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Dorsey, 19, competed against nine other contestants Thursday, all of whom gathered at the Doubletree Hotel in SeaTac to show off their skills in quickly and correctly loading paper and reusable bags.
Dorsey said he fell just short of the $1,500 first-place prize because he forgot to bag a stick of gum that was hidden by a loaf of bread during the first round of competition. Still, he improved on his appearance in 2008, when he finished out of the running, and won some money for the holiday shopping season. A group of store employees also showed up to support him.
“They brought signs and everything,” he said. “We made some noise.”
In addition to a $1,500 first-place prize, the winner advances to a national “bag-off” contest in Las Vegas to compete for a $10,000 grand prize. This is the fourth year of the statewide contest, said Jan Gee, the food industry association’s president and chief executive. Ralph’s Thriftway employee Andrea Light also took home second-place honors last year.
The third-place winner this year collected $500, and everyone else got to take home at least $100, Gee said. Information about the other winners was not immediately available.
Dorsey, a North Thurston High School graduate, advanced to the statewide contest after winning an in-store challenge. Other stores represented at the statewide contest included Metropolitan Market from north Tacoma, Trader Joe’s of Issaquah, Wray’s Food and Drug of Yakima and a PCC Natural Markets store in Seattle, Gee said.
Dorsey has worked at Ralph’s since he was 16 and said he has a range of duties that include stocking dairy products, working as a cashier and collecting shopping carts in the parking lot. He hopes to one day land an apprenticeship with Puget Sound Energy, he said.
“If I don’t let anything razz me, I can take it,” Dorsey said prior to Thursday’s competition.
The perfectly bagged grocery bag has its weight evenly distributed, with boxes or hard items around the outside, glass items in the center and eggs or chips on top, Dorsey said.
This year’s event emcee was Lt. Gov. Brad Owen. Last year’s emcee was John Curley, the former host of KING 5’s Evening Magazine.
Rolf Boone: 360-754-5403 rboone@theolympian.com www.theolympian.com/bizblog
