Sponsors

Lots of good threads in the archives under "sponsor"

Here's a few of the better ones

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24771&highlight=sponsors

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27128&highlight=sponsors


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=25513&highlight=sponsors

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14795&highlight=sponsors

I don't really have sponsors. I work in an optical lab and the Doctor's we do business with locally I offer to sell some of my left over meat. I offer them 1lb. pork, 1 lb. brisket and half a slab of ribs for $30.00. The brisket is half flat half point.
I usually have enough meat left over to sell about 5 packages. That covers my meat and gives me a little extra for other cost.
This might be another option for you to look at.

We have two sponsors who happen to be personal friends and own a business. We don't ask for them for to give us alot of money either. We mostly foot the bill ourselves. Thank God I make enough to afford this hobby otherwise I would just be judging.

I don't have any sponsors but still enjoy competing me and the wife just foot the bill. That is a major reason as to why we only do 4 contests a year. I have been working on some sponsors but have not got any yet but that won't stop us from competing.

txschutte said:

Do you have them and how did you get them? Only reason I ask, is I have started tallying up the cost of one comp, and was thouroughly scolded by the better half.
Also, what do your sponsors cover?
Any advice would help.

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How much did your estimate come to? It costs me between $300 & $400 to do a comp, that includes the entry fee & the groceries (meat's sauces, ect.) I cook 2 - butts 1 - 12 lb. brisket, 3 slabs ribs & about 16 thighs.

I don't golf or anything so my wife has no problem with this, we have friends that golf almost every weekend of the summer & they easily spend a couple hundred bucks a weekend on green fees, beers, lunch, equipment. We camp almost every weekend $35 + grocieries for the whole family :biggrin: .

I sell to co-workers & neighbors whenever I fire up the pit, this has paid for all the meat I cook on a weekend (including what I keep for myself) & I put the extra $$$ in an envelope marked competition $$$. I then buy the groceries with this $$$.

butts a fire said:

I don't have any sponsors but still enjoy competing me and the wife just foot the bill. That is a major reason as to why we only do 4 contests a year. I have been working on some sponsors but have not got any yet but that won't stop us from competing.

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Yeah, thats us about 3-4 a year! Expensive hobby, but fun!

Before we do a comp. , we ask if anyone would like us to cook a Butt, Brisket or ribs for them. They pay for the meat and we choose the best one of the bunch and sell them the culls , this way we can cook 4 butts, 3 briskets and 6 to 8 racks of ribs and only pay for 1 each.

Sponsorship can take on many different faces, not just "cash in hand"

My team has had many different types of sponsors over the years. When we first formed and were cooking only MIM events we had beer sponsorship from the local Miller Distributor. They also hooked us up with the other distributors in different markets when we cooked away from home. That was during our formative years as a competition team, so I don't know how much the money savings on not buying beer helped us. That fizzled out when a distributor got sued after a golf tourney. They all quit giving away beer for advertising as a liability concern.

A few years later we hooked up with a resort developer that was to sponsor us for a full cooking season (6 events + the MIM championship). They also helped us build a two-story gooseneck trailer for our cookers and to help promote their resort. That was a sweet deal, all expenses paid for each event. In turn we cooked at a couple of holiday celebrations for the cost of supplies. In the fall of the season they decided to pull the plug on our sponsorship and hung us out with a couple of contests left. They also had the nerve to ask us to reimburse them for the cost of the trailer that we kept in the divorce. (we didn't pay them a nickel). They even hired us the next summer to cook at a 4th of July party (we made good money that weekend!)

We have since picked up intermittant sponsorship from a buddy that works for a bank as a business developer, they help us from time to time at select contests and purchase our meat in exchange for advertising and left overs.

For the most part our team operates out of our own pockets. We cook where we can, when we can, and anything we might win is put in a team bank account to help expenses at the next event.

We have also scaled back from primarily MIM contests to more KCBS events where a couple or three of us can cook them for no more that a few hundred bucks each.

I have 2 of the best sponsors you could ever ask for. My deal is I can only have 2 that's it. they are behind me 100% the only thing I need to do for my sponsors is when they want something I do it. I have got to say it is a great partnership.

more is not always better.

spicewine said:

Before we do a comp. , we ask if anyone would like us to cook a Butt, Brisket or ribs for them. They pay for the meat and we choose the best one of the bunch and sell them the culls , this way we can cook 4 butts, 3 briskets and 6 to 8 racks of ribs and only pay for 1 each.

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That is a great idea spice. I wish I would have thought of that.