KCBS Board Meeting Agenda for 08 April 2025

Kansas City Barbeque Society
Board of Directors’ Meeting Agenda
Tuesday April 08, 2025, 6:00PM CST
 
Membership Requests to Address the Board:   

• None

Call to Order – Paul Buob

Roll Call: 
Chiles Cridlin, Randy Todd, Jeanne Titus, Thomas Gearhart, Paul Buob, David Qualls, Luke Darnell, Donna Fong, Lex Vanegas; KCBS Office: Rod Gray
Absent: 

Board Pledge:
Recognizing barbeque as America’s cuisine, the mission of the Kansas City Barbeque Society is to celebrate, teach, preserve, and promote barbeque as a culinary technique, sport and art form.

I accept my duties as a KCBS director to further the KCBS mission so that truth, justice, excellence in barbeque and the American way of life may be strengthened and preserved forever.

Declaration of Quorum

Consent Agenda:
                Notice concerning Committee Reports. Some committees do not meet monthly. If a report is presented, it will be included as an attachment to the agenda.

• Minutes of previous BoD meeting
• Contest Report
• Sanctioning Committee
• Judging Committee
• Contest Representative Committee
• Rules Committee
• Technology Committee
• Foundation Committee
• Nominating Committee
• Hall of Fame Committee
• Working Groups:
  • Organizers Working Group
    • Membership Subcommittee
  • Backyard Working Group
  • Sponsorship Working Group
  • World Invitational Working Group

Discussion of any items removed from Consent Agenda:
Chief Executive Officer’s Report:

• CEO Report attached.
• The Board may take actions based on Topics and Discussions from this report as New Business.

Old Business:

• None

New Business: 

• Discussion and consideration of the date, time and format of the Annual Membership Meeting (Suggestion of the 1^st week in May).
• Discussion about the KCBS competition structure (2 meat and 4 meat) survey.
• Discussion and consideration for providing a guidance letter to the American Royal and Jack Daniels about reducing the number of teams to be considered a qualifier from 25 to 20.
• Discussion and consideration of Grandma’s Molasses agreement.
• Discussion and update for the 2025 KCBS World Invitational for both public facing and competition sides.
• Discussion and consideration of One Meat contests Championships on Friday at the 2026 KCBS World Invitational.
• Discussion and consideration of sending a Rep Advisory about providing forks only for judging the pork category.
• Discussion of BoD interest in capturing video meetings.
• Discussion and consideration of Tech Committee Proposed changes to KCBScore.
• Discussion of the KCBS policy of changing sanctioning fees on or before January 1st and consideration of removing or altering the language in the Contest Organizer’s Guide.
• Discussion and consideration of adding language to the KCBS Sanctioning Agreements regarding required contest payouts. 
• Discussion and status of the 2026 Board Retreat date options.
• Discussion and status of the strategic input from regional organizations.
• Discussion and status of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. 
• Discussion and status of the Membership Working Group’s website engagement email campaign to 2,274 unengaged members.
• Discussion and status of Hall of Fame trophies and rings.

Closed Session Agenda: 
Discussion of legal, financial, personnel and real estate.

• Discussion of CEO contract and evaluation.
• Discussion of financial report and budget.
• Discussion of personnel actions.

After Closed Session:
The Board may take any necessary actions including motions on any or all matters discussed in closed session

Strategic Planning Session to be Conducted by the Board of Directors (Date TBD)

