When do you switch from amateur to professional?

Started out in the "pro" division.
I decided that when I came out to play, I wanted to go against EVERYBODY and chose the largest event in our area as my initiation. Went up against 68 teams. Finshed middle of the pack but achieved all my goals.

Get everything turned in.
No disqualifications.
Don't finish DAL.

Finished with a best 21st in chicken.
This was in 2012.
Fast forward to the same event in 2013
Finished 4th overall out of 66 teams.

Put yourself out there and see how you do!

I'm going to go against the majority on this one - if you have only done 3 backyard events in 2 years, you can certainly benefit from staying in that bracket for a while longer (assuming there are sufficient backyard contests in your area). You have barely wet your feet in competition BBQ at this point, and moving to pro now will certainly result in you spending a lot more money during the learning process than if you stay in backyard.

I might suggest that you take some of the money you would spend on entering Pro shows and buy a class or two from someone you respect that also cooks on the type of smoker you use. Then practice what you learn in backyard events for a while. When you start finishing in the top 5 every time and the other cooks push you to move up, THEN you'll be ready to shift to the Pro events.

Of course if you have unlimited funds and don't care how you finish, then go ahead and slog away for a while in the Pro world. Just remember you are doing it for fun and you will essentially be a field-filler, donating your money to the more experienced teams each weekend. I'm not trying to be harsh, just giving you an idea of what you can expect. I have seen quite a few backyarders move up to Pro after a couple of successes only to become discouraged and quit completely when they end up in the bottom of the field every time.

Another thing you could do is to become a CBJ and judge a few comps. That will give you a really good idea what the pro teams are turning in.

wallace

Personally......I err on the side of caution. I think I agree most with CivilWarBBQ on this one.


When I first got interested, I found a team that was willing to just let me hang out at a comp with them to see what the heck it was all about. At this point I had ZERO exposure to comp BBQ, except what I'd seen on TV. I'd not even competed in backyard comps. How I got hooked up on that team was through the BBQ Brethren Team Mentoring Forum. You may or may not get action, but I did and it was an invaluable experience.


The following year, I ended up getting in touch with a member here who lived an hour from me and who was looking for a teammate to cook with on a new team. I ended up going to a comp, meeting him, hanging out and then ended up actually helping him out for 2 or 3 other comps that season, mainly just as a "pit beotch", but I got to see what the deal was on a more detailed level, ask questions, etc.

During that year, I entered into a backyard comp on my own, which was ribs only and won.

The hook was set.


The following year (2012) I entered into a partnership with him and I'm still there and loving it.





For me......slowly diving in was my style. I'm not necessarily afraid of taking risks, but with a family to support and being a cheap arse at heart, I wasn't about to drop hundreds or thousands of dollars not knowing what I was getting into. Not saying that there's anything wrong with doing it like that, but it just ain't me.

One thing that helped me decide was that I had a partner. After the first exposure, I'd basically decided that I didn't want to compete because I didn't want to drop all the money and then just have to scratch and claw for years and years just to figure out how NOT to suck (OK, not SUCK, but I mean not win or score high), and have to do that all on my own. Joining another guy to compete together, we were able to share expenses, ideas, flavors, methods, etc.





As far as timing, that's really up to you to decide when you're ready.
At some point, however, you WILL have to take the plunge if you're seriously planning on going pro. Sometimes just tearing off the bandaid and committing is the best, but for me......I didn't want to have it end up horrible and regret it.

I don't know how much time you have spent around the pro side of competition BBQ, but I will promise you this: other teams will help if they know you're new and are in need of some guidance, or at least some talking down when you're on the ledge. There is NO other competitive endeavor that I've found where this is more true than comp BBQ. So, whatever you decide, you'll not be completely alone. It's a big family.


Good luck!

I stick to the amateur competitions almost entirely because they are cheaper. All of the amateur comps I've been in cost less than $100 and most provide the meat to cook. They are one day affairs so all you need to get by is a UDS (or two), table and an EZ-Up. I can compete in a whole season of amateur events (5 or 6) for the cost one pro competition (including meat and supplies).

Two of the comps I participate in provide us with 10 slabs of ribs and we "sell" bones to the public. There is a judges' champion and a People's Choice champ. The local Lions Club provides the ribs and keeps all of the cash. There is nothing better than getting instantaneous “attaboys.”

