McLean, VA – The Retail Bakers of America (RBA) and participating retail bakeries have concluded the 2008 Presidential Election Cookie Poll, which allowed bakery customers to “vote” for their next President. Voting took place at local bakeries across the country, and weekly totals were submitted to RBA for tallying. National and state totals, along with cookie photos and news articles, were posted to www.rbanet.com/2008cookiepoll.htm.

Bakeries offered decorated cookies with Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain’s name, photo or caricatures to their customers. Customers could “vote” as many times as they wished. Some bakeries offered cookies for the vice presidential candidates and third-party candidates, while others offered election cupcakes. RBA only tallied cookies sales for the presidential nominees. One cookie equaled one vote.

"The RBA cookie poll allowed bakeries to participate in the election in a fun way and brought new customers into many of our members' businesses,” said Lynn Schurman, RBA President and owner of Cold Spring Bakery, Cold Spring, Minn. “It was a great example of how capitalism and democracy work together for the benefit of all."

This is the second election for which RBA has held the cookie poll. The first was in 2004, when RBA accurately predicted the next president as George W. Bush. This year, RBA predicted a 59% to 41% lead for Obama through nationwide cookie sales. Over 74,000 cookies were sold in a nine-week period among 53 bakeries in 25 states. The cookie poll successfully predicted the winner in all of the states except Missouri, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Texas. In three of those states – Missouri, Pennsylvania and Texas – the cookie poll was accurate in the counties in which the bakeries are located. The only anomaly was Nevada with the county voting Democratic and the cookie poll going Republican.

The Retail Bakers of America (RBA) is a 501(c)6 not-for-profit trade association located in McLean, VA whose membership consists of retail bakeries, industry suppliers, educators, students, culinary colleges and other industry partners. The RBA is committed to the success of the retail baking industry. Celebrating its 90th anniversary year, RBA works as the business partner and resource provider for bakers across the country, and is the nation’s premier source for industry information.

Press Release:

The Upper Midwest Bakery Association held its first ever Ultimate Cake Decorating Competition at the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN on Sunday, November 4th. The contest featured 18 decorators with fourteen contestants competing in the wedding cake category and 14 competing in the birthday cake category. There was a lot of work put forth to make the whole day successful. There was an excellent group of competitive decorators representing the industry to the Mall of America crowd as well as family memebers and co-workers of the competitors showing their support for the 4 hour competition. The feedback from everyone involved was extremely positive. The event was a huge success.

Sunnie Guraedy of Arrowhead Miracle Mart, Minot, N. D. won First Place in both the wedding and birthday cake categories and took home two $1000 checks. Second place in the wedding cake category went to Juliet Brutger of Divine Cakes, Paynesville, MN while third place was claimed by Andrea Halleland of Erdman’s County Market of Kasson, MN.

In the birthday cake competition, Andrea Halleland took second while Juliet Brutger took third. Juliet Brutger also claimed the People’s Choice Awards in both categories. The public was invited to participate in the People’s Choice by voting for a suggested $1.00 donation going toward the UMBA Scholarship Fund for students studying the culinary arts or baking industry.

Guraedy completed a very successful year of decorating championships after winning the 2006 Pillsbury Grand Championship sponsored by the RBA and the 2007 IDDBA Decorating Competition.

The Ultimate Cake Decorating Contest was sponsored by the UMBA with donations of cash and materials from General Mills, Dawn Foods, Bakery Crafts, Gregory’s Foods, Best Brands and the Allied Golf Association. Sue Zelickson of WCCO radio was the event Master of Ceremonies and judges for the event were Gail Kollman, CD, CMB from SuperValu,
Marcy Alfonsi from St. Paul College and Craig Gustofson from American Cake Decorating magazine.

Submitted by:
Lynn Schurman
Contest Chair
Upper Midwest Bakery Association
308 Main St.
Cold Spring, MN 56320
For more information or pictures of the contest, contact Lynn at 320-685-8681 or lynnschu@aol.com

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