Samples

[Coz]

How much do you put out for the public at a comp?And for those who compete without an enclosed trailer how do you keep folks from comin up to you as your doing your turn ins?

[Plowboy]

None unless I'm selling. I don't find folks wandering into camp unless they are friends or family... then they knew to BACK THE FARK OFF!!!

[Transformer BBQ]

How much do you put out for the public at a comp?And for those who compete without an enclosed trailer how do you keep folks from comin up to you as your doing your turn ins?


Team member on call to deal with people... and what we want to give away... we set on a table far from where the next category is being preped for boxes...

[TOPS BBQ]

The comps I have been in don't allow sampling. We happen to get a lot (sometimes too much) of people that ask when were going to start selling/sampling. A lot of upset people go away saying "What kind of contest is this..." In order to keep people away, we set our table across the border of our site and offset another table to work at. An EZ-up with walls works well too.

[watertowerbbq]

We do something similar. We keep all of our "working" area away from where the general public can walk up to and I prep the boxes against one of the sides of my popup canopy that has a wall. At one contest, we had people cutting through our area during the last couple of hours before turn in's began. My neighbor brought out some CAUTION tape and we roped off the area between us. It worked great and now I keep a roll with me in case the same thing happens again. You can pick the tape up at Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, etc.

[Ford]

A lot of contests don't allow samples either because they have vendors or the Dept of Health gets involved. There could be a liability issue for the contest if somebody gets sick.

How to keep people away - all good ideas so far and until I had the trailer I did many of them. But some idiot will still try to walk around tables and come up when you're cutting ribs and start to reach for one. As the knife comes up off the table and heads towards their hand and I say don't touch that it usually stops them. Especially if it's a big knife. I did hear of a person getting a rib from one team right in the middle of the slab. They dropped it but it couldn't be turned in. After all you don't know what's on their hands and it could significantly change the taste. And you thought I was concerned about disease and judges. :twisted:

When Carol competed with me she was rather vocal if anybody got anywhere near me during turn-in. Usually worked.

[tonto1117]

A lot of contests don't allow samples either because they have vendors or the Dept of Health gets involved. There could be a liability issue for the contest if somebody gets sick.

How to keep people away - all good ideas so far and until I had the trailer I did many of them. But some idiot will still try to walk around tables and come up when you're cutting ribs and start to reach for one. As the knife comes up off the table and heads towards their hand and I say don't touch that it usually stops them. Especially if it's a big knife. I did hear of a person getting a rib from one team right in the middle of the slab. They dropped it but it couldn't be turned in. After all you don't know what's on their hands and it could significantly change the taste. And you thought I was concerned about disease and judges. :twisted:

When Carol competed with me she was rather vocal if anybody got anywhere near me during turn-in. Usually worked.

We always send them your way Ford, and tell em' "we heard that guy is giving out free samples"...:shock::lol:...only busting on ya...:wink::tongue:

[cmcadams]

I think this is an area were the contest organizers really let down the teams. The public knows there's a competition, and some comps have even advertised free bbq. It's then the teams that are the bad guys for saying no, or people come by during turn ins and the teams don't pay any attention to them so they get mad.

Keeping a really big knife in hand helps, but we try to set up our tent to limit access to the turn in prep area. I have had a guy reach into a covered pulled pork pan to grab a handful without asking, and I've had a guy stand there with his 6 year old while I was getting ribs ready for turn in, and, after not getting ribs, told his son that we could have at least offered him a rib. First off, I paid for those ribs, second, I'm doing turn ins. The organizers could better explain what's going on so the public understands, I think.

[Dale P]

Once a woman walked into our area, helped herself and asked where the napkins were. I was too tired and hungover to care since it was after turn ins. One thing I have learned is people will eat anything if it is free. I bought these nasty watermelon flavored donuts, nasty I tell you. I put them on the front table and watched people grab them on the run. LMAO.

I admit that when I went to see my first contest, it was a huge disappointment. We thought at the very least you could buy from the teams, but we bought into the peoples choice. The thing was only a very few teams entered it which was a let down. The organizers need some type of draw and I am clueless to what it could be since we cant sell to the public. I hear talk of competition becoming Nascar like. What are people going to do, sit in the stands and watch us party?

[tony76248]

Several of the events I cook in each year require that we turn in an additional whole brisket along with our trays. What they will normally do, is ride around in a golf cart or Mule and collect that brisket around noon. They will either sell these briskets as sandwichs or donate them.

