Spent three days at the NBBQA conference last month. Talked to maybe forty competition cooks, watched a dozen demos, and came away thinking the same thing I think every year: the backyard guys figure out what people want to eat about eighteen months before the restaurants catch on.
That's not a knock on restaurant operators. You're running a business. You can't pivot your menu every time some guy from Kansas City wins a trophy with a new rub. But if you're not paying attention to what's winning on the circuit, you're missing free market research.
The Pork Belly Thing Isn't Slowing Down
I know. You've heard this for five years now. But here's what changed: it's not just burnt ends anymore. Competitors are doing full pork belly preparations that look nothing like what we were seeing in 2019. Glazed, sliced thick, served as a standalone protein instead of a side or appetizer.
One team from Oklahoma — can't remember their name, but they were running a trailer rig with three SPK-700 units stacked — they took second in an ancillary category with belly slices that were cut like brisket, about pencil-width thick. The texture conversation has shifted. People want that chew now, not just the melt.
For operators, this matters because pork belly costs less than brisket and your yield is better. If you're still treating it as a novelty item, you're leaving margin on the table. We've got catering clients who moved belly to a permanent menu spot two years ago and haven't looked back.
Brisket Isn't Going Anywhere, But the Approach Is Different
The hot-and-fast crowd has gotten louder. You hear it in the cook tents, you see it in the timing sheets. More teams pushing pit temps up to 300, even 325 in some cases, trying to get that bark development faster.
I'm not a convert. Thirty years on the circuit and I still think 250–275 is where the magic happens. But I understand the appeal for production environments. When you're pushing volume, the math on a 16-hour brisket versus an 8-hour brisket changes everything about your labor costs and overnight staffing.
What I will say is this: if you're going to run hot, your equipment better hold temp without swinging. A ten-degree variance at 275 is manageable. That same swing at 315 and you're overcooking the flat while the point is still tight. This is where I've seen guys get in trouble with cheaper cabinet smokers — the ones with single-wall construction and thermostats that hunt constantly.
The Southern Pride rotisserie units we sell handle this well. The SPK-1400 especially — I've watched it hold 310 for six hours without moving more than four degrees either direction. That's not marketing, that's what I've seen on our own catering rigs when we've tested the high-temp approach.
Wood Selection Is Getting More Specific
This is my thing, so I'll try not to ramble too long. But something's happening at competitions that I think will hit the commercial market soon.
Teams are mixing wood in ways that would've gotten you laughed at fifteen years ago. Cherry and pecan together. Post oak with a small percentage of apple. One guy from East Texas — I know him from the Lufkin circuit — he's been experimenting with mesquite in tiny amounts, like maybe 10% of his total wood load, just to get that sharpness on the bark without overwhelming the meat.
The flavor profiles are getting more complex. And customers notice, even if they can't articulate why. They'll say something tastes "more interesting" or "different from the usual."
Now, for production volume, you can't be out there managing four different wood species on every cook. That's competition nonsense. But you can experiment with a secondary wood in small amounts. If you're running a Southern Pride gas unit with the wood box, you've got control over this. Add a couple chunks of something different alongside your primary and see what happens over a few cooks.
(I spent about two months last year messing with hickory-cherry blends on our SP-1000. Settled on roughly 70-30 hickory to cherry. The cherry rounds out some of that hickory bite without making the meat taste like dessert.)
Chicken Is the Sleeper Category
Nobody talks about chicken. It's the least glamorous competition category and it's been an afterthought on most BBQ restaurant menus forever. But watch what's winning at NBBQA events lately.
The thigh is taking over. Whole chicken presentations are declining. Teams are focusing on individual thighs, cooked to specific textures, with sauces that actually complement instead of mask.
Here's why this matters for your operation: chicken thighs are cheap, they're forgiving on the smoker, and your food cost on a smoked thigh plate is probably half what it is on a brisket plate. If competitors are figuring out how to make chicken exciting, that's a signal that consumers might be ready to pay more attention to it.
One thing I noticed — and this is pure observation, not data — the teams doing well with chicken were mostly running rotisserie setups. The even heat distribution matters more with poultry than it does with beef. Skin rendering is the whole game, and you can't get that right if you've got hot spots in your smoker.
Sauces Are Getting Regional Again
For a while there, everything was Kansas City sweet. Competition sauce meant one thing: thick, tomato-based, heavy molasses.
That's shifting. I'm seeing more vinegar-forward finishes. More mustard-based presentations in categories where that would've been a risk five years ago. The judges seem to be rewarding teams that commit to a regional identity instead of playing it safe with the expected flavor profile.
If you're a restaurant operator in Texas, this probably doesn't change much for you. We do things a certain way here and customers expect it. But if you're running catering, especially events where you're serving people from out of state, think about offering sauce options. Let people choose. The competition world is telling us that sauce preferences are fragmenting, not consolidating.
Equipment Observations from the Tents
I always walk through the cook sites to see what people are actually using. Not what sponsors are pushing — what teams are bringing when they have to load it on their own trailer and stake their reputation on it.
Lot of stick-burners still, obviously. That's tradition. But the teams running cabinet smokers and rotisseries for efficiency were almost all on American-made equipment. Southern Pride, a few on the smaller Ole Hickory units (though I'll say this — I talked to two Ole Hickory guys who were complaining about parts availability, which tracks with what I hear from operators who've switched).
Didn't see a single team running one of those imported cabinet smokers that have flooded the market the last few years. That tells you something. When your competition result depends on the equipment performing, people don't gamble on thinner steel and overseas replacement parts.
The Southern Pride MLR-850 showed up at three different sites I visited. That's a mid-volume rotisserie that works for competition teams who are also running catering businesses on the side. Makes sense — you can compete with it on Saturday and run a wedding on Sunday without switching equipment.
What This Means for Your Menu Planning
Competition BBQ is a leading indicator. Not a perfect one. But the trends that show up at NBBQA events tend to hit consumer expectations about a year to eighteen months later.
Right now, what I'm seeing points toward:
- Pork belly as a main protein, not just an appetizer or special
- Smoked chicken presentations that take the category seriously
- More distinct regional sauce options instead of one-size-fits-all
- Customers paying attention to wood flavor, even if they can't name the species
None of this requires you to overhaul your operation. But it might inform what you test next, or where you put your R&D time if you're developing new menu items for next year.
And if your equipment is holding you back from experimenting — if you can't trust your temps to stay consistent when you try something new, or if you're dealing with hot spots that make technique changes impossible to evaluate fairly — that's worth addressing. We've got the full Southern Pride lineup at Southern Pride of Texas, and I'm always happy to talk through which unit makes sense for your volume and what you're trying to accomplish.
Competition cooks figure things out early because they're obsessed. Might as well learn from their obsession.
Resources: Southern Pride of Texas | QSR Magazine | Restaurant Business Online
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Photo by RDNE Stock project on Pexels.
About the Author: Earl has been competing in sanctioned BBQ events since the early 1990s and operates a commercial catering operation in Southeast Texas.