Community Corner
Sunset Foods Bagger Seeks to be Best in Nation
Jorge Mejia, who works at the Lake Forest store, will represent Illinois in the National Grocery Bagger Championship next week.
LAKE FOREST, IL - A bagger at Sunset Foods in Lake Forest will have a chance to prove he’s better at it than anyone else this weekend at the National Grocery Bagger Championship in Las Vegas.
Jorge Mejia already won the Illinois State Grocery Bagging competition and will be a part of the National Grocers Association’s ‘Best Bagger Contest’ at the NGA Show at The Mirage in Las Vegas from Feb. 28 to March 2.
“I’m a bit nervous,” he told Jon Hansen of the “You & Me Show.” “I have a big responsibility to represent the whole state.”
Mejia - the two-time defending Sunset Foods bagging champ - will compete against winners from all other states in the preliminary rounds and then could be in the final round, which will feature the top five baggers in the nation.
They will be judged on “speed, proper bag building technique, distribution of weight between bags and style, attitude and appearance,” according to the rules listed by the NGA.
Pete Commons, assistant store manager for Sunset Foods in Lake Forest, will join Mejia on the trip to Las Vegas and says there’s “no reason” his chief bagger can’t win the whole thing.
“He’s got a great chance,” Commons said. “Last year he went to the state championship and was the first one to finish, but didn’t place because his bags weren’t weighed evenly. Once he learned that was part of the criteria, he fixed that and won this year.”
Commons said as far as he knows Mejia had no prior bagging experience prior to joining the Sunset Foods team five years ago.
“He started bagging with us and not long after that we knew he excelled at it,” said Commons. “He sees things other baggers can’t. While other baggers sometimes have their head in the bag, Jorge is always paying attention. That’s why he got a promotion and has continued to do a better and better job for us.”
Mejia told Hansen that he prefers paper over plastic because with plastic bags “you can’t organize the groceries that much. With paper you can make it your style.”
Ten thousand dollars awaits the winner of the national championship, an annual event since 1985.
If he wins, Mejia promised he won’t fall for any recruiting tricks by other companies. He’ll stick with Sunset.
“If win, I will come back and talk to my manager for my raise,” he said.
Photo: YouTube screengrab
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
