Splitting Costs and Winnings

Depends... (great answer)

I wouldn't feel bad about what you said above... your team, you paid the bills, you get the prize money. At first I footed all the bills, bought all the gear, the food... entry fees... and we didn't do very well... but the money we did win I kept.

If you split up entries... does that guy pay 1/4 the entry fee? does he pay for the ribs? if he just cooks... but otherwise you pay for the food... maybe he keeps the trophy, you keep the money.

Right now, I pay for everything; after a contest we subtract out the winnings if there are any, and then split the remaining up between "core" members. Someone shows up for the first time, or to drink beers, or because they are friends... they bring beer and snacks... (they also get no imput into what gets turned in)

It sounds like you are in this mostly for the fun and enjoy competing. Of course, winning is always nice. That's why we all compete. There are only two of us on the team. I pay the entry fees and my partner buys the meat and food for meals. If we are fortunate to get a call, we split the winnings evenly. Even though the entry fee is usually a little higher than the meat cost, I don't mind and it works well for us. It's close enough. We bring our own drinks - he can't afford my beer tab. We both contribute rubs, sauces, etc. He does a little more, so things even out. If you keep an exact accounting of everything, this might not work.

I think this can work well for the more casual teams that have 2 - 4 core members that go on all, or almost all, of the comps. By casual I mean doing it because they enjoy it, try to win, but don't expect it all of the time. This probably wouldn't work for more serious teams or a team where one person wants to call the shots and be the head cook all of the time.

Talk to the folks on your team and see what each can afford and contribute. Then try and work an arrangement where everyone contributes in one form or another and you can come up with the funds to enter additional comps. Good Luck!!

This is how we do it on the Crapshoot team. Craig owns the pit outright as well as much of the equipment on our rig, but not all of it. At the beginning of each season we each kick in $1000.00 to the team bank account. All winnings go into the team acct. All purchasers made by Craig or myself are reimbursed by the team account. At mid season we add more money to account if needed and we continue. If we have extra money at the end of the season or if we have a bug prize we "pay out" to ourselves 50/50. All expenses are split 50/50. We each have different responsibilities on the team according to what we can each do best or conveniently. As there are so many cookoffs near by we can do things most teams can't.

Here is an example of how a typical cook goes.

Craig handles the money, and entry forms, buys the meat, wood and much of the supplies. He tows and stores the pit. Gas is sponsored by his company and he pays the stroage barn fee personally.


Craig drops the pit at the location the Thursday before the comp if possible.

I drive in from San Antonio (I pay my own gas) to the comp area Friday mid afternoon and set up the pit and the space. I take care of meat, propane, fire extinguiser inspections.

Craig comes in after work and we prep the meat.

He attends the cooks meeting

I do all the meat cutting during prep and for turn in

I cook our meals, opens, and extras when we do them and I provide all the cooking gear for those operations.

He watches the fire through the night and get to I nap.

Dustaway comes by during the night to spy on us and interrogates us for secrets

Saturday we do what ever we need to do as a team.

In return for the sleep I get on Friday night, I do the bulk of the tear down and clean up before awards. We're all packed and ready to roll before awards so we chill and have a cold drink until we leave. We both feel good about we share the work.

This is a simplified version but pretty close.

Randy and I are BIL's. What's mine is his and what's his is mine. We are more brothers than BIL's. Everything is pretty fluid. We cook everything together... for the most part. We know our process and each of us knows what needs to be done and when. No one does the exact same thing each time. It's amazing how we cook as one unit. We do rough math and divide winnings accordingly, but mostly we just put the money towards future entry fees, etc. It's pretty informal and a lot of rough math. It's fair enough that neither of us worries about it.

Now when I cook with someone else, it's different. Who does what, who pays for what, and how we divide ribbons and money is decided before we enter the contest together. We even decide what name we cook under and who gets the GC or RGC trophy if we were so lucky. I NEVER want to be in the situation that you describe.

First step is to decide how expenses are to be split. Sometimes I'll pay for the entry and the other person pays for the gas. Then we decide who is the lead cook for which categories. You keep the ribbons won for the categories you cook. ALL money is split. You win $1000 in your category and I win $10... $505 each. Period. Somehow you have to decide which team name you are going to cook under. My team name, I get any GC or RGC trophies. Your team name, you get any GC or RGC trophies.

Seems like nit picking, but unless you have a relationship like Randy and I, best to keep it straight out the gate.

