Kansas City Barbeque Society is a competitive cooking organization founded in 1985 by Carolyn and Gary Wells and Rick Welch. Their desire was to put together a local group for competitive barbecue

Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...

. It has since grown exponentially and provides oversight to hundreds of competitions. It is the largest competitive barbecue organization in the world, with more than 14,500 members.

Competitions

The Kansas City Barbeque Society is the official sanctioning body of competitive barbeque. Each year, KCBS sanctions more than 330 competitions across the country.

Competitions are usually coordinated in conjunction with a local festival

Festival

A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....

 or event. Teams typically begin to arrive on a Friday morning and set up their equipment. Quite often there is a minor competition on Friday night such as a chili

Chili con carne

Chili con carne is a spicy stew. The name of the dish derives from the Spanish chile con carne, "chili pepper with meat". Traditional versions are made, minimally, from chili peppers, garlic, onions, and cumin, along with chopped or ground beef. Beans and tomatoes are frequently included...

 cook-off

Cook-off

A cook-off is a cooking competition where the contestants each prepare dishes for judging either by a select group of judges or by the general public...

. Competitors will begin to cook on Friday evening and then throughout the night with a turn in for the various smoked meat

Smoked meat

Smoked meat is a method of preparing red meat which originates in prehistory. Its purpose is to preserve these protein-rich foods, which would otherwise spoil quickly, for long periods. There are two mechanisms for this preservation: dehydration and the antibacterial properties of absorbed smoke...

s some time in the early afternoon on Saturday.

Events usually have a cash prize

Prize

A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people to recognise and reward actions or achievements. Official prizes often involve monetary rewards as well as the fame that comes with them...

 of varying amounts. Quite often these events draw crowds of spectators numbering in the thousands, and depending on the prize amount, they will draw competitors from several states.

In 2011, KCBS partnered with Sam's Club

Sam's Club

Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. , the Sam's Club chain serves more than 47 million U.S. members...

to offer the largest and richest competition in barbeque history. The Inaugural Sam's Club National Barbecue Tour consists of 20 local qualifying events, five regional events and one national championship. Teams will be competing to win a piece of the $400,000 prize purse.

Certified Barbeque Judges

As the sanctioning body of competitive barbeque, the Kansas City Barbeque Society employs a blind judging process at all official contests. In order to become a Certified Barbeque Judge, one must attend one of the hundreds of Certified Barbeque Judge classes held each year.