BELVIDERE, Ill. (WTVO) — General Mills, in Belvidere, hopes to win the Illinois Manufacturers Association’s Makers Madness Contest with its Fruit by the Foot snack.

Fruit by the Foot has been around since 1991 but only began being made in Belvidere three months ago.

The Belvidere General Mills plant has been in operation for nearly 120 years, and employs 600 people.

Belvidere’s plant manager, Dany Eldik, says “The way Fruit by the Foot is made is super unique. I mean, we’re able to pump out about 20 million boxes in a year is what General Mills is able to do, between our two facilities that produce this now. So, it comes out at a very efficient rate, almost 1,000 pouches a minute can be produced here at the plant.”

Voting for Maker’s Madness closes on Sunday. Fruit by the Foot faces competition from the Orion Spacecraft capsule, made by Ingersoll Machine Tools, the R1T electric pickup truck, made by Rivian, and custom blazed diffraction gratings, made by Inprentus.