SAUK RAPIDS -- The fastest hands in Central Minnesota put their grocery bagging skills up against the clock.

Over 50 Coborns area employees competed for the title of best bagger.

"This is my third year I have done it, it's just a lot of fun," says Clearwater Coborns employee Andrew Kovach.

Contestant are not only judge on speed, but on bag-building technique, weight distribution, style, attitude, and appearance.

"You got to be fast, you got to make sure you don't put light bulbs or chips on the bottom of bags, and make sure it looks good for the customers," says Sauk Rapids Coborns employee Kaitlin Janson.

When it was all said done Bobbi Brehmer from the Sauk Rapids Coborns store took third place winning $25. Patrick Garcia from the Belle Plain Coborns took home second place winning $50.

But this years Best Bagger title and winner of $100 goes to Tyler Haselkamp from the Clearwater Coborn’s store.

"My store manager asked me Friday and at first I said no, but then thought I might as well and it feels good I'm glad I did it," says Haselkamp.

He will be representing Coborn’s at the Minnesota Grocers Associations’s Best Bagger Contest held in August at the Mall of America.

"I'm very excited. It's going to be nerve racking but it's going to be fun," says Haselkamp.

Haselkamp will compete for a $500 prize, and a chance to move on to the National Grocers Association’s Best Bagger Contest in Las Vegas.

The national contest will be held in February with the grand prize of $10,000 on the line.

Since 1989, five Coborn’s employees have advanced to the National Competition.

Coborns Employees compete for Best Bagger title. (Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
Coborns Employees compete for Best Bagger title. (Photo: Alex Svejkovsky, WJON)
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