FLUTIE FLAKES, CHOCOLATE BAR MAKE PLAY IN NEW UNIFORM

BARBARA McDONALD

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Flutie Flakes in a new blue box labeled "Second Edition," released prior to the Pro Bowl last weekend, is now on retailers' shelves in western New York and the Boston area.

Retailers are wondering if the sugar-frosted cornflake cereal bearing the name of the Buffalo Bills' quarterback will fly off the shelves as quickly as the original red box last fall.

The final number for the red boxes is 1.5 million sold, and in the past two weeks 150,000 of the new blue boxes have followed, according to Ty Ballou, president of PLB Sports, Pittsburgh, which markets sports-oriented food products. The new package shows Doug Flutie's family on the side panel. The cereal retails at $2.99 for a 20-ounce box. A portion of the sales goes to the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism.

"We have promotions lined up with the top chains -- Tops and Wegmans -- through the summer, and retailers in New England too," added Ballou.

A Flutie Flakes 2.25-ounce chocolate bar, which retails for $1 and is made by Fowler's Chocolate Co. here, has sold 550,000 since mid-December, most of them in the original red label but 50,000 in the blue wrapper. The blue-wrappered candy bar is called the 1999 Pro Bowl Collector's Limited Edition and was introduced Superbowl weekend.

The bars are available in Fowler's own stores here, and also chiefly in Wegmans Food Markets and Tops Friendly Markets, both in western New York, said Ted Marks, president of Fowler's.

A portion of the proceeds from sales of the Flutie cereal and the candy bars goes to the Giving Back Fund, Boston, which sets up celebrity charity accounts. The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism receives the Flutie products' share.

PLB also works with Ed McCaffrey, the Denver Broncos' wide receiver, to sell boxes of honey nut oat cereal called Ed's End Zone O's. Available in Denver, mostly through King Soopers, the cereal in a 14-ounce box also retails at $2.99. It carries McCaffrey's picture on the box in Bronco colors, dark blue with orange lettering.

That cereal follows a successful launch of a line of mustards, called McCaffrey's Rocky Mountain Mustards, back in September. "We have sold to date just over 90,000 jars of mustard, most in the fourth quarter," Ballou said. There are spicy brown, creamy dijon and horseradish flavors. They are produced by Woeber Mustard Co., Springfield, Ohio.