Acai Berry Wins for New Flavor Idea for Jelly Belly Bean

    FAIRFIELD, Calif., Sept. 12 /PRNewswire/ -- The tallies are done and
 Jelly Belly Candy Company announced that fans voted acai berry
 (ah-sigh-ee), an exotic Amazon rainforest fruit, as the best idea for a new
 flavor. Almost 200,000 suggestions for new jelly bean flavors were
 submitted to the contest, and the public voted for the best original flavor
 concept at http://www.DreamBeanContest.com.
 
     Joel Tokarczyk of Matteson, Ill., a 19-year-old art student, was named
 a finalist in August and crowned the winner of the $10,000 grand prize for
 his submission. Tokarczyk came up with the idea of acai berry after
 learning it was the new "super food."
 
     "I really got into it, and started doing some research. I've had acai
 berry juice, and I thought that might be a good idea for a Jelly Belly,"
 Tokarczyk said. He also submitted at least 30 other ideas for new flavors.
 
     He will use his winnings to pay for tuition at Columbia College Chicago
 where he recently started classes with plans to study animation.
 
     "We received thousands of submissions for acai berry flavor -- it's
 clearly on many people's radar. The voting for the finalist flavors was
 overwhelming in favor of acai. Honey came in a strong second place," said
 Rob Swaigen, director of marketing for Jelly Belly Candy Company.
 
     Acai berries are a hot topic on national talk shows and are showing up
 in everything from fountain-of-youth supplements to celebrity beauty
 products, juices and energy bars.
 
     Five finalists were chosen and their dreamy flavor ideas were posted on
 the contest site where fans voted for the best one. The finalist ideas were
 Honey, Sublime Chili Lime, Thai Ice Tea, Mojito and Acai Berry. The trend
 in flavor ideas ran from desserts to exotics, with fusion flavors and
 ethnic food concepts being very popular.
 
     Jelly Belly Candy Company makes the taste defining Jelly Belly jelly
 beans in 50 official flavors and an ever changing array of new flavors and
 limited editions. The company that put the gourmet jelly bean on the map
 became known worldwide when Jelly Belly beans were taken to the White House
 during the Ronald Reagan administration. Check out
 http://www.JellyBelly.com.
 
 
 

SOURCE Jelly Belly Candy Company