Division of Labor on a Comp Team

[midwest_kc]

We are a team of 4, but have done contests between 3-5 people. For our normal 4 man setup, we all split the costs evenly of the entry fee, meat, foil, etc. Basically, everything is split except each cook's spices and sauces for their own turn ins. We used to make everyone be responsible for buying their own meat, too, but that isn't really fair when 2 briskets may be $80, and chicken may be $15-$20.

My wife (not one of the 4, but irreplaceable, regardless) makes the boxes, and helps with presentation. We all help on the presentation, but her and the cook get final say. This works really smoothly for every category except mine.

Any awards, etc. stay with the team and when we get enough to display, we will make a display to put up at comps with them. If we ever have winnings, they will go into a central checking account we have for the team and will help cover future comps (though I'm sure we'll spend most of it at the bar that night instead).

 

[BBQ_Mayor]

We are a 3 man team. I do ribs and most of the chicken, we share duties of watching the chicken cooker at a contest but I do the trimming seasoning and time line. Shotgun does Brisket and Cookie does the pork. We take care of our own boxes for the most part but sometime split that up.
We all take care of getting sponsors and setting up catering and vending. All this money pays for the entries, meats and spices.
Seams to work out so far. Do what you know and do it well.

 

[Smokesignalsfromtx]

That's the kind of BBQ team I need to be part of.

Lol! I've been married twice, got rid of the winch AND the wife!

 

[Roast Beast]

Primarily a husband and wife team here, with each of our respective fathers and my mother helping out depending on availability.

I do all the meat selection, injecting, trimming, cooking, saucing, fire management, boxing, etc. Like fnbish, I'm not sure that I could handle not having ultimate control of those things.

My wife does the parsley, runs the boxes, and (critically importantly) is in charge of quality control. She is an excellent manager of both people and processes. When I'm running around in the weeds trying to keep things straight, she is my backstop every step of the way.

The fathers pitch in any way asked, and sometimes handle the People's Choice categories.

My mother sometimes does desserts and provides moral support.

Everyone helps with setup and teardown, although I'm working to minimize both.

 

[SwineGuy]

Really interesting to hear how the different teams do their thing. Its something I have been wondering about and glad I asked. There does seem to be a difference between the set-ups of the husband-wife teams vs. the "three or four buddies" teams.

As for expenses, through the first three comps we have done we kind of just all paid for something, but it was real disorganized. He paid for the meat, I paid the comp entry fee, the other guy bought a bunch of supplies, etc. But in the long run we now realize we really need to get some structure around the money. We are going to all kick some money into a team bank account and started paying out of that and tracking.

As for cooking, we all like to do all the meats but know we can't have three guys standing over the same meat and trying to do everything so I think we are going to move towards us taking one meat each to do from beginning to end.

And the turn in boxes...oh those turn-in boxes....we really need an artist on our team to help with those things!

 

[tunnelengineer]

We are primarily 2 guys, and we really splitup the meats to make it manageable. We both pitch in for each other, but it helps to not have to worry about all the details of all 4 meats.

 

[CSchieck]

We are a team of 4. Split the costs of the entry fee evenly. Each member is responsible for one entry and all the items they need to prepare it. The smokers are shared, but individually owned. We assist each other as requested/necessary. Any winnings are to be put towards the next the next entry fee for the team. Yes, the chicken guy gets off cheap, but he spends hours playing with raw chicken. Wouldn't trade places with him for anything.

We get along well and have fun. We take the comp seriously, but not so seriously that we don't have a really good time.

The 2 members with the lowest ranking for their entry are responsible for supplying the dinner meal on Friday evening of the next comp, which must be a 10 lb bone in rib roast. (I'm on the hook for the next comp......).

 

[Pappy Q]

^^^^^That would drive me nuts^^^.
Lulu and I pull in and set up together (20 minutes). The only thing she does before turnins is make the boxes. I do everything else.
At turnin time she has everything at my fingertips (like a dentist and his asst) and chose what ribs to put in the box.
After turnins she ussually tells me everything I did wrong and argue while were packing up (30-40 minutes).







Then go to awards.........and ussually argue a little more!:blah:

Damn I love her though!!!

You and Podge need to teach me how you get your wife to do so much

 

[CBQ]

I found my wife was a lot more interested in BBQ and a lot more tolerant of doing 15-20 contests a year when she got more involved. She does our complete chicken - prep to box - and also preps the brisket. Prior to the contest, she makes all the injections and sauces and manages the inventory for contests.

I do all the ordering of any stuff we get online, along with the rest of the prep and the cooking of the other 3 categories.

She used to object to the work involved...until she got her first chicken call. Now she looks forward to the next contest.

(When we had 4 people on the team, the other 2 cooked 1 category, and helped with boxing, but we moved to a 2 person team this year.)

 

[Just Smokin' Around]

We're a team of 2. In the beginning, we were both bringing the same things and had too much crap. We also tried splitting the meats, who cooked what and bought what. We eventually ended up that one pays the entry fee and the other buys the meats and food to eat at the comp. Over time, it worked out who was making a sauce we liked, a rub we would use, etc. We eventually had a list of who brought what in the miscellaneous categories ( foil, apple juice, cleaning material, etc. ). Is it completely even, not always, but it works for us and we're both good with it. As for duties at the comp, it all worked itself out over time. We knew each others strengths and weaknesses. He would go to sleep early and I stayed up late. He got up early and I slept a bit longer. I didn't have to worry that the ribs would get prepped and put on and the fire and meat was always tended to. He has knife skills, I don't. I have the patience to arrange the box, he doesn't. We both clean, set up and tar down.

One thing we learned quickly is, figure out what you don't need for the next comp and don't bring it. In the beginning, we had double of a lot of things and things we didn't need. The less you have, the easier clean up and tear down is.

