Getting Sponsers?

I would be interested in the same info...

I don't have much experience with getting sponsors. I'm sure as your teams evolve and you start making a presence at some comps you may have a wider net to catch sponsors.
But what we did was ask our bosses. Tell em we'll hang a banner and feed em when they come out. We only did that for the Royal though cause the overhead is so high for that comp for us. I think we have nearly a $1000 is sponsor ship money.
However because of that money we have to feed a bunch a people.

Like darn near every conversation here... its been covered before. I did a search on this the other day and there are some good threads from the past.

Don't always think cash. Some teams get product at cost from sponsors. Think about where you get your meat, rub, spices, sauce, alcohol, etc. See if they'll give you free product or product at cost. We get free chicken and briskets for every contest from one sponsor. I've heard of a team that gets all of their meat at cost.

Plowboy said:

Don't always think cash. Some teams get product at cost from sponsors. Think about where you get your meat, rub, spices, sauce, alcohol, etc.

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everytime i go into Gomers I ask them if they want to supply the booze for an event for us. They always laugh.

Kung Fu BBQ said:

everytime i go into Gomers I ask them if they want to supply the booze for an event for us. They always laugh.

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Andy gets his Bud products at cost. Bare Bones BBQ gets several cases of Shiner Bock free for every contest they do. No special ties to the distributor. They just asked.

If the folks at Gomers are being a bunch of... well... gomers. Go someplace else.

I don’t think there is a simple answer about “How to get sponsors”.

First off you have to decide if you’re after a few free briskets or someone to pay your bills while you travel to cookoffs. It’s really two different things.

I thought about this a lot last week at the Lakeland cookoff. As many of you know I’ve been working hard for the last few years to get my name out there along with my books, Big Green Egg, Fiery Foods and The Barbecue Championship Series. Well I live here in Lakeland so I get my choice of spots and I choose the highest profile spot I can find. The egg that was to be the Grand Champions was right out front of my booth and so were my eggs. QBabe was cooking chicken legs to sell by the hundreds, not really for the money but just to attract attention to us and the eggs. This made for an insanely busy weekend with endless traffic needing to talk with me or learn about the eggs or take a picture or ????

Now I’m not complaining because this is what I asked for, but there are many other teams at this event who are trying their best to avoid the insanity. You want big sponsors? Guess which one you need to be? Sometimes it sucks but you gotta do it.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about later turn ins or Sunday turn ins. You want a big sponsor? You better start hoping for these things instead of trying to avoid them. Sunday turn ins would change the world for sponsors.

Now if you’re good with free briskets and a couple hundred bucks to host a party at the local cookoff, you should be able to ask around and find someone who’s willing to do that for a banner and free catering at their company picnic, but none of it comes for free. The bottom line is “what can you do for them?”. Don’t ever forget that. I’ve seen many deals blown because the team thought they were done once they got the check. For me the first check triggers the start of the work. I now know they’re serious and I want to make them so happy that they give me a bigger check next year. It’s a long process to become truly sponsored but it can be done.

Great answer, Ray! You made some very valid points there. Some things I hadn't considered in my search for sponsors either. I am going to be seriously lacking in funds this year, it has become more and more evident (butting heads with the boss = no bonus) so any chance of doing more than 3 or 4 contests this year will be dependent on getting some sponsors.

As for "donations", I don't hold big parties so alcohol sponsorships, I'll leave for someone else to snatch up. They don't do anything to help my bottom line.

GreenDriver,

Make sure you spell "Sponsors" right if you attempt any direct mail responses or other written communications.

Cheers

drbbq said:

I don’t think there is a simple answer about “How to get sponsors”.

First off you have to decide if you’re after a few free briskets or someone to pay your bills while you travel to cookoffs. It’s really two different things....

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Great advice Ray.

Something that has worked for us the last couple of years is offering to cook and provide an 'experience' for the Sponsors VIPs. We have worked with Cattlemans and Harpoon Brewery and they'll send in restaurant owners who are good customers to experience championship barbecue. It could just be partying or we have shown barbecue and side dish ideas that can be used back at the restaurant. If the VIPs come away raving and ultimately become stonger customers of the sponsor its a win for everyone.

Chris

Yeah Chris that's what I've always tried to do. Avoid the obligation of the free catering and try to give them something special, like you're "experience".

Here in Northeast Kansas Hy-Vee out of Des Moines, Iowa has opened several stores, especially in the Kansas City metro area. There's even a KCBS sanctioned event at their Barry Road location.

I was first exposed to competition BBQ by attending an event locally (here in Lawrence, KS) where Hy-Vee's competition BBQ team was competing. A huge part of the sponsored team's time was taken up with food on Friday night for the department managers of the two local Hy-Vee stores.

Their slot was easy to find because of the HUGE Hy-Vee banner across the front of their area.

They had plenty of everything . . . and the bottom line was that the experience my wife and I had was awesome. Of course, at the time, I never thought about how the team paid for the 30 or 40 chickens, the snack items or anything else. But it was a good experience!

And I know that if I were sitting on a board at Hy-Vee and a vote came up as to whether the BBQ team was worth continuing, I know my vote would have been ' Oh Yeah! '

FWIW -

/Brother Dave

I think Ray and Chris's answers are spot on. I don't really have sponsors but I have friends that help me out, most have become friends after I've started cooking.

My meat supplier sells me cases of meat at cost and a couple times a year I cook him a case of ribs or briskets.

I get tee shirts for left over competition meat. I usually get 3 dozen a year. Dennis ( silk screener) thinks he's getting over on me and I think I'm getting over on him, It's a good arraignment and he has become a good friend.

On lesser extent a slab of ribs get my oil changed or a log splitter for the day.

You can lower the cost of cooking and make some lasting friendship with your food and meet the expectations of your "sponsors " with some creativity.