Seattle?s Talia Randle, a grocery bagger from Metropolitan Market here in Magnolia, recently proved that she is the state?s top grocery bagger, out-pacing eight other competitors for the state title in the Best Bagger Battle.
As the state champion, Randle will receive a $2,000 cash prize and an all-expense paid trip to compete this February at the 2017 National Grocers Association National Best Bagging Championship in Las Vegas. If she wins, Randle would be the fourth national champion from Washington state in five years!
This is the second win in a row for Metropolitan Market, which is also home to the national bagging champ, Candice Lastimado, a bagger in the West Seattle store.
Much of this bagging success is owed to Glen Hasstedt, the trainer of Met Market champion baggers and current Store Director of the Magnolia location.? The champions respond well to his coaching style and urges them to ? ?stay grounded and do your work, do not get overwhelmed? ? which happens to be great advice for life in general!? This is also the fourth time Met Market has won the state championship, with all of the winners being coached by Glen.
The Best Bagger Battle is held in October at the McGavick Conference Center at Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, is sponsored by the Washington Food Industry Association Education Foundation. Each year, grocers from all over the state send their best grocery store baggers to compete in the challenge. Participants in the Best Bagger Battle compete in two rounds: the first, filling paper bags with groceries and the second, using reusable bags. Baggers are judged on a variety of factors, including overall speed time, bag building technique (damaged items, placement of crushable items, etc.) and style, attitude and appearance.