Jelly Belly Names Illinois Man Winner of Flavor Contest
Jelly Belly has crowned an Illinois man the winner of its flavor contest for his suggestion of an acai berry-flavored jellybean.
Joel Tokarczyk, a 19-year-old art student from Matteson, IL, won the $10,000 grand prize. He came up with the idea to have the exotic Amazon rainforest fruit as a jellybean flavor after learning it was the new “super food,” Jelly Belly said.
“I really got into it, and started doing some research,” Tokarczyk said in a statement. “I’ve had acai berry juice, and I thought that might be a good idea for a Jelly Belly.”
Jelly Belly plans to test the winning flavor and will make a test batch, which the winner sample, a company spokesperson said. The company wouldn’t say whether the new flavor would ultimately come to market.
Tokarczyk, one of five contest finalists, plans to use his winnings to pay for tuition at Columbia College Chicago, where he recently started classes with plans to study animation, Jelly Belly said. The winning idea was one of about 200,000 suggestions for a new flavor submitted as part of the six-month-long contest.
The finalists’ flavor ideas were posted on the contest site in August at www.DreamBeanContest.com where people voted for their favorite. The finalists’ ideas included Honey, Sublime Chili Lime, Thai Ice Tea, Mojito and Acai Berry.
More than 2,000 instant-win prizes were awarded daily, including, Jelly Belly Bean machines and a year’s supply of jellybeans.
Jelly Belly promoted the contest on products ranging from 3.5-ounce packages to two-pound bags, as well as via online marketing and in-stores displays. EPrize handled the contest for the firm.
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