Ovid Sandwich wins Subway contest

Two Ovid Bell employees were beaming last week, after finding out a sandwich they created won a regional contest.

The contest was sponsored by Subway's in Mid-Missouri, and stores from as far away as Branson participated. The contest had five breakfast sandwiches on the menu and the one that people purchased the most won.

"Ovid Bell had employees create these breakfast sandwiches for an internal contest," said Parrot Ripsch, one of the creators of the Ovid. "Then we had internal judging to decide which of the five we should choose to submit to the regional contest."

Ripsch, of Fulton, and Ryan White, of Jefferson City, were excited to know their sandwich was chosen.

Then, locally, several sandwiches competed to find the finalists. Then, the sandwiches were put on the menu at Subway's across Mid-Missouri, with a few outlying stores participating in other parts of the state.

This week, Ovid Bell was informed they won the contest. The sandwich will be on the permanent breakfast menu at Subways in Missouri starting next month.

But this isn't the end of the creators of the Ovid.

"We have a song created that we're going to make into a YouTube video," Ripsch said. "It's called the O-V-I-D and the tune is the YMCA song."

Ripsch has contacted choral organizations across Callaway County and plans to have one of them recorded while singing the lyrics.

Then, he wants to use organizations and businesses around Fulton to finish the video.

"We want to go around to the businesses to record them doing the chorus of the O-V-I-D," Ripsch said.

News of the video has gone up the Subway food chain, right to the creator of the franchise.

"We were telling Fred Deluca about the contest and how well it had done," said Mike Honeywell, spokesperson for Mid-Missouri Subways. "He asked us about the sandwiches and the public interest and we mentioned that one of the groups was creating a YouTube video and he stopped and wanted to know all about it. So I sent him the lyrics and he said he wanted to see the link when it was up."

For Ripsch, winning was not just about winning.

"This is a win-win for us," Ripsch said. "The employees really supported us and Fulton did, too. But really, it's the opportunity to get the company and community in the limelight that was important."

White, a Jefferson City resident, said the sandwich won because people liked the taste.

"We knew what we liked and we made that into a sandwich. Fortunately, other people liked the same thing."