After visiting 30 cities and traveling roughly 13,682 miles, the Sam’s Club National BBQ Tour is quickly approaching its final destination – Bentonville.
Sam’s Club said on Saturday (Sept. 27) 50 of the country’s best barbecue teams will descend on its parking lot at the corporate offices in Bentonville, and one team will leave with the $50,000 grand prize.
Since 2011, the Sam’s Club National BBQ Tour has traveled the United States, region by region, searching for the year’s best in competitive barbecue and awarding winning teams a total of $500,000 in prize money annually.
In that time, thousands of Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) competitve teams worked to carefully perfect and present their barbecue, which was assessed by KCBS certified judges. This year more than 700 teams have competed for their chance to earn the title and grand prize money this year.
“These teams moving on to the championship in Bentonville are beyond excited,” said Michael McDearman, series director for the tour. “Time to see who will bring the heat!”
The Sam’s Club National BBQ Tour is a tournament-style series in which teams must advance from a local qualifying event to the top tier of their regional event in order to qualify for the National Championship and a shot at the $50,000 Grand Champion prize.
The sponsors of this competition include: Bush’s, Cargill, Coca-Cola, Heinz, Hillshire KC Masterpiece, Kingsford, the National Pork Board, New Zealand Lamb, Pillsbury, Tone’s and Wright brand bacon, owned by Tyson Foods.