 

[Gowan]

Tried the husband and wife team thing for a while.

Then both our spouses found out and neither of us could afford to compete any more with all the money going to alimony.

 

[Patrickkva]

We are a team of three. One guy does two meats, the others cook the other two. We all know (after three years together) how we get things done and constantly help each other out with minor prep and cleaning stuff. It probably looks like a disorganized mess at first glance, but we are still having a good time and are still speaking to one another :razz:.

 

[MikeyBfromTN]

We are a 2 man team. We equally do the prep with each having specific jobs. In the morning I man the smoker while he builds the boxes. We have learned how to divide things at night so we can each get 5-6 hours of sleep or down time.

How? We have 3 of us and I seem to be up every hour and we don't use a stick burner.

 

[MikeyBfromTN]

Really interesting to hear how the different teams do their thing. Its something I have been wondering about and glad I asked. There does seem to be a difference between the set-ups of the husband-wife teams vs. the "three or four buddies" teams.

As for expenses, through the first three comps we have done we kind of just all paid for something, but it was real disorganized. He paid for the meat, I paid the comp entry fee, the other guy bought a bunch of supplies, etc. But in the long run we now realize we really need to get some structure around the money. We are going to all kick some money into a team bank account and started paying out of that and tracking.

As for cooking, we all like to do all the meats but know we can't have three guys standing over the same meat and trying to do everything so I think we are going to move towards us taking one meat each to do from beginning to end.

And the turn in boxes...oh those turn-in boxes....we really need an artist on our team to help with those things!

Keep receipts and divide the costs equally. We have a team checking account. Then we sit down and balance out the costs. Each member records what they paid for. So, we'll know how much we owe each other.

The other thing is we decided to throw a little intra-team contest, this past July 4th. It was a challenge to the "recipe" being used. My team mates conceded Brisket to me, so no challenge (took 2nd in Brisket, this past weekend at Music City BBQ). But we all cooked ribs. We helped each other kinda cook, but it was a taste contest. We invited 25 of our family and friends over. We then explained to them, that they were to take one of each rib (they each had numbered flags), take a bite of each and decide which was best and why. Their first question.."can we finish them?" Of Course!! Then "vote" by putting the flag in a bucket. I won ribs and for the next year, it's my recipe. But, we can always improve it and we cook it as a team. I like cooking st louis ribs and my "win" means we won't cook baby backs.

My buddy and I cooked chicken and tied. I asked if I could vote and he let me. I said his was better. I like his and felt that even though I was a big winner in ribs, HE was a big winner in chicken...and it is his baby. Besides, he's won with chicken. Why would I mess with that.

The biggest thing is time...it will tell you if you're compatible as cooks, friends and critics. Try being a control freak and holding your tongue, when you're so tired you can't see straight. Good guys will understand, plus you won't get to that point.

 

[BB-Kuhn]

My team is my wife and I. Here's the breakdown:

My wife makes the most amazing turn-in boxes with a parsley putting green that puts most teams' boxes to shame....

I do pretty much all the rest. She's not a good cook and she's too small to help with setup/etc. She gives opinions, which have led to victory numerous times, so she is a really valuable team member, she just doesn't like to cook!

 

[SwineGuy]

The 2 members with the lowest ranking for their entry are responsible for supplying the dinner meal on Friday evening of the next comp, which must be a 10 lb bone in rib roast. (I'm on the hook for the next comp......).

Love this idea! This will absolutely become a new tradition for our team. Great idea...

 

[lcbateman3]

Our team is my wife and I.

We both setup and break down.

I do the major trimming she helps with seasonings. She does all the boxes.

Most of the time she will do the shopping as well, she knows how to go through meat and pick what we are looking for.

I handle the cooking, slicing, etc. She is the official taster. I pick what is going in the box she puts it in the box, snaps a picture and turns it in.

She usually keeps the dishes up as well. Sometimes we have friends who go with us to help. They get dishes

 

[Serious Hog]

Husband-wife team. Other than running the smokers (mine) and prepping chicken (hers :-D), we both pretty much have our signature all over everything else. Succeed or fail, its always a true team effort. Sometimes we will get a little testy with each other towards the end and our son will explain to people "Oh, they always get like that at turn in time.."

 

[Wampus]

We're a 2 man team. Our cook has evolved to where each of us typically does the same thing each time, but we both are aware of what each of us does since we've both had to cook solo a time or two. We both discuss strategy and agree on any changes in our "standard" process.

Typically, I prep brisket and ribs and Jimmy will do pork and chicken prep.
As far as cooking, we both do everything together, but again, we typically perform the same individual tasks each time.

For instance, when we wrap ribs, I'll handle the foil and pulling ribs out of the pit and putting them back on and he'll do the seasonings/foil additions. Still, we both wrap ribs together. Same kind of thing with all the other stuff.

We both throw logs during the cook. We both check temps as needed. We both have our timeline in our phones and use alarms. We can pretty much do what we do together without much talking at all. We've done 16 comps so far this season and have done about 58 total so we've got things pretty much down.

As far as set up & tear down, we both do things together, unless I get to the comp before he does, then I'll usually get started earlier. We cook out of 4 EZ-Ups and can set up and/or tear down in just under an hour.

Financially, we opened up a business checking account together and we both have a "team debit card" to make purchases with for comps. All winnings and earnings from vending or sponsors go into the account and we spend out of it too for whatever. We haven't had to come out of pocket this or last year between vending, sponsorships and winnings. The first year, we both put in money to start things up.

 

[Candy Sue]

Me, myself and I. Myself is a goof off. Me and I work real well together. If it doesn't get done, it's myself's fault.