At the first annual Nonni’s Family day today in Concord NH Nonni’s Italian Eatery has set the worlds record for the largest meatball ever made! The world record breaking Meatball was 222.5 lbs! That breaks the previous world record by 25 lbs!!!!!

Then as soon as the festivities were complete the humongous meatball was broken down into tasty bite sized portions and packaged up and delivered to local area shelters to feed the hungry.

Congratulations to all the Nonni’s Staff who made this possible! Stay tuned for more media updates, including video of the actual weigh in!

Again, many thanks for all your support – Chef Mat.

Come and witness as Nonni’s breaks the Guinness book of World Records with theWorld’s largest meatball! There will be plenty of free food, demos, games and prizes for the whole family.

When:

November 1, 2009

Where:

Nonni’s – Holiday Inn Concord
172 North Main Street,Concord • (603) 224-0400
(Events will be held in the Ballroom)

Time:

12:00 – 3:00

Contests

• Meatball Eating Contest • SpicyMeatball Contest
• KidsMeatball Ladle Run

Two Ways to Win

1. Enter to win a Family Meatball (Spaghetti too)
2. Dinner for Four – Once a Month for a Year!

Guess the final weight of theWorld’s Largest Meatball when you come out and view it for yourself or go to www.goodeatsnh.com and click on the picture of “Mat and the Meatball”and enter to win.

You see, for the past few weeks, Nonni’s has featured an outdoor sign that advertises a November 1st Guiness World Records attempt in the “World’s Largest Meatball” category (http://worldslargestmeatball.com/). The existing champion meatball, weighing in at 198.6 pounds, was cooked up on September 24th as part of ABC Television’s Jimmy Kimmel Show and bested a previous attempt fashioned as a promotion for the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs film.

When asked about the journey to shatter Kimmel’s record, Nonni’s Owner and Chef Matthew Mitnitsky said, “This is no small feat.” It seems that Guinness World Records is very specific about the requirements. First of all, the giant meatball must be completely edible; it must also maintain the classic ingredients that make up a traditional meatball; the recipe must be submitted in both pounds and metric conversions; lastly, the final weigh-in must be performed by state approved “weights & measures” personnel in order to ensure accuracy.

Well, Nonni’s certainly faces a daunting task, but it has already proven itself a champion in the world of creative marketing. How many times do you receive special offers from restaurants offering half price specials or free appetizers during slow business days? You can keep counting….I’ll wait. Ok, now how many times does an eatery actually take their marketing efforts one step further to create a promotion that will elicit media attention and set it apart from all similar restaurants? THIS IS GENIUS FOLKS.

With a touch of creativity, a generous helping of oregano and pounds and pounds of meat, Nonni’s has fashioned a public relations strategy that is generating positive buzz throughout the state. In addition to the aforementioned Guiness World Records attempt, there will also be a “Meatball Challenge” where guests will test their appetites and stomach lining in consuming as many meatballs as possible in a 15 minute period, a “Meatball Ladle Run” and a “Mama Mia Spicy Meatball Challenge,” which promises to be a fiery encounter between man and meatball. Best of all, the, for lack of a better term, Meatball Colossus, will be donated to the Friendly Kitchen in Concord, a great community-minded touch to an event branded as “Family Day.”

What’s interesting about this promotion is that it can be applied to almost any industry. With very little money and the power of imagination, companies throughout the Granite State can create happenings that generate earned media, attract new customers and lead to increased sales. It’s the type of marketing that tells your customers, “We’re different from the competition. We’re exciting and cutting edge. We value your business so we’re going to go the extra mile to elicit your support.”

So congrats to Nonni’s and best wishes as you attempt to capture top honors on behalf of the Granite State. Canadian philosopher and author Marshall McLuhan enlightened the world in 1964 when he opined that “the medium is the message.” I’m here to tell Mr. McLuhan that in 2009, the rules of the game have changed and thanks to innovative businesses like Nonni’s, the “meatball is the message.”

Steve Boucher, a voracious meatball eater and fan of Nonni’s, is the Communications & Legislative Director at the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development.

You can also visit him on the “No Bull Business Blog” at blog.nheconomy.com, sign up for our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/Nobullblog or check out No Bull TV at http://www.youtube.com/user/nobulltv.