Although there are hacks out there, competition at the top is tough at these events. Organizers also strive to get KCBS certified judges.

I think that amateur events are also less stressful and more fun. Even though it is a one day event, there seems to be more time to get to know your neighbors.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love to go pro. Someday, I hope one of my four kids gets rich and bankrolls Dad’s BBQ dream. Until then, consider me an amateur.

CivilWarBBQ said:

I'm going to go against the majority on this one - if you have only done 3 backyard events in 2 years, you can certainly benefit from staying in that bracket for a while longer (assuming there are sufficient backyard contests in your area). You have barely wet your feet in competition BBQ at this point, and moving to pro now will certainly result in you spending a lot more money during the learning process than if you stay in backyard.

I might suggest that you take some of the money you would spend on entering Pro shows and buy a class or two from someone you respect that also cooks on the type of smoker you use. Then practice what you learn in backyard events for a while. When you start finishing in the top 5 every time and the other cooks push you to move up, THEN you'll be ready to shift to the Pro events.

Of course if you have unlimited funds and don't care how you finish, then go ahead and slog away for a while in the Pro world. Just remember you are doing it for fun and you will essentially be a field-filler, donating your money to the more experienced teams each weekend. I'm not trying to be harsh, just giving you an idea of what you can expect. I have seen quite a few backyarders move up to Pro after a couple of successes only to become discouraged and quit completely when they end up in the bottom of the field every time.

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I, also, am going to disagree with the majority of the people posting on here. We competed this whole season in the backyard division all over the SE. We did 8 competitions total. When we looked at our accomplishments at the end of the season, we made the decision to go pro for this upcoming season for TWO reasons; we took a trophy in every contests we did (except 1 and that had "celebrity" judges) and we took 2 grand champions (one of which was in a field of 44 teams). (We competed in all competitions that used the KCBS rules and judging). Those are the only two reasons we're going to the pro side. If we hadn't finished so strong, we would have stayed backyard for another year to fine tune our recipes and save up some more money toward entry fees, gas, and meat.

We know this is just a "hobby", but it is an expensive hobby to be in the bottom of the ranks, so we wanted to wait till we really felt ready to compete with the people that do it 20 times a year.

Don't let others opinions push you toward pro till you're ready, and certainly don't hold back if you feel that you are. I feel that this question is really up to the individual team BUT if you're having a lot of great success in backyard competitions then it's a good consideration.

sdbbq1234 said:

Another thing you could do is to become a CBJ and judge a few comps. That will give you a really good idea what the pro teams are turning in.

wallace

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This! Although I completely agree with the points made by Kwas and others. My kids are grown. It's just my wife and I. We compete pretty much instead of taking vacations.

We judged a couple of years, and got to know some of the folks, and then just made the jump. But having judged and knowing what the food being in tasted like, we had a better idea what the judges were looking for, although that seems to be a moving/evolving target!

I would not recommend it to anyone looking to make money at it, unless you have the time and wherewithal to dedicate at least half of the weekends in a given year to competing, because most of the best are doing it 20-30 or more weekends per year, all over the country

For us, it's all about the fun and the folks. And once every now and then, we hear our names and that makes us pretty happy too!

I have only done a handful cookouts and will probably never do a full 4 meat kcbs.

CivilWarBBQ said:

I'm going to go against the majority on this one - if you have only done 3 backyard events in 2 years, you can certainly benefit from staying in that bracket for a while longer (assuming there are sufficient backyard contests in your area). You have barely wet your feet in competition BBQ at this point, and moving to pro now will certainly result in you spending a lot more money during the learning process than if you stay in backyard.

I might suggest that you take some of the money you would spend on entering Pro shows and buy a class or two from someone you respect that also cooks on the type of smoker you use. Then practice what you learn in backyard events for a while. When you start finishing in the top 5 every time and the other cooks push you to move up, THEN you'll be ready to shift to the Pro events.

Of course if you have unlimited funds and don't care how you finish, then go ahead and slog away for a while in the Pro world. Just remember you are doing it for fun and you will essentially be a field-filler, donating your money to the more experienced teams each weekend. I'm not trying to be harsh, just giving you an idea of what you can expect. I have seen quite a few backyarders move up to Pro after a couple of successes only to become discouraged and quit completely when they end up in the bottom of the field every time.

