Comments on: What Did Your $10 Ticket Get You at the Safeway Barbecue Battle?

By: hurricanewarningdc

hurricanewarningdc — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:42:18 +0000

We did one of the bbq events on Penn Ave a few years ago and had the same reaction. You mean we pay to get in and then have to pay to eat from restaurants that we could choose any day locally? Or just eat funnel cakes, etc, out of pocket? You mean you don’t tell anyone that in the promotional materials or as they come in the gate? We commented to an event sponsor on the way out that the advertising was deceptive for that reason, and the guy gave us a dirty look, insisting that we were there to donate to charity and not to eat the food. We’ve never gone to another…

By: Becky

Becky — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:30:05 +0000

I’m really sick of elitists judging family events like the Barbecue Battle just because you think you’re hipper than the rest of the universe.
Did it ever occur to you that a number of families can’t afford $20-$30 dollar tickets, and are willing to wait in line for enough free samples to fill them up? Some of the sample lines I saw we’re not that long-and I did see large numbers of people enjoying the music, cooking demonstrations, info booths, etc. I’m a single parent with two kids-and my kids and I had a blast at the event.
And Q, think about why there are no Taste of DC events anymore-you could use your own quote to figure out why they failed:
In order for food festivals to be profitable, there has to be a balance of activity, foot traffic, and good food. Taste of DC didn’t have that balance.
Sponsorships are necessary in this day and age to defray the cost of putting on an event.And the BBQ battle has raised over one million dollars for the Boys and Girls clubs.

By: Ben

Ben — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:11:31 +0000

As someone who has sold food at the BBQ battle before, it is ridiculously expensive to purchase a vendor space, which is why most of the spaces were big companies who wanted to advertise. A health inspection essentially certifies that you have handwashing facilites and a wash/rinse/sanitize setup for utensils, both of which are very easy to put together, and I don’t remember exactly but it may have cost me $30, which is pretty standard for these sort of events. Propane usage is an additional charge, but not outlandish. Either way you slice it if you didn’t want to look at the Kia or shoot hoops you were left wanting.

By: DC foodie with changing name

DC foodie with changing name — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:25:30 +0000

Note that we have plenty of smaller-scale, community-organized events where tastings happen and the health department somehow certifies those.

Think Taste of Georgetown (if that is the right name?), Greek festival, Turkish festival, the farmers market cooking demonstrations, all of the farmers market food stalls, food stands on the mall, etc.

It is possible and can be done. And with a massive, seemingly-organized sponsor like Safeway I bet they could easily pull the strings to have inspection and certification. Plus, the extra costs of tickets could cover that.

By: FU Safeway

FU Safeway — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:07:26 +0000

This was not a BBQ battle but an extended commercial. I asked the competitors why they weren’t selling and they are required to be inspected by DC Dept of Health if they are going to vend (and they wanted to)…

FU Safeway. You stole $22 dollars from me on your false advertising.

The Ribs that were available for sale were disgusting, even to the point of failing to have removed the apron from the back of the ribs. Seasoning salt a BBQ rub is not.

Massive fail and I will not be back in the future.

By: Q

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:40:12 +0000

Thanks Tim, you saved me $20 and quelled my curiousity. When they had the Taste of DC events (few and far between) things were handled differently. For starters, they made the concessions similar to carnival rides where everyone had to provide tickets as such. There were cash things to buy (T-shirts, etc.) but for the most part, the vendors gave samples per ticket. Doing it that way benefitted folks in a number of ways. For starters, they did not have to corral folks for entry. You could walk in the event at several places and not get harrassed. They had a “ticket” concession stand that you could purchase tickets. Most samples/meals costed 2 tickets, but it was worth it. Anyways, it was fun for all.

In order for food festivals to be profitable, there has to be a balance of activity, foot traffic, and good food. Sounds like your experience didn’t give you either.

By: Joe Hoya

Joe Hoya — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:31:02 +0000

I could be wrong on this, but I think I was told at one point that competitors are prohibited from offering free samples because of liability issues at the Safeway event.

Not sure if it’s a city ordinance or a rule of the contest organizer, but any competition team that also wants to make its food available to the public needs to register as a vendor (and I’m pretty sure there’s an added cost to that) and sell it. That’s what Old Glory does – and even then the ‘cue they sell is different than the stuff they turn in for judging.

By: Tim Carman

Tim Carman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:47:35 +0000

I must admit, I’m playing dumb here for effect. I know that non-health department certified kitchens (like BBQ contestants with their portable smokers) can’t sell to the public — and that barbecue is one of the most expensive foods to produce. You can’t expect to put together a festival of this size, with all the musical acts and overhead, and then just give away barbecue for a $10 ticket. But still, I wanted to write this from a consumer’s point of view. I’d like to see a solution close to the one “DC foodie with the changing name” suggests: raise the price and import some serious professional barbecue producers to work the festival — pitmasters from KC, NC, Texas and have their portable kitchens inspected so they could offer their food. The ‘cue would be factored into the price of the ticket.

By: Mony

Mony — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:44:06 +0000

Exactly DanielK, I’m pretty shocked that Carman didn’t realize this, it wasn’t hidden information or anything. But I also agree that it would make sense to raise the price to $20 or $30 to allow tasting tickets.

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:21:24 +0000

When I saw all the Safeway sponsorships and associated tie-in’s, I went, “ehhhhhhh…nah.”