On our team we basically split all the costs and the winnings equally. We're a team. If you are busy concentrating on one category and the other category wins, well, that person wouldn't have if they didn't have the time to concentrate on it.

It's worked so far for us. We only once won enough to make a dent anyways, so it's mostly been cost splitting!

I cook solo. If somebody wants to come along they can but they do what I say when I say and help with cleanup. I supply food and drink. I keep all the money and trophy's or ribbons. I used to have 3 or 4 people that would help out at some comps and it worked the same way although early on I let others do some cooking especially chicken. Won't do that again. When you finish strong in 3 and chicken tanks then you kick yourself for not doing chicken. Best to be responsible for all of it so you can only blame yourself.

I'm in same boat as you Ford..

one man cooking team..
if it comes out bad, no one to blame but myself :eusa_clap

do use a helper for running boxes..

If theres a side dish category, Ill let a friend cook it (I dont have time to cook them) and if they win they keep all the winnings...

Seen alot of large teams drag a ton of their trophy's out to a contest...
just figured they didn't have a way to split them up among all the members..:roll:

We split the costs... and haven't had to worry about splitting winnings:-(

For us it's real easy. I pay for everything except for food for that weekend, Kris buys that stuff. Any money won gets spent on upcoming comps, practice, stuff like that. No matter what we win I spend it all on BBQ somehow.
If an 'occasional' member stops by, he/she can bring chips or beer and hopefully stay out of the way. :-D

In the past with my brother it was all kinds of messed up. I would pay the entry fee with him paying the next one (which he would call and say that he is broke, and I would end up paying). Then we bought our own meat - he did chicken and brisket and I did the other 2. We supply our own stuff to cook. I generally paid for the fuel and wood. My wife put an end to this after a year.

With a new team mate this year; we are still working out the details. However, I am thinking that we buy all the meat, incidentals, fuel, and dinners. We bring all receipts and split it down the middle. All winnings (if the bbq god blesses us), will be used to offset the cost of the existing contest or pay for the next one. Trophies and ribbons will be kept by the winner of the oerson who cooked the meat. If we are really lucky or tuned in, the GC and RGC trophies will become a traveling deal, one year i get it the next he gets it.

So, Brian if you are reading this how does this sound.

Prize money? huh? Prize money? This is the first i've heard of this! Someone got some splainin' to do!

Don and I use a spreadsheet and split all comp expenses/winnings 50/50. If we get help from others, we do not ask them to help out with costs. We just bring a few extra beers and give them some BBQ to take home for their help.

Now if we can win more then the cost of a cut of meat...

Easy. I make Kyle pay for all of it. I'm just along for the ride. ; )

Kidding.

We have a Slabs bank account and all of the money goes in and out of there. If we hit something pretty substantial, sometimes we treat ourselves to a few bucks.

ZILLA said:

Dustaway comes by during the night to spy on us and interrogates us for secrets

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That is the last buttermilk pie you get from me :mrgreen:

I pay for everything and if I get lucky enough to get into the money the Wife has her hand out right when i get back to the table

Ford said:

I used to have 3 or 4 people that would help out at some comps and it worked the same way although early on I let others do some cooking especially chicken. Won't do that again. When you finish strong in 3 and chicken tanks then you kick yourself for not doing chicken. Best to be responsible for all of it so you can only blame yourself.

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Boy that was the good old days. If I remember correctly, one contest your chicken cooker had too many cherry bombs...

I cook by myself. It doesn't matter anyway, as anything I win goes to my foundation for cancer research and to assist those that are effected by cancer... This is a hobby for me. My drive is to raise cancer awareness and funds, not to try and find a new living or career. I look at it as a means to an end. The little success that I have had, just brings attention to my real inspiration.

Scottie

Scottie said:

Boy that was the good old days. If I remember correctly, one contest your chicken cooker had too many cherry bombs...

I cook by myself. It doesn't matter anyway, as anything I win goes to my foundation for cancer research and to assist those that are effected by cancer... This is a hobby for me. My drive is to raise cancer awareness and funds, not to try and find a new living or career. I look at it as a means to an end. The little success that I have had, just brings attention to my real inspiration.

Scottie

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God bless ya!

Diva said:

We have a Slabs bank account

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Can I get one of those.

My Brother and I are 50/50 with the Sons being the team bums. I keep the trophies at my house because I am the baby of the family and he hates it when I whine.

Can I get one of those.

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Sure! Just make sure that you use our information and don't make any withdrawals, just deposits ; )