How do you afford to compete?

My brother and I cook about five or six contests a year including that $1000.oo weekend they call the American Royal. The other contests we cook are within a two hour drive for either of us. We cook two butts, two briskets, three slabs of back ribs, and twelve chicken thighs. Our meat bill is usually around $100.oo per contest. We spend more on lettuce and parsley than we do on chicken.

I figure with entry fees, gas, meat bills, charcoal, ice, spices, sauces, marinades and other miscellaneous items as well as our meals and beverages, most contests cost us at least $400.oo per with many running in the $500.oo range. Mark and I split the costs and sometimes we have teammates who chip in.

I would bet that most teams who do cook more than ten contests a year have a sponsorship of some sort. I see a lot of teams that cook 20 contests or more a year have some sort of bbq product out on the market. This is not a judgement by upon my part on these teams - more power to them.

What disappoints me about the direction the KCBS seems to taking is this. These teams with sponsorships and products for sale seem to be the teams the organization is now marketing to. I would bet the overall majority of teams that cook in KCBS contests cook in less than ten contests a year. These are the teams that are the backbone of the KCBS. They are also the teams that are not eligible for ToY.

Lager,

Juggy D Beerman

Sledneck said:

I married a sugar momma

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I was thinking of trying what my grandmother used to call "swinging your purse down on the corner", but it occurs to me that I am unlikely to be able to sell what I cannot give away.:sad:

I got lucky a couple of years ago and hit the lottery in a small way, which paid for the trailer. Everything else comes out of my pocket with help from the teammates. We have not yet got to the point where we can hope for a check at every contest, but we did pick up a couple last year and they went to paying for a couple of additional contests that we would not otherwise have gone to.

In 06 and 07, we did 3 comps each year, Planning on 3 this year, possibly a 4th. Its just my wife and I, with the exception of Dover. The costs are all out of pocket. In 2007, we started our catering business, starting small, but we also use the catering business to sponsor our comp team. I bbq'ed at home for quit a few years, and once I did my first comp in 06, I've been totally hooked on BBQ, and don't even want to think of how much money we've spent on bbq stuff. But it is my hobby, and I won't give it up, its entirely too enjoyable.

MilitantSquatter said:

The majority of teams are not cooking 10-20 events/year and don't have sponsors. Not sure what the avg. # is but I know it is much lower than 10-20 which makes the total cost a lot more palatable to most teams.

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We did 4 last year! Even if I had unlimited funds or sponsers, I dont know how I could do 10-20, no way to get that much time off of work.

Juggy D Beerman said:

What disappoints me about the direction the KCBS seems to taking is this. These teams with sponsorships and products for sale seem to be the teams the organization is now marketing to. I would bet the overall majority of teams that cook in KCBS contests cook in less than ten contests a year. These are the teams that are the backbone of the KCBS. They are also the teams that are not eligible for ToY.

Lager,

Juggy D Beerman

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IBCA is looking better all the time.

CrackerJack from KC said:

My question is, if you aren't winning every event, and you don't have book revenue coming in (Dr BBQ), are you forking out all the dough yourself as a labor of love, or do most teams have sponsors at every event?

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I competed for many years before I had any book revenue. See that's how it worked. Compete for 20 years and someone pays a small amount for your knowledge. (Then everyone thinks your rich)

For me it was a hobby and I was lucky enough to have a good job so I spent some of my own cash to enjoy my hobby.

drbbq said:

I competed for many years before I had any book revenue. See that's how it worked. Compete for 20 years and someone pays a small amount for your knowledge. (Then everyone thinks your rich)

For me it was a hobby and I was lucky enough to have a good job so I spent some of my own cash to enjoy my hobby.

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From where I saw you sitting on that flight we were on together to Cincinati, I can vouch for you not being rich. LOL..........well if you are, you aren't spending it on flying first class. :mrgreen:

Bentley said:

We did 4 last year! Even if I had unlimited funds or sponsers, I dont know how I could do 10-20, no way to get that much time off of work.

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I've wondered how some do that too. But, more power to those able too.

Ray, you got the job for the single man. BBQ goupies!

I just started competing last year & pay out of my own pocket, to keep the cost down I only cook 2 butts, 1 brisket, 3 slabs of ribs & 1 pkg chicken (12 thighs), so it usually costs me less than $500 for all expenses to compete.

I have recently started selling my meat on the side (Fred Garvin mod) to help cover expenses this year because it looks like I'll be doing 5 comps. But like others have said you can't really put a price on spending time with family & friends. Hopefully we'll get a couple of money finishes this year also.

