nopEda,

Are any breakfast link sausages available in your area? I don’t recall ever buying links in the 5 years I was in NC. Are links a Northern thing?

I prefer other brands over the food service offerings at restaurants. Jones Farms and Johnsonville are widely available here. I believe Johnsonville breakfast links are available at Walmart in the North.

Jim

Breakfast links are the most common breakfast sausage here. Small and large…although most dinners and such serve the larger links! I’m very surprised if I’m served patties.

I sent a message to one of their Atlanta locations asking about that in particular but got no reply. How did you find out they deliver in the Buford area? Would that same source tell where they deliver? That’s the sort of information I’m trying to find out but don’t know how to find it. And also why I’m asking people in a forum like this.

I’m going to answer your questions in reverse order.

The question you originally asked is part of a much larger question “Where do restaurants and roadfood places buy their food?”. Fair question, since they don’t teach this in elementary or high school, and especially if you never worked at a job where you had to buy wholesale from a distributor. The best primer I found is the Wikipedia entry for a foodservice distributor:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foodservice_distributor https://en.wikipedia.org/…oodservice_distributor

One of the first foodservice distributors I bought from was what is now called Maines Food and Party Warehouse. I found them simply by passing their building up in Johnson City, NY about 30 years ago. Here, I found things that I saw in restaurants, but could not buy in local supermarkets. Things like Modified Food Starch, deep fat fryer cooking oils, and other things not for sale in local grocery stores and supermarkets. Maines has a detailed website discussing how these “cash and carry” stores work:

https://www.mainesfood.net/about-us https://www.mainesfood.net/about-us/

Maines was a comparatively small company back then. Their core foodservice distribution business grew tremendously, as described on their other website:

https://www.maines.net/broadline/about-us https://www.maines.net/broadline/about-us

I think all of us on Roadfood have, at one time or another, found something at a roadfood place that we wished we could also have at home. Lets say the Sabrett natural casing frank found at places like Grey’s Papaya in NYC. You CAN buy them at some ShopRite supermarkets in the Northeast. But once you leave the northeast, it gets hard. But Sabrett as a manufacturer sells to brokers nationwide. The only problem is that it is in pockets. So now if you can locate a nearby pocket, you can buy in bulk, possibly freeze some of them, and now have a Sabrett whenever you get the craving without having to travel to New York. On the New Jersey Hot Dog thread are many discussions on how to properly prepare Sabrett hot dogs.

In your case, you liked a breakfast sausage you found in Maine. The problem is that it is a private label brand, similar to the Great Value brand you find in Walmart. Worse, it is a private label brand belonging to a wholesaler who does not want to serve the retail market. If you had the cardboard box it came in and got the USDA plant number, you would know who actually manufactured it. But that is not a guarantee you could obtain it at retail. Sometimes an outfit as large as SYSCO will get a spice mixture exclusive to them. Besides, restaurants do not want to serve stuff that tastes exactly the same as food you buy at the supermarket and prepare at home. More sales that way. So, trying to buy a food item from a foodservice distributor is somewhat akin to planning a bank job.

I was a bit sloppy in claiming SYSCO delivered to Buford. Knowing the delivery radius of the average broadline foodservice warehouse, I took a look at a map and saw it looked like 50 miles down to Atlanta via I-85. A little like a carpenter determining by eye the length of a counter to be replaced. Just about every warehouse delivers out 50 miles.

I forgot to mention that SYSCO now has various lines of businesses, some in locations where they bought out the previous owners there. The one you want is in College Park. The one in Newnan is SYGMA. This is a dedicated delivery service for ,3,876791.001001001001001001002,7,21084,73.212.145.180
876852,876759,876847,2018-10-05 00:54:57.630000000,Re: On The Road With RL Reeves Jr: Hicks’ Hot Tamales In Clarksdale Mississippi”

SYSCO is tough. They are the country’s biggest foodservice distributor. I know of only three cities in which SYSCO still has a cash and carry: Nashville, TN, Elkridge (Baltimore) MD, and Pocomoke City, MD. Albany, NY used to have one, but it closed. Most were from local broadline distributors that SYSCO bought out. Most branches only deliver to businesses doing a minimum monthly business.

