Tasty auction tale ends as Edmonton-based restaurant chain buys Alberta donair costume

Bidding war for donair costume over A local donair chain is the new owner of a donair costume after a month-long bidding war. Marek Tkach has more.

And the winner of delicious style is …

An Edmonton-based donair and poutine chain is the new owner of a donair costume, winning an auction by an Alberta government surplus site.

PrimeTime Donair and Poutine won the month-long sale by Surplus Sales Alberta's online auction site, paying $16,025. In the end, would-be owners of the life-sized street-food suit placed 1,711 bids, with PrimeTime's bid coming inside the final few hours to take it.

"We were amused by it. We thought it was funny!" president Adil Asim told CTV News Edmonton.

"You know, this is an Alberta costume. It was made [for] the Alberta government. It should stay in Alberta and be with Albertans and that's why I kept bidding up."

The restaurant chain has 19 locations across Alberta, 17 of them in Edmonton and area.

The latex costume — which stands six feet tall and features fake beef, onions, tomatoes, lettuce and sauce — was put up for auction by the provincial government surplus site in mid-July. The suit was originally created in 2015 for use in a government-sponsored anti-impaired driving commercial.

Aside from mall appearances near PrimeTime locations, Asim is still not sure what all will be done with the donair suit now that his company has it wrapped up.

"I might squeeze my 16-year-old son into it, just to kind of get up, get it going around, but we definitely were thinking of collaborating with some comedians possibly and doing some TikTok content," he said.

He's also thinking about using it to benefit charitable causes, like Edmonton's food bank. Spokesperson Tamisan Bencz-Knight said she's open to that collaboration.

"Whatever that looks like, whether it's providing meals, participating in an event or even just having our mascot out with your mascot giving hugs and high fives, there are always opportunities, so we’ll see what happens," she said.

The minister responsible for overseeing the sale says he's "pleasantly surprised" with the final bid, although he wasn't sure what'll be done with the proceeds from the sale.

"It has certainly made for an interesting story, and the good news is ... Alberta taxpayers are getting their money back for that donair costume," said Dale Nally, minister of Service Alberta, which oversees surplus sales by the province.

The costume's manufacturer told CTV News Edmonton in July it sold the suit to the Alberta government for a sum between $12,000 and $15,000.

The donair made headlines in Canada and internationally once bids started climbing into the thousands of dollars in the week following its debut on the auction site. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith 'met' the costume during the annual Taste of Edmonton event in July as news of its impending sale spread.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach