O'MALIA FOOD ENTRY RATED TOP SHELF IN 1996 COOKIE AND CRACKER CONTEST

ROSEANNE HARPER

CARMEL, Ind. -- The bakery operation of O'Malia Food Markets here took top honors in the 1996 International Culinary Cookie and Cracker contest, with its new "ultra chewy" ginseng and oatmeal cookies.

O'Malia, which is both a grocery wholesaler and retailer, competed and won against the likes of Walkers Short Bread and Ultimate Biscotti, according to Ron Williams, O'Malia's director of bakery operations.

The ultra chewy cookie recipe, under development for nearly a year, got pushed up on the priority list when Williams heard that the contest was coming up, he said.

"We actually sent cookies right out of R & D to be judged. They weren't even in our stores yet. So by the time we had introduced them in our stores, we already knew they were winners," Williams said.

They quickly became sales champs, too. The first time the cookies were advertised in O'Malia Food Markets' circulars, sales went soaring to 5,000 10-count packages in one week, according to Williams. The ad, which ran the last week in April, spotlighted the cookies' winning status and included a buy-one-get-one-free offer at O'Malia's seven in-store bakeries.

In the ad, a drawing of a blue ribbon at the top left corner had this message printed above: "Blue ribbon soft & chewy cookies from O'Malia's." The page was headlined, "O'Malia 'ultra chewy' cookies win three international awards and you can buy a box and get one free!" Several paragraphs then described the contest, and the cookies' placement in the competition.

Williams also appeared on the local segment of a network TV news show to talk about how O'Malia brought home the prizes.

The cookies, with a retail of $2.99 for a 10-count package, are made with a formulation that contains prunes, apples, potato flour and invert sugar.