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I very much agree here. Especially the part about maybe taking a class with the extra money you would be spending on a pro comp. I know after we switched to pro it was much tougher and then took a class and it really put us in the right direction.

bassandbeer said:

I have a small Bar-B-Chef that barely holds 2 racks of ribs, or 2 butts, or maybe 2 briskets. I don't have a lot of money to spend on another rig. Maybe I can find a friend with another one, otherwise, there's no way to cook it all in the time frame. Thoughts?

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Harry Soo busted out a whole kcbs competition on a weber mini! i would just add a rack into your cooker to get two levels and increase the cooking space, then mod it as much as you need to become exact with your times. then think about trimming the big meats down to exactly what you need to cook to get your six or seven portions into the box, maybe get a rib rack to save some space and work with as few pieces of chicken as you can. don't worry... YOU CAN DO IT!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ2HcRl4wSk

> I have seen quite a few backyarders move up to Pro after a couple of successes only to become discouraged and quit completely when they end up in the bottom of the field every time.

I too have seen this very thing. The problem, as I saw it, was that competing in backyard taught them some things that not only weren't applicable but some were just plain wrong vs. competing in Pro.

I agree, go to a class, a competition cooking class, hosted by a seasoned Pro, and/or become a CBJ and judge a few. Honestly, a picture is worth a thousand words. See what wins, and you'll see why it wins. Then go back and practice, practice, practice, and enjoy eating .

I'm worried that the team like JB's (posed previous page) get hammered going Pro and get discouraged after having success in the backyard area.

If you even thought of asking the question, when you should go into pro's, then you are ready. A lot of us, me included, started in the pros. If you want to be serious about competition, pro is where you go.

Slightly aside, but I'll get it straight to the point, for many years we've had a local competition that wasn't sanctioned. It would usually bring in 20 or so "backyard" teams; a couple of them were quite good and frankly got better every year. The organizer was convinced they were ready to go sanctioned, so 2 years ago they changed the competition to be sanctioned. Luckily they only got 30 teams total. The problem is that their #1 team before (GC'd twice and RGC'd another time) did no better than 15th. None of the local teams were in the top 10. Not close.

My point is this: While they were learning the fundamentals of competition, they didn't know that what they felt like were finely honed recipes got slammed when they went against seasoned competitors (I hate the whole "Pro" thing). I tried to convince them to judge a few sanctioned competitions before this; they didnt because they didnt see the need. THEY DID before the 2nd year. I'm glad to say their top team was in the top 5 this past year; they didnt give up. However, they did lose a number of the teams that were mediocre before and were bottom of the pack when it came to a sanctioned competition. Could that have been avoided? I dont know, but I do think attending either a cooking school or judging, or both would've helped.

There is a backyard competition up here in my area of Iowa, at a lake, that must be so popular that 2 of the top teams in the nation decided to do the contest and of course did very well. I have done a handful of KCBS and did this contest as well(of course it is a local contest for me). And if I am not mistaken including myself the top 5 overall finishers have done at least 4 KCBS contests, and of the top 5 overall I would feel quite comfortable saying at least 10 KCBS Grandchampions have been won.

My point being even the backyard contests get the bigger teams, so if you are going to go against them anyways then why not sign up for the regular contests?

I was a certified judge first that did backyard type contests kept running into certain teams even at backyard events so we decided to go into the regular KCBS scene. First year we learned a lot and did get our rear ends handed to us but it showed me if I wanted to continue or not. I did. So I took a class, learned a lot more and am continuing. I have not won a GC at a sanctioned contest yet, but to me while winning is fun it is not everything. I compete for the entire experience.

NRA4Life said:

Never did any amateur comps, just jumped right in right from the start.

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Same here

NRA4Life said:

Never did any amateur comps, just jumped right in right from the start.

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Me too.


If you're having fun doing backyard why stop? If it's not fun anymore move up.

If you are short on resources, you may want to find another friend to cook with for a season. That way its a little less costly.
Life is short. Go for it NOW! You will find there are lots of helpful people.