Photo courtesy of United Way
The second annual “United Way Ultimate Burger Battle” has come to a close, and the funds raised have doubled last year’s tally.
United Way East Ontario partnered with 20 restaurants across Prescott-Russell, Ottawa, Lanark County and Renfrew County for a month-long fundraiser in November. Each venue created a specialty burger for the campaign, with $2 from every Ultimate Burger sold directed toward United Way programs aimed at building stronger, healthier and safer communities.
United Way East Ontario says 5,570 Ultimate Burgers were sold during November, generating $28,398 for local programs. The total nearly doubles the roughly $15,000 raised during last year’s campaign.
Dennise Taylor-Gilhen, interim president and CEO of United Way East Ontario, tells myFM how the challenge came to be:
The awards for 2025 have been handed out, and three “People’s Choice Awards” (as voted on by the public) went to:
- The Royal Oak
- Starbite Resto
- Bowman’s Bar and Grill
The “Ultimate Burger of the Year” nod goes to “Meatball Madness” by Art-Is-In Bakery, and the most-burgers-sold honour goes to GBurger in Wellington West.
The lone Pembroke restaurant to enter the battle was Sopa, and owner Luiana says she knew right away that United Way was an organization she wanted to support for many reasons:
Taylor-Gilhen says that:
“It was amazing to see members of our community come together so enthusiastically to support their favourite local businesses while making a difference for the most vulnerable people at the same time.”
Plans are already underway for next year’s battle, and organizers expect many more entrants will be serving up burgers and supporting United Way.
(Written By: Richard Evans)