FLUTIE FLAKES ARE SCORING BIG IN BUFFALO, NEW ENGLAND

BARBARA McDONALD

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Flutie Flakes, the private-label sugar-frosted corn flakes named after Buffalo Bills quarterback Doug Flutie, have taken western New York and New England by storm.

Even though the cereal is in only those two markets, more than 600,000 boxes flew off the shelves between Sept. 1 and Nov. 9, according to Ty Ballou, president of PLB Sports, Pittsburgh. His company does marketing, product development and packaging, and handles sales. The cereal is made by Jasper Foods, Jasper, Mo., a leading private-label producer.

"They are in such demand that we cannot keep them on the shelves," said Stephanie Zakowicz, director of public and community relations for Tops Markets here.

Ballou said all major retailers in western New York and New England carry the cereal, which sells at $2.99 for a 20-ounce box. It's being introduced to Canada, too, where Flutie played for eight years.

"We put the product together with Doug and his agent," Ballou told SN. What makes it work is the individual, Ballou said. He compares the success of the Flutie product to Paul Newman's Newman's Own brand with the actor's face on the label.

A portion of the proceeds will go to the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, which Flutie set up because his son has the neurological and developmental disorder.

"Little did we think that this thing would hit the heights that it has," Ballou said. "There isn't a grocery or a mass merchant chain [in the two regions] that hasn't had Flutie Flakes in it."

At games, Buffalo fans bring the cereal boxes with them, holding them aloft and waving them during exciting moments.

Even after the Bills lost to the New York Jets Nov. 8, PLB's phones were still lighting up with orders and questions. The Bills will play the Jets again Dec. 19, in the Buffalo stadium, Ballou noted.

SN bought a box for exactly the suggested retail, $2.99, in the Wegmans Food Markets unit in Geneseo, N.Y., where the product was not found in the cereal aisle but rather in a special display. A woman purchasing multiple boxes of it said of Flutie, "He gives us hope."

In price, the flakes are positioned close to national brands, which are more than $3 for the same size box, but above private label, said Jim Walker, regional sales manager for Jasper Foods.

By the beginning of December, Ballou expects to have sold a little more than a million boxes of Flutie Flakes. PLB Sports dealt successfully with Tops Markets last year in the Cleveland market, setting up a salsa line for an Indians player, he added.

Media coverage of Flutie Flakes -- front page of the New York Times Sports section Sunday, Nov. 8; the back page of Newsday's sports section a few days before; and two appearances on "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert, a big Bills fan -- has been remarkable, Ballou said. Although PLB had planned to advertise, the company won't now, not only because it doesn't need to, but because it is so hard to keep the cereal in stock. PLB does not want to risk creating a demand that cannot be filled.

Jasper Foods makes 21 different varieties of cereal, store-brand alternatives for most of the name-brand cereals, Walker said.

The Flutie project has encouraged Jasper Foods "to think about other ways to market the category, to find new ways to market cereal brand alternatives," Walker said. Jasper Foods exhibited at the Private Label Manufacturers Association show Nov. 16 and 17 in Chicago.