Gumball Gourmet On A Roll

Cherry fizz, cotton candy, strawberry banana, root beer float. Name your guilty pleasure at kiosks found inside three Tucson malls.

TUCSON (Tuesday, July 16, 2002) - A wide-eyed Brock Wollwert slides across the floor at Park Place and lands at the base of a three-tiered structure of gumball machines.

Shoving his hand into his pocket, Brock, 8, pulls out a quarter and slips it into a slot. He's made his choice, cherry.

His tiny hands wait for the bright red ball to appear. Brock pops the gumball into his mouth, but before he chews, he puts another quarter into the machine and catches a second cherry gumball. He crams both into his mouth.

"That's my favorite flavor," Brock mumbled before running off to catch up to his mother.

Dolores Flores, a health-care provider visiting from California, loves the root beer float flavor and took time to chew one outside the carousel area at Tucson Mall. For others, the favored flavor may be buttered popcorn, coffee, kiwi, fruit cocktail, cotton candy, mango, cherry cola, chocolate milkshake, jelly bean, orange pineapple - or one of many more choices.

Enter Gumball Gourmet, an Idaho-based company that is just a year old.

Its owners, who proclaim them as "earth's best gumballs," are setting up islands of gourmet-flavored gumballs in malls across the country.

They're at more than 300 locations, including one each at Park Place and Foothills Mall and two at Tucson Mall.

While there are many gumball companies, Gumball Gourmet is unique, the owners say.

The concept is simple, said Brent Jones, the Arizona and southern Nevada franchise owner of Gumball Gourmet.

"People love to chew gum, they love gumballs, so what better way than to take it to the next level by offering gourmet flavors presented in high-traffic areas like malls? And the latest numbers worldwide? Well ... it's pretty staggering.

"It's always been popular, but now? I think there's a recent surge in gumball interest."

Jones couldn't come up with worldwide numbers but said an average of 12,000 gumballs are sold at each Tucson kiosk during a 30-day period.

Each kiosk, or island, is set up in three tiers with 47 gumball machines and one money changer.

Sixty flavors are offered on a rotating basis.

The most popular flavor is watermelon, followed closely by root beer, strawberry banana, cherry fizz and cherry cola, Jones said.

But chewing bubble gum may be in the mouth of the bubble blower.

"That was awful," said Jazma Fox, 13, from Washington state, spitting out cherry fizz near a Tucson Mall Gumball Gourmet.

A few seconds later she popped a coffee flavor into her mouth.

"This one is much better. I love this one," she said. "Mmm, tastes kind of like mocha."

Fox's cousin Vyazma Chambliss, 15, and pal Melissa Nodine, 17, also picked coffee.

"For me, I love this. It's better than chewing on my nails," said Chambliss, who normally picks watermelon or black licorice.

Others have a harder time picking.

Louis Cologgi, 11, ran around the machines at Park Place a few times until he stopped at fruit cocktail.

He used his second quarter for a handful of mini-gumballs. Brother Joey Cologgi, 14, picked cherry.

"We don't have this in our mall at home," said their mother, Eileen Cologgi, 44. The family came to Tucson from upstate New York to visit grandparents.

Other gumball eaters are just plain brave.

"Ohhh," said Robert Aguilar, 34, as he began to chew a red "flame thrower." His son Jonathan opted for the milder coffee flavor.

Jones said he loves to talk about his work and couldn't think of a better line of business to be in.

"I love to just sit in the mall and watch. It's constantly entertaining to me. It's fascinating to watch how the machines mesmerize the faces of 3- and 4-year-olds.

"Truth is, every mom hates me until they pop a gumball into their own mouths. Our flavors just aren't the coating - the gum itself has the flavor."

"Oh, and my favorite customer?" Jones asked. "It's the one who buys a gumball and walks away, and then 10 or 20 feet away they turn around to buy another one."

Gumball Gourmet is constantly trying new flavors and improving old ones, he said.

He wouldn't tip his hand about coming flavors but said customers shouldn't be "surprised if there are seasonal flavors like candy cane or pumpkin."

For now, Gumball Gourmet's line is sold just through vending machines and cannot be purchased from the company. That could change as the company grows, Jones said.

View all Gumball Gourmet Press Releases

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