Jeff_in_KC said:

I think I'm going to start a spreadsheet with ALL my expenses and income from BBQ for 2008 and just see how badly I take a beating! :shock::lol: Might make me re-think 2009. :roll:

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You will wish you hadn't... it will score you out of competing.... just spend it, have fun, and keep going.... and don't forget the pics.

Before I had kids, we travelled, took a few ski vacations a year, a nice summer vaction etc. 2 incomes - no kids, small mortgage, no worries! Then the clock started ticking... had two kids, bigger house, minivan and had to readjust priorities. My hobbies turned into coaching or helping with my kids sporting activities practically year round with school. My son was on a couple Select baseball and Basketball teams, daughter played basketball, Fastpitch and Vball and when it got to the point where they are in High School I can't even fathom how much money was spent. I moped around for a year before it dawned on me I didn't have a hobby, I love Q'n and spent the last year learning as much as I can, collecting pits, canopies, taking classes, judging and hanging out here with the Brethren and finally competing. It's been a blast! Hooked up with JD and we got us a team, share the expenses, do at least 4 comps- maybe more locally this summer and have some fun, it's nice to hear your name called, if it happens it happens, if not I plan to have a good time!

Hooked up with the Swamprb...^^^... A local BBQ restaraunt owner has offered to sponsor us this year...Teddy Bear BBQ in Duvall, WA http://www.teddybearbbq.com/ (gotta give him a plug) Thanks Konrad! Brian is the ultimate resource for BBQ knowledge...he's definitely the brains...I'm just along for the ride!

At first, the contests are totally a write off... money spent for a hobby. If you were into hunting, or fishing... or whatever, these are the point where you buy equipment, have a great time, catch nothing.

Once you are past this point you own all the stuff, and you narrow down sauces/rubs etc. so you can buy a gallon of a suace vs. a pint or a quart. You also find RD, stop spending 3.59/lb for briskets, and start spending 1.65 for the same product or better. You also buy things by the case... ribs are 30 cents a lb cheaper by the case.

At this point, we spend $125-150 a contest on rub/meat/sauce/foil etc. Plus the entry fee and gas... and with a couple walks you get close to breaking even some days.

So you and your friends hung out all weekend, had a great time, ate good food, met great people... maybe got a ribbon... and each of you spent $40(maybe) + beer? I think you're doing pretty well.

So if you buy meat by the case, are you vending the rest, or freezing and saving it for the next comp? I could see splitting it with other teams. I guess I'm not sure how much a case is?

We only vend one event a year. Some for personal consumption, but most gets used for contests.

Cases aren't that much:
10 Racks of Ribs-- ~$60 (2.5 contests worth)
6 pork butts-- ~$60-70 (three contests)
5 Briskets- ~$90 (2.5 contests) (these vary in size... usually one monster, 2 smalls and 2 mediums), I weight them when they come out of the case, write the weight on the cryo before they are frozen)

chicken I don't buy by the case, since a case is usually 40lbs... and I don't need that much.

So without counting chicken... and rounding everything to 2.5 contests... I'm spending about $85 in meat on three categories. Divide that by team members... we're in for $30 or less a person at this point.

We'll save some of the stuff cooked for friends and family, and then lately we've been able to donate the left overs to charity--

Yep, competing can be pretty costly and you can get off pretty cheap it is all up to the person competing on how much they want to spend on meat and everything else. It is just me and the wife paying for the contests we do which has been 4 a year. It is my one and only hobby, I really can't think of a much better way to spend a friday night and saturday than sitting by the smoker at a comp. It doesn't really matter to me how much it costs I will continue to do as many contests as I can each year.

Finding a sponsor proved to be difficult (might have had better luck if I actually tried harder). So, I thought about robbing banks, but they had too many cameras :roll:. Then I thought about robbing liquor stores for the money, but they all knew who I was being such a regular customer and all :wink:. So, we end up just sponsoring ourself.
It's a hobby and one I enjoy. All hobbies cost money and I know some that are a lot more than BBQ. We do about 5 contest a year and budget it out over the course of the season.

We look at it as a hobby I guess, so we shell out the money our selves. We had one group of bussinessmen sponsor us to the Royal last year. We almost broke even after a few solid wins too. As far as entry fees, meat and such. All the whistles and bells we like we pay for.

Ten years when we used to have our boat it cost $2500 per year for dock space and storage plus our dockage contract required Marina to do all maintence, which was another $500 per year. If I added Fuel costs, food and other miscellanous expences we spend about $5000/season. It's about the same we spend on BBQ per year now and that is split with my brother. Believe me the start-up costs for BBQ were alot less that we bought the boat for. I think we even have more fun now with BBQ that we had with the boat. If ya wanna play, ya gotta pay!