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Sam's Club National BBQ Tour - 2013

Rich Parker

Rich Parker

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Looks like we will get the low down for 2013 in a couple of weeks.

From KCBS FB page:
We will be announcing the schedule, rules and registration process for the 2013 Sam's Club National BBQ Tour on Dec. 19. Stay tuned!
Click to expand...

Any rumors out there if they are changing it up at all? I sure hope MI is represented.
 
Rich Parker said:
Looks like we will get the low down for 2013 in a couple of weeks.

From KCBS FB page:


Any rumors out there if they are changing it up at all? I sure hope MI is represented.
Click to expand...

Wonder if they look at the team numbers at the events . 3 of the 5 in our region filled up with healthy wait lists ,the other 2 came up short .But I think reading somewhere thats not so much a factor as is where their business competitors are located?
 
i am looking forward to the location announcements. I am already planning next years limited comp schedule and have been holding off until I heard more about Sams before I got very serious in planning.
 
I have always been surprised that they don't advertise the local events and their business always increases with us in the parking lot.
 
Can't say that I find the Sam's club contest worth the trouble. You guys must have been to a different contest than I went to, it was one of the worst run contests I have attended. They won't be getting me back anytime soon.
 
que_dawg said:
Can't say that I find the Sam's club contest worth the trouble. You guys must have been to a different contest than I went to, it was one of the worst run contests I have attended. They won't be getting me back anytime soon.
Click to expand...

Really? I did 3 last year, and they were all well run. The organizer (Troy Black) is also a competitor, he knows how teams think. The only thing that would be nice is running water, but they can't pull that off at all the stores.

The 10 grand we won didn't hurt either. :becky:
 
CBQ said:
Really? I did 3 last year, and they were all well run. The organizer (Troy Black) is also a competitor, he knows how teams think. The only thing that would be nice is running water, but they can't pull that off at all the stores.

The 10 grand we won didn't hurt either. :becky:
Click to expand...

I suspect that teams in the SE are spoiled by very high quality contests with some of the best organizers around. The bar gets set pretty high here
 
Rich Parker said:
I have always been surprised that they don't advertise the local events and their business always increases with us in the parking lot.
Click to expand...

They do limited local advertising, but generally only in the target clubs and local radio ads. They aren't set up to handle 20,000 people showing up. We were told they get a 25-30% bump in sales the weekend of the event, and increased club members, which is why it's a good deal for Sam's.

High payouts for us, better sales for them, sounds like a win-win which is why they keep doing it.
 
CBQ said:
They do limited local advertising, but generally only in the target clubs and local radio ads. They aren't set up to handle 20,000 people showing up. We were told they get a 25-30% bump in sales the weekend of the event, and increased club members, which is why it's a good deal for Sam's.

High payouts for us, better sales for them, sounds like a win-win which is why they keep doing it.
Click to expand...

Troy told us about the big bump in sales, and I am sure that is way more than $10k.

The first year was more organized than last year and to be honest we have had crappy power both years, but I like the structure of the competition and will definitely do it again.
 
I'd like to see them shuffle the timing of the regions a little so our region isn't stuck with the Sam's events after the cutoff for the Royal again.
 
Sam's

I hope they balance the contests out better in terms of location. Regionals need to be near the center of the geographic area they represent, not near one edge, where some winners have to travel long distance. The whole country also needs to be covered. Sam's also needs to provide water for cook teams. Paying $250 for a contest with no water is a bit extreme. By the way, why does Sam's and KCBS need to keep a team's registration money for several months before a given event? They need to figure out a way for cooks to keep their money longer. I really don't want to give KCBS a loan for 3-6 months. Finally, I think they should better distribute the prize money for the regionals and pay down more places in the categories. Top loading the prizes means a very few teams make money when they compete. Paying down more places means more cooks who travel a long way get some money. In this era of a poor economy, cooks need all the help they can get.
 
CBQ said:
Really? I did 3 last year, and they were all well run. The organizer (Troy Black) is also a competitor, he knows how teams think. The only thing that would be nice is running water, but they can't pull that off at all the stores.

The 10 grand we won didn't hurt either. :becky:
Click to expand...


I think your glasses are fogged by the $$$ in front of them. :-D Mine probably would be too, if I won 10 grand! Congrats on that.

I just feel like of all of the contests that I have cooked, it's the Sam's contests that lacks. I feel like the best run contests are contests that are run by local organizers that actually have ties to the communities their contest is benefitting. The Sam's organizers are just in another city and are only worried about getting to the next stop. Lot's of details get overlooked when that is the case. It's only my opinion...
 
nukenight said:
I hope they balance the contests out better in terms of location. Regionals need to be near the center of the geographic area they represent, not near one edge, where some winners have to travel long distance. The whole country also needs to be covered. Sam's also needs to provide water for cook teams. Paying $250 for a contest with no water is a bit extreme. By the way, why does Sam's and KCBS need to keep a team's registration money for several months before a given event? They need to figure out a way for cooks to keep their money longer. I really don't want to give KCBS a loan for 3-6 months. Finally, I think they should better distribute the prize money for the regionals and pay down more places in the categories. Top loading the prizes means a very few teams make money when they compete. Paying down more places means more cooks who travel a long way get some money. In this era of a poor economy, cooks need all the help they can get.
Click to expand...


They pay the top so the top can afford to travel. I get that and it makes sense to me. I would like to see deeper payouts, but this contest has a valid reason to pay all the money to the top 6.
 
CBQ said:
The only thing that would be nice is running water, but they can't pull that off at all the stores.
Click to expand...

Why couldn't they? Are you telling me the World's Largest Retailer can't afford to pay the local water authority a small fee for a 2" or 3" water meter hooked to a fire hydrant close by and run some temporary piping to the teams? They could even have this to where it was able to be broken down and put on their traveling circus trucks.

It wouldn't be THAT expensive to do. In fact, it's done all the time at other types of events, all across the country.

3" meter feeding a few manifolds with 1" pex going to a smaller manifold that fed 4 teams each? That's 8 runs of 1" pex (7 for the Marietta GA contest...they've not had more than 28 teams yet)...

Yes, it would take a couple of hours to set up and dismantle.
 
Your point is well taken, but personally, as a firefighter, I would be just slightly unhappy if a decision was made to essentially disable the hydrant closest to 30+ wood/charcoal fires and who knows how many propane tanks and appliances.

dmp
 
A hydrant wrench and 45 seconds puts the hydrant back in service. Not too big a deal. Water is absolutely the biggest negative to the Sam's Club events.
 
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