BBQ Competition Etiquette for the Public

I believe it is "their cookers". Scott

maybe mention that many board of health departments do NOT allow teams to give out food.

If you have vendors, I would say something about no samples and see the vendors (using better wording).

Not sure this is the right thing

I would not do it. I have rarely found the public to be more than a temporary problem, and usually they are pretty delightful. These rules will only keep them away from the teams.

Brett

Most people are OK but I have had a person take food while I was boxing. Temporary maybe, but I wasnt delighted. lol.

I think the sheet is a good idea - while most people are polite and considerate by nature, sometimes they really do not realize that during turn-in times they can be visiting and asking questions at a bad time.

Food samples - I think the public believes it is a part of the whole event -We don't mind sharing some with public every now and then, but I think it can be unfair to vendors who paid to vend the event.

i disagree, i would think common sense would prevail almost always IMO

This is a good idea, I have often thought of suggesting something along these lines to contest organizers. The information could de disseminated either by flyers or posters around the contest grounds or both.

I think it would be very helpful to also include a brief explanation as to how the contest actually works. I find that many attendees don’t have a clue as to what is really going on. A short, complete synopsis would go along way toward educating the public. Another benefit to providing an explanation to folks would be to stimulate interest in competition cooking. You could also include some info as to how one could become involved in the following years contest.

A well informed public is much more likely to behave and use common sense, although not a guarantee, it would help. The information would also serve to stimulate interest in BBQ in general, along with the local contest.

Maybe, as an added bonus, include a BBQ recipe from one of the attending teams at the bottom of the sheet for the folks to take back home and try.

Honestly, a lot of the potential misunderstanding by the public that we've seen has been engendered by the event promoters. The practice of running local ads that proclaim "Come and taste championship barbecue!" clearly lead the public to believe they're going to eat, and most of them further assume they'll eat FREE from competitors, not paying vendors for what is clearly not competition food.

Then there is the practice of charging at the gate, on top of having to buy food. We've had members of the public huffily and loudly insist we stop work to explain to them exactly what their gate fee was for. And I can see their point, if they didn't particularly want to purchase a t-shirt or admission to a car show.

These marketing and organization practices are often undertaken by the venue's publicists and clearly not by the BBQ contest's organizer, so it's kind of unfair to lay it at the BBQ contest's doorstep to deal with/reeducate/straighten out.

DivaHerself said:

Honestly, a lot of the potential misunderstanding by the public that we've seen has been engendered by the event promoters. The practice of running local ads that proclaim "Come and taste championship barbecue!" clearly lead the public to believe they're going to eat, and most of them further assume they'll eat FREE from competitors, not paying vendors for what is clearly not competition food.

Then there is the practice of charging at the gate, on top of having to buy food. We've had members of the public huffily and loudly insist we stop work to explain to them exactly what their gate fee was for. And I can see their point, if they didn't particularly want to purchase a t-shirt or admission to a car show.

These marketing and organization practices are often undertaken by the venue's publicists and clearly not by the BBQ contest's organizer, so it's kind of unfair to lay it at the BBQ contest's doorstep to deal with/reeducate/straighten out.

Click to expand...

Ding Ding DIng!!

When you do finish your Etiquette Statement, I would love to have it to pass on to a couple of events that I think would actually use it...

DivaHerself said:

Honestly, a lot of the potential misunderstanding by the public that we've seen has been engendered by the event promoters. The practice of running local ads that proclaim "Come and taste championship barbecue!" clearly lead the public to believe they're going to eat, and most of them further assume they'll eat FREE from competitors, not paying vendors for what is clearly not competition food.

Then there is the practice of charging at the gate, on top of having to buy food. We've had members of the public huffily and loudly insist we stop work to explain to them exactly what their gate fee was for. And I can see their point, if they didn't particularly want to purchase a t-shirt or admission to a car show.

These marketing and organization practices are often undertaken by the venue's publicists and clearly not by the BBQ contest's organizer, so it's kind of unfair to lay it at the BBQ contest's doorstep to deal with/reeducate/straighten out.

Click to expand...

I couldn't agree more...

DivaHerself said:

The practice of running local ads that proclaim "Come and taste championship barbecue!" clearly lead the public to believe they're going to eat, and most of them further assume they'll eat FREE from competitors, not paying vendors for what is clearly not competition food.

Click to expand...

Why else would someone attend a BBQ contest?

See Jeffs thread about Comp BBQ being under-reported. I believe we need to figure out a way to get the public more involved at contests if we want to the sport to grow beyond the competition community.

