Cranford Sloppy Joe Eating Champ Shares Winning Secret

CRANFORD, NJ - Mr. J's Deli owner John Taggert asked Raj D'Souza what the secret was to his Sloppy Joe eating success.

"Just keep swallowing," he said.

First time eating contest contestant D'Souza came out on top of the Sloppy Joe Eating Contest at the Celebrate Cranford event downing 7.5 sandwich pieces in eight minutes. As a result, he won gift certificates to the downtown businesses of his choosing.

“I’ve never entered an eating contest before. I enjoy challenges and really love Sloppy Joes, so it seemed like the best of both worlds," D'Souza told Downtown Cranford.

Mr. J's Deli provided the sandwiches, which are a traditional turkey, ham and swiss stacker with cole slaw and Russian dressing on rye bread. D'Souza bested five other competitors, and the $20 entrance fee for the contest was donated to Cranford Family Care.

D'Souza told the folks at Downtown Cranford he does what he can to support local business.

"We’ve lived in Cranford for almost eight years. We eat at a Cranford restaurant at least once a week and on the weekends we walk our dogs to town early in the morning," he said. "All the business owners we’ve interacted with are awesome, and we really try to stay local/shop local as much as possible.”

Despite saying how awful he felt during the contest, D'Souza said he recovered quickly.

"Around the six minute mark, I began to feel pretty awful but the crowd was amazing and kept me going," he said. "My wife, daughter, and I spent the next 30-45 minutes walking around the town and by dinner time, I was hungry again."

Tuesday morning, D'Souza was presented with gift certificates to the downtown businesses of his choosing:

• MilkMoney Cranford
• Perrotti's Quality Meats
• NJwineseller.com
• Track 5

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