Cheesy Garlic Bread Wins Lay’s ‘Do Us A Flavor Contest’
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Lays(NEW YORK) — The people have spoken, and Cheesy Garlic Bread it is.
Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread potato chips will be coming soon to a grocery store near you after the unlikely flavor combination was chosen by voters as their favorite in the potato chip brand’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest.
The new flavor beat out finalists Lay’s Chicken & Waffles and Lay’s Sriracha in an online competition that drew more than one million votes on Facebook and Twitter and nearly 3.8 million consumer-generated flavors.
The winning flavor, announced Monday night in a red carpet affair at the Los Angeles restaurant owned by actress and “Do Us a Flavor” judge Eva Longoria, was the brainchild of Karen Weber-Mendham, a mom of three from Land O’ Lakes, Wis.
Weber-Mendham appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America in February with the other two finalists – Tyler Raineri (Sriracha) and Christina Abu-Judom (Chicken & Waffles) – and said she came up with Cheesy Garlic Bread after she saw her family snacking on cheesy garlic bread every time they went out for pizza.
“I have three kids and they’re always hungry,” she said. “I figured if they love it [cheesy garlic bread] that much, then everyone else will too.”
Weber-Mendham and her family will also undoubtedly love the $1 million prize that comes along with her win and the satisfaction of seeing her brainchild on the shelf of her local grocery store.
After the three finalist flavors were selected by a panel that included Longoria and Michael Symon, host of ABC’s The Chew, they were each developed by Frito-Lay and brought to store shelves in February.
Weber-Mendham’s Lay’s Cheesy Garlic Bread chips will remain on store shelves nationwide through the rest of the year. If one percent of her flavor’s 2013 net sales surpass the $1 million mark, Weber-Mendham, a part-time librarian, will take home that larger total as her grand prize.
The two runner-up flavors in the contest, Lay’s Sariachi and Lay’s Chicken & Waffles, will make an “encore appearance” in grocery stores this summer. Their creators will each receive a $50,000 prize, according to Frito-Lay.
This competition marked the first time the “Do Us a Flavor” contest was held in the U.S. Previous contests held in countries from the U.K. to India to South Africa have resulted in consumer-created flavors like Mastana Mango, Walkie Talkie Chicken, Caesar Salad, Chilli & Chocolate, Late Night Kebob and Cajun Squirrel.
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