Most teams I see are perfectly capable of passing a health inspection in order to hand out at samples or sell leftover comp bbq.

There are safety issued involved.

I would add a 2.a.




2.a. Do not enter BBQ team cooking areas unless you are invited to do so. Within the cooking areas are fire, hot items, and very sharp implements, that have the potential to cause severe injuries, especially when people become distracted and/or startled.

People attend BBQ contests for diverse reasons. Among the ones we've personally spoken to are those who are attending a conjoined event, those who have seen BBQ as portrayed on television and want to find out what the real local-level deal is, and those who hope to learn something for their own backyard experience from seasoned competitors. Not all show up solely for a free meal, although there are certainly many who seem to expect that.

Vending at comps isn't just about passing a health inspection. For smaller teams, it's a completely different prospect than for teams with multiple people who can devote time to it. For us, after getting in four entries we're whipped. We're old, fat and tired, our feet hurt, we have to bust down camp and get it all packed, and spending more time on our feet dishing out leftovers isn't always the best use of our time. That's not to say that it isn't perfectly fine for many teams who come prepared to vend, have the people to do it, and use it as a way to recoup their costs of competing.

There is quite a difference between honestly promoting BBQ by creating reasonable expectations among the attending public, and the practice of misleading advertising that fosters unhappiness in the attendees which is then directed at BBQ teams.

ique said:

Why else would someone attend a BBQ contest?

See Jeffs thread about Comp BBQ being under-reported. I believe we need to figure out a way to get the public more involved at contests if we want to the sport to grow beyond the competition community.

Most teams I see are perfectly capable of passing a health inspection in order to hand out at samples or sell leftover comp bbq.

Click to expand...

Once again Chris, I have thought about this for a long time and I couldn't agree more. I have done people's choice at every competition that offers it, and unless a contest organizer says its verboten, I try to give a taste to passersby.

BBQchef33 said:

maybe mention that many board of health departments do NOT allow teams to give out food.

Click to expand...

something along this line would be helpfull, at a comp this year I was "yelled" at a few times because of the radio ads to seemed to misslead alot of people.. Someone even gave my wife and sister-in-law crap as they were leaving about why they didnt get free food. My wife and SIL were wearing our shirts nothing else (yes they had pants on) and still got harrased.

timzcardz said:

There are safety issued involved.

I would add a 2.a.




2.a. Do not enter BBQ team cooking areas unless you are invited to do so. Within the cooking areas are fire, hot items, and very sharp implements, that have the potential to cause severe injuries, especially when people become distracted and/or startled.

Click to expand...

I would also add saftey from the bbq team as well. If someone entered my site and just started touching and grabbing stuff, especially my cookers they would quickly find themselves with a size 11 green Converse All-Star up their rear-end.:wink:

DivaHerself said:

The practice of running local ads that proclaim "Come and taste championship barbecue!" clearly lead the public to believe they're going to eat, and most of them further assume they'll eat FREE from competitors, not paying vendors for what is clearly not competition food.

Click to expand...

ique said:

Why else would someone attend a BBQ contest?

See Jeffs thread about Comp BBQ being under-reported. I believe we need to figure out a way to get the public more involved at contests if we want to the sport to grow beyond the competition community.

Most teams I see are perfectly capable of passing a health inspection in order to hand out at samples or sell leftover comp bbq.

Click to expand...

While I'll agree that most if not all are capable of passing a health inspection (and should be IMHO).

To be honest, I find it insulting when some one walks up and and the following conversation takes place in the middle of turn in (yes this is an actual conversation I had last year between chicken and ribs):

JQ Public: "Where's the food you promised us?"

Me: "Sorry, we're not giving any out right now, if you stop back after turn in we should have some out."

JQ Public: "Acording to the radio you would have food out all day."

Me: "Again, sorry, but we are here for the competition. That's what I'm cooking for and when we are done with our turn in, we'll put some of it out."

JQ Public: (Loudly) "I'm not looking for your LEFT OVERS, I want fresh food now! I paid to come in here!"

Me: "Sir, I too paid to come here and cook in the compitition, I did not pay to feed you your lunch. If the orginizers promised you food, I sugest that you find them. I never made such a promise."

Me: (It was at this point he reached for a half slab of ribs I was cutting up with a rather large knife.) "Sir, I don't think you really want to do that."

Luckly, one of the security staff was walking by at that time. I now make sure that we have enough people so that one of them is 'Standing Guard' over not only our prep area, but also our cooker.