Plant City FL, Pig Jam

Any of the Brethren ever attended?

I am thinking of making the trip down as I have several friends in the area. But before I do I have several questions.

This will be the first comp that I would have an opportunity to sell the product. The COC keeps 20% for local charities and we keep 80%. This could easily pay for the trip if I can move enough product. :icon_clown My question is how well has your product moved for you in the past?

Has no one been to this event?

My biggest question is about the vending. I can pay an additional $50 to vend but calculating for an unknown number of people and what product or products to sell. The other question is whether or not non-competing companies like Stubbs BBQ will be giving away sample etc. I am interested in competing, and vending to cover the costs of the trip, but not a whole lot of use if some one is giving away pulled pork sliders. I hate to prep a hundred or so lbs of meat and sell 10. Just trying to figure out how to make it profitable with out necessarily taking home the GC.

RubMeTender said:

First off, nobody is giving away BBQ at this contest. We did it last year and loved it. Probably our favorite contest all year. From what I hear there were about 10k people there last year. I don't know what you want to sell from a product standpoint, but if it's just food bring an amount below what you think and sell out early. I dont know if you'll sell more than $500-700, but thats a good day to me.

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Thanks for the information. The woman from the chamber of commerce finally called m back and told me they had 15,000 there last year and 60+ competitors.

What were the prices like for most of the products? This will be my first time vending at an event and I am trying to put together numbers to see if it is feasible. With the 80/20 split I will need to sell 125 bucks in food to take home $100. I don't need to make money but I will need to break even, and bring in outside help since I am a one man team. Fortunately I have friends in the area with college age kids that are willing to give me a hand at a discount rate.

I am thinking that I will do pulled pork sliders for the masses and maybe some smoked oysters. Was thinking about frying up some fries as well, but the area is only 20 x 15 and I still need to cook for the comp. So I might not go with the fries, but fries would probably sell well. I also do an ABC pie, Apple Bacon Cheese pie that I pre-cook up here and then hold the in a smoker to reheat and sell warm.

Well thanks again and any further info you or anyone else can provide would be great. I need to make the decision soon so gaining some quality information to draw up a realistic proforma would be great.

Rub said:

I had a great time at it last year, it was my first KCBS GC :biggrin: 8)

It is a very well attended contest, very good crowds. We always vend and usually sell out. Depending on how much winning "bling" you have as well as banners, you could sell between $500 - $10,000. I always set a modest goal and cook with that in mind. How much do you need to make?

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Its an FBA this year. Do you have any idea as to why they switched affiliations?

The_Kapn said:

It is not on the FBA schedule--still KCBS.
We have cooked this 3 years.
Thousands of spectators.
They put vendors in the first two rows--kinda like a feeding trough :lol:
TIM

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Thanks for the clarification. Don't know how I got FBA in my head. Probably because I am entered in an FBA event this weekend.

I am looking forward to the event, if I can swing it financially.

Hope to meet many a Brethren there.

Rub said:

Pulled pork sandwich - $5, Ribs - $2 each.

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I am assuming the pulled pork was a 6 oz sammie. 2 bucks a rib sounds good too. I will definitely look into putting a menu together early next week and figure the rest out.