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WEGMANS TEAMS UP WITH FLUTIE FOUNDATION

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (FNS) -- It seems that Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie is scoring in more than one category these days. After the successful run of private-label Flutie Flakes cereal, the football star is finding a deli sandwich named after him.ashioned subs," he said. "He said 'You guys make one incredible sub,' and he told us which one was his favorite. The rest is history."Following the football

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (FNS) -- It seems that Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie is scoring in more than one category these days. After the successful run of private-label Flutie Flakes cereal, the football star is finding a deli sandwich named after him.

ashioned subs," he said. "He said 'You guys make one incredible sub,' and he told us which one was his favorite. The rest is history."

Following the football star's admission that the retailer's turkey sub sandwich was one of his particular favorites, the chain went to work refining the ingredients to include a "dash of Flutie magic." The ingredients include turkey, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise and Wegmans' own sub dressing on a freshly-baked roll. The sandwich as dubbed Flutie's Favorite Sub. Other ingredients can be added at customer request.

Sales of this celebrity signature sandwich also benefits charity, since a portion of the sub sales is donated to the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism. This charity was launched by Flutie and his wife Laurie, on behalf of their son, who suffers from the neurological and developmental disorder.

To promote the signature item, along with the charity tie-in, the chain is using mentions in the in-store circular, items in print advertising and messages over the in-store broadcast system. A separate radio spot uses Flutie as the voiceover saying "Yes, I too was once a sub -- and to all the other Wegmans' subs, I say to you, hang in there 'cause each and every one of you is one incredible sub.'

Further promoting the program, in-store personnel at the Old Fashioned Subway Shop sport T-shirts saying "Wegmans -- Home of Flutie's Favorite Sub." These shirts are also offered for sale within the department.

The deli program started up just months after the Sept. 1 kickoff of Flutie Flakes, manufactured by Jasper Foods, Jasper, Mo., and marketed by PLB Sports, Pittsburgh. Sales surprised everyone: More than 600,000 boxes of the sugar-coated cereal had sold by Nov. 9 in western New York and New England, the only two market areas to initially receive the product. Some of the sale proceeds were also dedicated to the autism foundation.