Avid Barbecuer ``Stirs-Up'' Winning Recipe for Kraft Foods; Grand Prize Winner Todd Leaf Inspires a Barbecue Sauce That Will Be On Store Shelves Nationwide for the '99 Barbecue Season.

GLENVIEW, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 1999--

A year ago, only Todd Leaf's family and friends savored his signature barbecue sauce. Now, as the grand prize winner in the KRAFT Barbecue Sauce 1998 FLAVOR SEARCH Contest, his barbecue sauce recipe can be enjoyed by thousands of Americans across the country. "Todd's Southwest Recipe" "smoked" the competition, beating close to 10,000 entries, ultimately winning the $25,000 grand prize. Leaf's recipe is the inspiration for the 1999 new flavor of KRAFT Barbecue Sauce, appearing on store shelves nationwide this spring - complete with Leaf's smiling image on the bottle.

The KRAFT Barbecue Sauce 1998 FLAVOR SEARCH Contest was based on research that shows more than 50 percent of Americans "doctor" (add ingredients to) bottled barbecue sauce. The national barbecue sauce recipe contest invited Americans to start with a bottle of KRAFT Barbecue Sauce, add their own special ingredients and submit their written entry.

Drawing on southern influences stemming from childhood barbecues with his grandfather in Oklahoma, and his love for Southern cuisine, Leaf created his winning barbecue sauce recipe, "Todd's Southwest Recipe," by combining such flavors as ancho-chiles, spices and brown sugar. The result is a distinct blend of "sweet and heat."

"I've been using KRAFT Barbecue Sauce as a base for several years," said Leaf, an avid barbecuer. "So, when I came across the FLAVOR SEARCH entry form at my local supermarket, it seemed as if the contest was designed especially for me."

Affectionately known to family and friends as "Barbecue Man," Leaf grills at home twice a week with his wife Alice and two small children and keeps himself up-to-date on the latest barbecue trends by reading magazines and surfing the Internet for barbecue websites. Though a self-taught cook, Leaf credits famous Cajun chefs, Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse as his culinary inspirations.

Throughout his restaurant experience as a waiter, Leaf discovered that the way to a person's heart is through food. By adapting this belief to his own backyard barbecues, Leaf learned he could make each barbecue better than the last, pleasing family and friends with his creations. Now, after becoming the KRAFT Barbecue Sauce 1998 FLAVOR SEARCH winner, Leaf plans to use the prize money to fulfill a lifelong dream: opening his own restaurant with his wife.

The KRAFT Barbecue Sauce 1998 FLAVOR SEARCH Contest was brought to consumers by KRAFT Barbecue Sauce, America's Favorite brand of barbecue sauce. KRAFT Todd's Southwest Recipe Barbecue Sauce will be available in grocery stores nationwide beginning in the spring of 1999. KRAFT Barbecue Sauce is a product of Kraft Foods, Inc., the nation's largest packaged foods company.