Reached Yellowknife’s airport but forgot to pick up some Bullocks Bistro salad dressing and teriyaki cooking sauce?
You’re in luck. Whether you want to bring a taste of the Yellowknife fish emporium to relatives elsewhere, or you’re a tourist hoping to recreate the experience at home, you can now collect those condiments from vending machines past airport security.
Bullocks owner Jo-Ann Martin said the restaurant is trying to solve a practical concern by offering its sauces next to the gate.
Martin told Cabin Radio she had heard of many people who tried to pack Bullocks sauces in their carry-on baggage when leaving the city, only to have it confiscated by airport security as the bottles are over the 100-ml liquid container limit.
“We struggled with it for the last couple of years, trying to figure out if we should go with 100-ml bottles just for that purpose, or how we could do it,” Martin said.
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“We were going out to a trade show in March, sitting in the security area and looking at the vending machines. And we’re like … would it be possible to put it in a vending machine?”
Bullocks approached Territorial Beverages, the company that manages vending machines at the airport, to ask if salad dressing and cooking sauce could be stocked next to more common items like pop, chips and chocolate bars.
Initially, only the herb and garlic dressing bottle passed the vending machine test, as the shape of that bottle is thinner. The rounder cooking sauce bottle wasn’t the right shape.
In response, Bullocks started packaging the cooking sauce in the salad dressing bottle to ensure both made the vending machine grade.
The salad dressing has been for sale through the vending machine since May. The first box of repackaged cooking sauce was dropped off this week.
Martin said the vending machine takes credit cards – you won’t need to feed it handfuls of toonies to purchase a bottle while waiting for your plane.
