Last year I wasn't thrilled with the thickness of the flats on the 14-17 lb briskets I received but the meat was still good. I grabbed a couple 17-20 lb for the Royal and the flats were better with similar marbling throughout.
Wagyu is running $150+ for 14-17 lb and 170+ for 17-20 lb
With shipping you are looking at $175-$200 for a comp brisket without considering your cost to cook it.
Many contests pay $300 for first place in a category and obviously only one team goes home with that check.
We all hope and even plan to hear our name called last but obviously it's nothing you can bank on.............anything outside a first or second finish and you lose money.
I can easily see many teams taking a serious look at wagyu and deciding it just isn't worth the cost.............honestly I don't think anyone could logically make an argument that it is.
I see it as a necessary evil in most teams minds.........something they begrudgingly accept as part of the deal but I think if the current prices stay the same we will see many teams move away from wagyu.
The saving grace for wagyu has always been people believe you can't win without it and there may be truth to that but now even that motivation will come under scrutiny because it's getting to the point where you HAVE to win to justify the cost.
Do you guys think wagyu has reached the point of diminished returns or will teams continue to shell out $200 to try and win $300??
I know guys will say the GC is what they are spending that money and trying to win........which I fully agree with but I'm not quite convinced you need wagyu to win a GC..........brisket maybe but a GC doesn't lean as heavy on it because all categories are equal.
I didn't even mention "gold" grade LOL
Wagyu is running $150+ for 14-17 lb and 170+ for 17-20 lb
With shipping you are looking at $175-$200 for a comp brisket without considering your cost to cook it.
Many contests pay $300 for first place in a category and obviously only one team goes home with that check.
We all hope and even plan to hear our name called last but obviously it's nothing you can bank on.............anything outside a first or second finish and you lose money.
I can easily see many teams taking a serious look at wagyu and deciding it just isn't worth the cost.............honestly I don't think anyone could logically make an argument that it is.
I see it as a necessary evil in most teams minds.........something they begrudgingly accept as part of the deal but I think if the current prices stay the same we will see many teams move away from wagyu.
The saving grace for wagyu has always been people believe you can't win without it and there may be truth to that but now even that motivation will come under scrutiny because it's getting to the point where you HAVE to win to justify the cost.
Do you guys think wagyu has reached the point of diminished returns or will teams continue to shell out $200 to try and win $300??
I know guys will say the GC is what they are spending that money and trying to win........which I fully agree with but I'm not quite convinced you need wagyu to win a GC..........brisket maybe but a GC doesn't lean as heavy on it because all categories are equal.
I didn't even mention "gold" grade LOL