Setting a team up/ how many assistants?


 

MKEvenson

TVWBB Wizard
I am going to be entering a few comps this year. 1st time for my team. Logistically is it better to have one or 2 assistant cooks. I figure with 1 each of us would prepare 2 meats, with 2 each would prepare 1 meat with one extra. What is the experience you all have and how has it worked out best?

Mark
 
Well for my team there are 2 of us myself as the Pit Master and Ken Phelps , due to financial situation and health reasons we have shut dow, but I am planning on returning and maybe adding a 3 or even a 4th person , as we split the cost of competeing between us.
 
I've never cooked as two, always 3. That way you can always have 2 around when something can't be done solo.
 
Mark,

I think you are going to want 3.

At the comp I did we had 2 people for the majority of the time and were only doing 3 meats. It was a pain when there was 2 of us. Once a few family members showed up the next morning it was of great help.

The pulled pork we did was for peoples choice competition that was given out to the crowd. Couldn't have handled that portion with just 2 or 3, as we were finishing up the ribs when it started. My sister and a friend were great help and sold/handed out to the people.

For my comps this year I am going to try to have 4 total people cooking/helping. If there is an event where something is to be handed out, I will definitely add 2 more to that.
 
I've only done one comp and we did it with three. I think if you were tight about your schedule/timing you could do it with 2 but it would take some practice.

Between vending and cooking for the comp 3 was a little in the weeds at times but was manageable and we still had time to drink beer.
 
My team consists of me, a buddy, and my oldest (13) son.
I'm the pitmaster, my buddy assists with meat and cooker prep, and cleanup.
My son is our "gofer".
I'm a bit of a widebody and having more than two of us working in the "kitchen" area gets a little crowded.
 
Thanks for all the replies. We are going to try 3 in March at a backyard warm up. First KCBS for the year for the team most likely early May. I think I have 2 really good cooks coming on board and with me bringing up the rear we should be able to make it to the dance. Hope that you all do well in the coming season. WSM's forever!!!

Happy Smokin' and Compete'n

Mark
 
There's usually four of us. Myself, the wife, my 6 y.o. son, and Mac ... our soon to be 1 y.o. mutt. I prep and cook all of the meats and set the trays. My wife does the garnish, runs the trays, and generally keeps things in order. The boy and the dog ... getting in the way is their contribution.
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I've cooked several by myself. It's doable if your organized. Did I just say that?
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Yup, I heard it, loud and clear. If I brought my beagles to the comp there wouldn't be any meat left to judge, not just mine but ...whoo them beagles can eat!!!!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">If I brought my beagles to the comp there wouldn't be any meat left to judge, not just mine but ...whoo them beagles can eat!!!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My beagle, Aubie, has an important function as a member of my team:
Aubie_lick-1.jpg
 
I'm a team of one and I've come to prefer it that way. I find that from about 9:00am saturday morning to about 2:15 saturday afternoon, I put my iPod earbuds in, ignore the heck out of everyone, and just sort of get into a groove. I've gotten to where I just have a set pattern/routine and to interrupt it would completely throw me off.

I did have a guy at one competition last year that wanted to see what it was all about and 'help' me out. I almost found it to be more of a distraction than a help. If I was to take on a partner, they would have to be an absolutely perfect match. I'm quite probably too big of a pain in the posterior to be a good partner.

My point to all of this is to be very sure of who you take on. Make sure you are COMPLETELY honest to your partner including telling them if it isn't working out. I would MUCH rather be told straight out about something than find out later after a lot of bad feelings have festered.

Russ
 
Hi Mark, as you probably already know, ours is a 2-person team but we're also a couple so that makes things a lot easier since we do it all from the same house.

In preparation for a contest, Alexa does all the rub and sauce prep, does the supply and garnish shopping as well as making sure that contents of our cargo boxes are all set. I buy the meat, do all the pre-contest trimming, pack the coolers and then the van.

At the event, I do most of the heavy lifting when we are setting up and tearing down unless the kids are with us and then we put their energetic teenage butts to work! After the space is set up and everything is in place, we get the meat inspected and then I start working on getting the cookers set up while Alexa begins doing our "at the contest" meat prep. I stay at the site, do the overnight cooking and Alexa returns early the next morning.

At crunch time, we work together on all of our turn-in boxes. Alexa then walks the box to the Judge's Tent while I clean up our work area and set up for the next turn in. We do this for every entry.

After the entries are all gone,(assuming there is no PC happening and we don't have any guests in our site), I start breaking down all the cookers while Alexa bags up all of our leftovers and gets them on ice. We then start packing everything back into the cargo boxes, put all the dirty dishes into a now empty cooler for transport home where they are washed, and then drop the canopies and pack the van. Then it's relax time until awards.

Oh, and we use a check list for packing at home which helps us make sure we have everything we need for every event.
 
Vincent e al.Thanks so much for all the advice. Our team will have it's 1st practice at Ric's this Sat. My wife has volunteered as team photographer. I will try to keep my mouth shut, except when eating of course.

Mark
 
I'm very much in agreement with what Russ and Vince have said. I compete either solo or with one friend that I have been cooking with for years. We cook similar and are on the same page. If we weren't it would just be a hinderance.....

The main thing like most have said is organization. No matter how many people are on your team. The same as Vince I have packing sheets at home and everything is very organized and put in specific compartments so I know where it is when I need it. I also make a schedule and tape it to the table for everything single thing that I have to do at a comp to make sure that nothing at all is missed or forgotten.

A lot depends on the size of your set up too of course, mine is small and basic, more than one or two people and it would just be crowded with people walking into each other!

Clark
 
Its always been my bro-in-law and I but this year we decided we needed another body to help out. So I conned my older bro to help out at the snowshoe. We'll see how it goes.
 
I am with Russ on this one. I run solo and love it that way. I have tried a few friends over the years and always go back to solo. It is hard to find someone that you "get along with" this well. But alot of it is my fault, I'm a perfectionist and very organized. My "quiet time" starts about 6:00 am Sat. morning until after turn-ins. I have my own routine and any help gets my schedule out of whack. I dont mean to be rude or not talkative I just don't have time. I always go on Thrusday afternoon and stay until Sunday so that gives me plenty of free time to enjoy and take my time setting up and tearing down. My daughter has helped at a few and she runs boxes and cleans up for me, that is a big help and I can keep on track with cooking and prepping.
 
If I have a box runner, I'm a happy guy.
Meats are prepped at home and the Stoker minds the cookers while I sleep.
Last year I had a guy start helping me at a couple of events and it worked out well. The last comp I cooked he brought a friend and it still work well, but I had to think harder about what I wanted them to be doing.
 
Just a quick FU. Our team competed last Sat for the 1st time. Mac and Steve and I , all members here, worked together and didn't trip over each other even once. We will work on getting our space a bit more organized but all in all 3 was the magic #.

Mark
 

 

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