How does your competiton team work??

[Captain P.J.]

Awsome responses from you all!! You guys who do the MBN - MIM contests, by the looks of it, it looks like a lot of work but also good chance for a lot of fun!! I plan on breaking up the overnight 3 ways so no one is up all night and having a DB (love that). Again thank you to you all that have taken the time to read and let me and everyone else know how you run your team!:clap2:

 

[Ryan Chester]

We are a 3 person team consisting of my dad, my step dad, and myself. A buddy of ours helps when he is in town also. We try to split most of the work but I tend to take charge (just the way I am). Dad always does the cutting (ribs & brisket), step dad always handles the injections, I always handle the sauce and putting the meat in the boxes. The other stuff gets done by whoever is on it. We have a system down and it works!

 

[Southern Home Boy]

We are a 3 person team consisting of my dad, my step dad, and myself. A buddy of ours helps when he is in town also. We try to split most of the work but I tend to take charge (just the way I am). Dad always does the cutting (ribs & brisket), step dad always handles the injections, I always handle the sauce and putting the meat in the boxes. The other stuff gets done by whoever is on it. We have a system down and it works!

You, your dad AND your Step Dad?? :shocked: Now THAT's a story I'd like to hear about sometime.

 

[Lake Dogs]

Awsome responses from you all!! You guys who do the MBN - MIM contests, by the looks of it, it looks like a lot of work but also good chance for a lot of fun!! I plan on breaking up the overnight 3 ways so no one is up all night and having a DB (love that). Again thank you to you all that have taken the time to read and let me and everyone else know how you run your team!:clap2:

Good luck with it. As many have said here (long before I was here), first
and foremost, have fun. Funny how to some degree the more you enjoy
it the better you end up doing. I really enjoy both (KCBS smaller team,
and MIM/MBN larger) for the different things they bring/offer.:becky:

 

[Rich Parker]

If you plan your cook correctly it can easily be done by yourself. The only thing is finding a runner for your boxes so that you can concentrate on your next box. I find paying other peoples children an easy way to find runners. :grin:

 

[Brauma]

It took us several contests to work out our manpower assignments. Like CivilWarBBQ said previously, you need to find a balance. And lose the egos if you have more than a one-person team.

We are a two-man team that will have 2 or 3 helpers in the booth.

Rick & I are the head cooks. I kinda specialize in chicken; Rick specializes in ribs. Brisket and butts are the long cooks and either of us will tend to them. But since ribs and chicken cook times overlap we like assign one man to each so we dont lose focus.

We'll have one person be a pit bitch / diddler. This same person may be the chief bottle washer: this person will do a thorough cleaning of the box building area after each category. And we have my sis-in-law be the QC person at box building time. Rick and I may pig up a box when building it and she'll make sure it's pretty and even and perfect looking before it leaves the site.

You just have to find what works best for you.

 

[watertowerbbq]

I am a 1 man team with a runner. The runner actually is also responsible for holding the box while the meat is placed in the box, sampling the meat prior to going into the box and helping me load everything back into the truck.

 

[Captain P.J.]

So here is kinda what I am thinking so far... what do you guys think?

Brian: (me) cooking, prepping and seasoning all meats, fire 8pm -12am and 6am untill done, choosing meat for turn in, taster and tie breaker, crowd control, set up and tear down
Tim: overnight fire watch (11 or 12-3?), fire, safety, rules and procedures, crowd control, taster, runner, set up and tear down (if conscience)
Ryan: box builder, early morning fire watch (3-6?), site maintenance, dishes (during turn in time), runner, crowd control, taster, set up and tear down

 

[BBQ_Mayor]

We are a 4 man team. My brother and I are the main team splitting costs. We have an account that all winnings go into and unually just buy supplies out of our own pockets.
Sometimes the bbq account will pay if there is enough winnings in there, not likely though.
My brother does the Brisket and chicken and I do the Ribs and help with the pork. The 3rd guy will cook the pork and is the runner but I will box it and I stay up with what he is doing so I can take over if he happens to be gone. The 4th guy is in the process of taking over chicken and is the sanitation technician.
This is our 2nd year using this set up and it seems to work out alright.

 

[Gowan]

Mayor brings up a good point of the money. As in most human relationships, this can be an area that causes great ill-will if expectations are not spelled out clearly in advance.

When we started competition cooking, our head cook Johnny paid for everything, and kept all prize money. As the team grew and along with it the desire to cook more shows, the financial load became too great for one person alone.

Currently we have a checking account for the team that all income is deposited into, be it prize money, cash sponsorships or earnings from cooking classes or grill sales. I act as team manager and cut checks for entry fees and reimburse my teammates for contest-related expenses. When the account runs dry, then we as a team decide either to chip in more operating funds or wait until we are solvent before competing again.

Most importantly, everyone understands that should we be lucky enough to win a big prize, the cash will stay with the team, to be used either for funding future shows or purchasing a large piece of equipment like a new trailer if the payday is large enough. You need to spell all this out in advance, otherwise when you are holding that big check and your teammates demand their split when you want to put the money back in the team there is going to be an ugly scene.

 

[Captain P.J.]

Good point CivilWar!! So far it has been me and the wife paying for everything... as others are willing to chip in I have let it be known that any/all ribbons/trophys stay with the team (if we are so lucky)... and will put any monitary wins towards future team expenditures. I do like the idea of a seperate account though!

 

[Skip]

What is a DB?

In my experience I would have to say DISH BIOTCH. Man just lost one and so want another.

 

[thillin]

I go in prepared to do everything. If Mike (GrumpysQ)is there, he helps alot by being the second set of hands, main dish washer and runner. I'll bounce ideas off of him as well.

We look at each other alot and say "I don't know." And we seem to usually do well.

I've done some solo. IBCA we have an hour and half between turn ins, so solo is a little easier. But it's alot more easier and more fun when Mike is there!

 

[Smokenstein & monster crew]

I do all the work

Wife takes all the credit

 

[billm]

We are a two person team, and it works pretty well. I do the meat trimming, my wife and I share in the prep work at the comp site, we do the boxes together, I handle the cooking, she handles the site decor :-D and we split everything else.

Like candy we use a lot of disposables like pan liners and disposable cutting boards. The only dishes the we wash are things that will be reused at that comp Otherwise everything else goes into a hotel pan and into the cambro for the ride home. We found that we were re-washing stuff at home anyway, so why do it twice

ROn - what are thses pan liners you speak of??