themselves to a bottle a Saz's Sauce enroute to New Zealand?
And so... here is the actual communication from Lynn - 5 days later:
"This is to let you know that the package arrived this afternoon with all the bottles intact. (So we can be grateful that the US and NZ postal service were honorable and didn't try to pinch a bottle of the Finest!) Thanks so much for arranging this for me and I will be sure to send you some stories and photos soon. The timing is great and my husband didn't see the parcel so it will really be a surprise. Over the weekend, he was whinging about not having any Saz's sauce and it was all I could do to keep my mouth shut! Thanks and as I said, I will be back in touch with you again - relaying bbq tales from DownUnder. Have a great Christmas!"
We look forward to hearing from the Torgerson's in New Zealand and will post their pictures as soon as they arrive.
Merry Christmas Down Under to Lynn, Brian and son Jimmy. From all of us at Saz's.
Saz's customers vote for
"The Finest"
The "A-list" on WISN.com
Saz's voted the "Best BBQ in Milwaukee"
(Click here for details on the Best BBQ contest.)
On Milwaukee.com
Saz's voted "Milwaukee's Best Fries"
(Click here for details of the Best Fries in Milwaukee.)
A Big "Thank You" to all our customers who have supported and voted for us.
