Alex Spears, courtesy clerk at the Food City store in Paintsville, Kentucky, has won the Kentucky Best Bagger competition, held Oct. 24 in Hazard, Kentucky, with 12 contestants. Spears received a $1,500 cash prize, a championship belt and an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas, where he will compete for the national title at the National Grocers Association convention in February.
The win gives Food City two state champions headed to the nationals: Riley Dixon, a courtesy clerk at the chain’s Independence, Virginia, store, won the Virginia Best Bagger title a week earlier.
“NGA hosts a premier event featuring only the most talented baggers from across the country. It’s a tremendous honor to qualify as a participant,” said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and CEO. “Food City is extremely proud to be represented by such an outstanding, talented young individual. Alex is an asset to our company and our region.”
NGA’s Best Bagger Championship, held during its annual convention, judges contestants on speed, bag-building technique, weight distribution between bags, style, attitude and appearance. The first contest was held in 1987 in Dallas as the “Texas-Oklahoma Checkout Shootout,” with former NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw as emcee; the event has grown to feature more than 25 state champions.
Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores, Food City’s parent company, operates 163 retail outlets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, north Georgia and Alabama.