Nonni’s Italian Eatery Challenges the Guinness World Records™ record for “World’s Largest Meatball”

On Sunday, November 1, 2009, Nonni’s Italian Eatery, located at the Holiday Inn, will attempt to break the current standing world record for the largest meatball ever created. The record is currently held by the Jimmy Kimmel Live Show who set the record on September 24, 2009. The meatball weighed in at a whopping 198.6 pounds!

Nonni’s will attempt to shatter that record. “This is no small feat” says Owner and Chef, Mathew Mitnitsky, as Guinness World Records is very specific about the requirements. First of all, the giant meatball must be completely edible; it must also maintain the classic ingredients that make up a traditional meatball; the recipe must be submitted in both pounds and metric conversions; lastly, the final weigh-in must be performed by state approved “weights & measures” personnel in order to ensure accuracy.

So, the big question that everyone keeps asking…how do you cook a giant meatball? “Well, I wish I could tell you but I’m afraid that needs to be kept a secret for now. The one thing I will say is that it takes approximately two days to cook”.

Please join us for this free event!

The festivities will begin at 12:00pm on Sunday with several events scheduled. For example, the “Meatball Challenge” where we see how many meatballs you can consume in fifteen minutes.  Kids of all ages will also enjoy playing the “Meatball Ladle Run” where a team of two will be challenged to run meatballs across the room and place them into a pot of sauce. Finally, the “Mama Mia Spicy Meatball Challenge”… for those who like spicy foods, this one will be “hot”. Contestants will challenge themselves to a graduating heat of fiery meatballs.  Prizes will be given out to all the winners.

At 2:00pm, the main event will take place. Chef Mathew and his team of top meatball specialist will “roll out” the meatball for the record attempt. Guinness World Records will be here for the weigh in.

Music, beverages and more games will continue until 3:00pm.

The meatball will be donated to the Friendly Kitchen here in Concord NH.

As a promotion for the upcoming film “Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs,” Sony Pictures produced the world’s largest meatball with the help of Ritz Carlton hotel executive chef Rainer Zingrebe on August 4th, 2009 in Mexico. It weighed 109 pounds. Jimmy Kimmel was not amused: “Mexico can’t hold the world record for meatball!” So to celebrate the San Gennaro Festival, Jimmy had his team take 200 pounds of ground meat and win the record back!

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/25/jimmy-kimmel-sets-world-r_n_299800.html

When: November 1, 2009
Where: Nonni’s – Holiday Inn Concord
172 North Main Street,Concord • (603) 224-0400
(Events will be held in the Ballroom)
Time: 12:00 – 3:00

Contests

• Meatball Eating Contest • SpicyMeatball Contest
• KidsMeatball Ladle Run

Two Ways to Win

1. Enter to win a Family Meatball (Spaghetti too)
2. Dinner for Four – Once a Month for a Year!

Guess the final weight of theWorld’s Largest Meatball when you come out and view it for yourself or go to www.goodeatsnh.com and click on the picture of “Mat and the Meatball”and enter to win.

I had to keep the staff away from digging in….

Here is the proof 115 Pound meatball short of our goal of 125# but we have one more attempt on November 1 2009.

We are so excited about this event. It will begin on Sunday November 1st at 12 noon.
We will kick it off with fun family games like the ladle contest where two teams compete against each other trying to keep a meatball on a ladle while running across an area and setting the meatball into a pot of tomato sauce.

Also we have the famous meatball eating contest where ten contestants will try to consume the most meatballs in ten minutes. Finally we have the “Mama” Mia Spicy Meatball contest. We also have invited several special local groups to do exhibitions like a local karate group showing off there skills as well as local dance schools doing their thing as well.

Refreshments will be provided by our event sponsors Pepsi and New Hampshire Distributors.
At 2pm Nonnis will unveil the Worlds Largest Meatball. A team of surprise judges will be on hand as well as the official Guinness Book of World Records Staff.

Much more to come so stay tuned!

Now if you thought cooking the World’s Largest Meatball would be a simple as pounding a ton of ground beef into a mound, well you would be sorely mistaken!

Below you will find a collection of images that we have taken from our first test run of attempting to build Nonnis very own World Record Holding Meatball, at just over 150lbs! Stay tuned to this blog for more information, fun facts, and details about the big event we will be having to present our World Record Breaking Meatball on November 1st 2009 in Concord NH.