You can call Atlanta here and see if they will accommodate you:

https://sysco.com/Contact/Contact/Our-Locations/Atlanta https://sysco.com/Contact…/Our-Locations/Atlanta

====

ADDENDUM: This is tougher than I thought. I have an old file of one SYSCO’s product catalog. I see about 130 products labeled sausage, and about 13 of those could be SYSCO Classic (mid-tier) and SYSCO Reliance (bottom-tier) breakfast sausage items in link and patty form. They also sell dozens of other name-brand breakfast sausage items. So, the first question is if the restaurant in Maine bought SYSCO brand sausage, or bought a name brand sausage from SYSCO. Then, SYSCO sausage items seem to be available in raw and cooked form. Then, flavors listed include maple, mild, and spicy. So, in hindsight, the following recommendations may cause you to buy the wrong kind without more information.
END OF ADDENDUM
====

SYSCO likes to sell restaurants their house brands (more profit). It is almost impossible to tell who makes them for SYSCO. But, if you like their sausages, here are a few suggestions:

1. Look for clues that a food businesses buys from SYSCO. Sugar packets are low hanging fruit. Jelly packets. Steak Sauce. Imprint on flatware. You will usually see boxes there with SYSCO written on them. Approach the owner and see if they will order some for you, and expect a slight markup. If no success:

2. We know SYSCO delivers in the Buford area. Check local breakfast places, diners, hotels, dives, company cafeterias, restaurants. If they buy from SYSCO, ask if they use SYSCO sausages or some name brand. Just go to  one of these places when you get that craving!

While I don’t know that I’ve ever had a Sysco branded sausage link, (I wouldn’t know, as I don’t usually ask), my favourite brand to use at home is Purnell’s Old Folks Brand Fresh Pork Sausage Links. These are some really tasty links and are a family fav at my house! I usually find them at my local Meijer Grocery up here, not sure where’d you find them in Georgia.

# https://itsgooo-od.com/fresh-pork-sausage-links/

About 10 years ago I asked and was told by a local restaurant owner friend where their breakfast sausage came from and he told me that it was Farmland fully cooked breakfast sausage and they got thru Sysco Food Service. It became my favorite breakfast sausage – it had good flavor and was very mild and juicy.

The only thing I could find nowadays that might be it or at least similar:

https://smithfieldfoodservice.com/product/silver-medal-fully-cooked-sausage-link-100-sausages-per-case-10-pound-case-frozen https://smithfieldfoodservice.com/product/silver-medal-fully-cooked-sausage-link-100-sausages-per-case-10-pound-case-frozen/

https://www.foodservicedirect.com/farmland-silver-medal-fully-cooked-skin-on-sausage-link-20-1-1-each-1929183.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0u-JtYLd4AIVC6xpCh2_gQULEAQYASABEgLHG_D_BwE https://www.foodservicedirect.com/farmland-silver-medal-fully-cooked-skin-on-sausage-link-20-1-1-each-1929183.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0u-JtYLd4AIVC6xpCh2_gQULEAQYASABEgLHG_D_BwE 

 This is the nearest that I could find still available to retail consumers -I’m not sure where it’s sold – not here in the Ohio/ Indiana area sad to say.

https://www.farmlandfoods.com/products/sausage/pork-bacon-sausage-links-8ct https://www.farmlandfoods.com/products/sausage/pork-bacon-sausage-links-8ct/

When Smithfield bought Farmland Foods a few years ago , a lot of Farmlands consumer products disappeared from the market unfortunately.

Hi,

I recently had Sysco breakfast sausage links at a restaurant in Maine and really liked them but it’s looking like a individual can’t just go buy them anywhere. I’m in the Buford, GA area. Is anyone familiar with them and if so can you suggest a way for an individual to purchase them? Or a similar product that’s not difficult to come by?

Thank you for any suggestions!

David

try Performance Food Group in Oakwood,GA just up 985 from you. 

I don’t know what Sysco’s sausages are like but you might want to start with national brands like Bob Evans, Johnsonville, etc. to see if they’re reasonable facsimiles.  My guess is that since Sysco distributes nationally the sausages might tend toward the mild side as far as seasonings and taste go, with an above average amount of fat.

I deleted my comment from last night because it was sort of a smart ass answer. Sorry. In the below email David hit the nail on the head. Sysco sells to wholesale accounts and not individuals. I live in Georgia and our company sells chicken to US Foods,Sysco,and Performance Food Group. In your 1st post you asked about the possibility of a similar product to the Sysco sausage and that is why I mentioned Performance in Oakwood. Years ago they allowed walk up sales BUT you had to know exactly what you were looking for. My suggestion is check out Buford Highway Farmers Market. They have a huge selection and I wish I lived 2 hours closer to it. 

nopEda,

Are any breakfast link sausages available in your area? I don't recall ever buying links in the 5 years I was in NC. Are links a Northern thing?

I prefer other brands over the food service offerings at restaurants. Jones Farms and Johnsonville are widely available here. I believe Johnsonville breakfast links are available at Walmart in the North.

Jim

nopEda, What place in Maine? Maybe I can help.

Top

Sometimes a restaurant would be happy to sell you a few pounds of one of their products.

I get pizza dough and house made salad dressing to one of my local pizza places.

It can never hurt to ask.

Maybe you can get lucky and have a nice salesperson for Sysco tell you who is making their sausage, then just go buy that manufactures product from the local grocery store.