Fortunately, there isn't a large amount of spectators at BBQ cook-offs.... Unless they are co-located with a fair or other event. I participated in a few of those last year. The Terrell event had a carnival going on and the Springtown event had their Rodeo days going on. Then in West which is an awesome event, they had tractor pulls in the evening after turn-ins. It gave my kids something to do, plus one of my fellow competitors almost got to drive one of the tractors.

[billm]

keep the prep table away from the front..those that come around back ya just gotta let em know you're not giving out samples
I usually tell them the we are in the middle of turn in's and to come back after 3..most are cooperative ..but then you get the few jerks who just grab without asking..nothing you can do about them..they were just raised wrong..
nothing you will do will change bad upbringing :)

[Roo-B-Q'N]

yep what has been said. Our first contest last year we set up so the public could watch what we were doing. Had a lady reach into the TURN IN BOX and grab some pulled pork. I thought my wife was going to kill her.

From then on we have boxed ourselves in with tables and face away from the crowd to prep boxes.

IF there is anything left and IF there are no BBQ vendors we will set the left overs out front with a roll of paper towels and let them have at it.

But now that we will have a trailer, everything will be done inside and out of the publics way.

[KC_Bobby]

Well, won't the BBQ Road Tour will help eliminate this? :roll:

[Podge]

How much do you put out for the public at a comp?And for those who compete without an enclosed trailer how do you keep folks from comin up to you as your doing your turn ins?

Two things happen with my left-overs, either i throw them in the trash or my wife packs it up and puts it in the cooler. That's the last thing i want to do is mess with it. I do not feed the public, it's against most (if not all) health dept. rules. Now, if a judge wants to stop by my spot for left-overs, because he didn't have a cooler to pack at the judge's table, then i'll be more than happy to help.

[Coz]

I attended several comps here in Wisconsin and for the most part the competitors were putting the meat out after the turn ins were at the table safely.I guess I need to figure out a way to box us away while doing boxes.

[billm]

I attended several comps here in Wisconsin and for the most part the competitors were putting the meat out after the turn ins were at the table safely.I guess I need to figure out a way to box us away while doing boxes.

if you got sides with your ez-up put all four of em up during box prep ..it helps keep the riff raff out as well :-P

[motoeric]

I don't know if this is a nationwide thing, but I'm constantly seeing small (2 foot by 2 foot, roughly) signs along the highway that you can stake into the ground that say '50 signs for $80.00'. I'm thinking about getting them for any events I help with in the future and giving them to teams to put in front of their slots.

They would say 'Due to Dept. of Health regulations, competitors are not allowed to give away or sell food'.

At WilliePalooza and at Sayville we had a small one-sheet that gave an overview of the event and gave an overview of event etiquette. We gave those out to spectators.

Eric

[billm]

At WilliePalooza and at Sayville we had a small one-sheet that gave an overview of the event and gave an overview of event etiquette. We gave those out to spectators.

Eric
Did it work? I have often wondered why the organizers dont make this clear to the public as well..
i often thought about the sign thing myself but never tried it..seems like the msot logical thing to do

[Transformer BBQ]

Did it work? I have often wondered why the organizers dont make this clear to the public as well..
i often thought about the sign thing myself but never tried it..seems like the msot logical thing to do


Come to think of it, Sayville was one of the only contests we did last year that we didn't have people just walk up to our prep table and ask for food. People did stop by to ask questions about the cooker, or what category was next... etc... but there were no one looking for hand outs.

I've had families literally come into my site, and stand there looking at me... shocked when all I saw is "Hi"... and haven't tried to make them a plate.

[swamprb]

It would be nice if organizers contacted the local media and gave a rundown of the event, with times for awards or an overview of the Judging criteria or what the Competition BBQ scene is all about, it might help clear up misconceptions by the public, (maybe- maybe not) I know when I attended my first comp as a spectator it was a letdown. I was expecting BBQ, but only one vendor with a mile long line.

[rookiedad]

it's true... spectators come to comps looking for bbq! i did when i went to grill kings in the parking lot at heckshire state park as a spectator. if i'm not mistaken it was even advertized as being available, but if it was i didn't see it.

thats one of the reasons why Sayville was so great. as a competitor i was able to talk to spectators about the cooking process, ingredients and equipment, procedure and such and when the person naturally wanted to taste some i didn't have to stand there and say "sorry". i was able to direct them to the vending tents. everyone seemed very happy with this option.

i think it is important for competition organizers to take the spectators into consideration. it doesn't have to be samples, but i do think bbq should be readily available to spectators at bbq competitions. to me it's part of the experience.

phil