Board Comments

Adjourn or Suspend
 
Attachments and Reports
Contest Report

Contest	Date	Location
Smoke in the Park (ONE MEAT BRISKET)	9/19-20/2025	Glencoe, AL
BBQ Jackpot	11/21-22/2025	Las Vegas, NV
Smokin Ribs for the Kids (BACKYARD ONLY)	9/19-20/2025	Loves Park, IL
Keystone Classic BBQ State Championship	10/4-5/2025	Harrisburg, PA
ND BBQ Championship	10/3-4/2025	Fargo, ND
Smokin in the Valley	4/26-27/2025	Australia
IBEW So Cal BBQ & Chili Cook-Off (COMPETITOR SERIES)	6/20-21/2025	San Diego, CA
New Jersey State Barbecue Championship	7/12-13/2025	North Wildwood, NJ
Raider Red Meats BBQ & Ribeye Championship	8/15-16/2025	Lubbock, TX
Blue Bombers BBQ Pit Master ShowdownW	6/30-7/1/2025	Canada
The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-Off (ONE MEAT CHICKEN)	10/24-25/2025	Cleveland, AL
The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-Off (ONE MEAT PORK)	10/24-25/2025	Cleveland, AL
The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-Off (ONE MEAT RIBS)	10/24-25/2025	Cleveland, AL
Navy SEAL Danny Dietz Memorial Classic Cookoff	9/12-13/2025	Waller, TX
The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-off Qualifier "Lakeside Pork Fest" (ONE MEAT PORK)	9/12-13/2025	Guntersville, AL
The Great Alabama BBQ Cook-off Qualifier "Battle of the Bones" (ONE MEAT RIBS)	9/12/2025	Guntersville, AL
Smoke on the Water	10/10-11/2025	Topeka, KS
1st Annual Pro-Am BBQ Competition Group (Papillion, NE)	7/11-12/2025	Papillion, NE
La Classique What the Pork?	8/1-2/2025	Canada
Blaze of 47	7/18-19/2025	Salt Lake City, UT
12 Bridge Rib Cook-Off (ONE MEAT RIBS)	9/20-21/2025	Lincoln, CA
East Helena Smoke Show	9/12-13/2025	East Helena, MT
Grill in the Ville	8/8-9/2025	Hughesville, PA
Vine Street BBQ Competition (BACKYARD ONLY)	9/5-6/2025	Park Ridge, IL
Smoke on the Shores	3/20-21/2026	Lebanon, TN
Smoke on the Shores (ONE MEAT RIBS)	3/20/2026	Lebanon, TN
KCBS Brasil Barbecue Contest	6/28-29/2025	Brazil, SA

 
 
Financial Report
To be reviewed in closed session before publication.
 
Sanctioning Committee
No report for this period.
 

• MCBJ requirements - align & edit documents - finished
• Update Judge forms - in review
• Update Judge documents and align with JCUP, manual, comment cards and class slide deck
• Establishing Judge Rules - in review

• CBJ training class slides - in review
• CBJ electronic class survey - finished and in circulation
• JCUP training - refresher or requirement, outcomes - in review
• MP3 recording - will be updated and shortened - in review
• Over or undertraining judges in regions - in review

• Hall of Fame - establish criteria & nomination form
• Outstanding Judge Award - update criteria, convert nomination form to electronic version

CBJ Training Subcommittee
Cliff Brockman; Myron Berry; Randy Todd; Mark Tuttle
 
Contest Representative Committee

• Discussion to see whether the reps on the committee were involved at the Judge Check-in regardless if there is a judge coordinator. Yes across the board.
• The committee discussed the need for KCBS Contest Representative Town Halls or Question & Answer type sessions with all Reps, how often they need to be held, and what type of subjects that could be discussed. Monthly and quarterly meetings were discussed. The Invoice reviews, KCBScore review and just improving communications to the reps overall were discussed. Rod Gray took the action to schedule a KCBS wide rep meeting.
  • As part of the discussions on this topic, forks provided for the judges came up in discussions. Discussion included where the need for forks came from, a study that was done on forks penetrating the meat (Rod to get more information), whether all reps used forks in all categories, and the cost savings for organizers to possibly no longer must provide forks for every entry. It was asked that this item be placed on the agenda for the board to consider making a rep advisory that forks are only provided for pork entries.
  • The committee also discussed the need to be kind to both coasts. Possibly holding one earlier for the East coast folks and the next a little later for the West coast folks.
  • Additionally, clean up for the documents on the KCBS site came up. The placing of documents should be more intuitive for the users to get to rules for the different groups, etc.
• The committee discussed the appearance of teams turning in leftover meat in a second box to create a new team to make contests qualifiers. Some committee members were in agreement that it could be happening, but it may have been happening for years. Lex Vanegas took an action to write up verbiage to send out to all KCBS Contest Representatives to help enforce the integrity of our contests.
• Discussed the possibility of having an “on call” rep for weekends that they are not repping. Lex Vanegas displayed a simple spreadsheet to record any issues that a rep may have, which would also give us insight into any topics needed at a KCBS Contest Representative meeting. “On call” reps should have a strong knowledge of KCBScore and the invoicing spreadsheet. Rod Gray stated that there is a call log Google sheet that the office uses and recommended that we look into and use that.

Next Committee Meeting: 22 April 2025.

Rules Committee
No report for this period.
 
Finance Committee
To be discussed in Closed Session.
 
Foundation Committee

• The 2025 scholarships deadline of March 31st, 2025 has past! We have received 31 completed applications with supporting documents.
• Timeline for application reviews.
  • Plan to have applications to committee members by 4/9/2025.
  • Committee member reviews to be completed and returned by 4/23/2025.
  • Final group review to be competed at the regular 4/28/2025 Foundation meeting, present to the KCBS BOD on 5/12/2025.

• Letters to those that donated last year have been sent, there are still a few more to send.
• Consider offering advertising in the BullSheet for those that have donated.
• We are receiving items already.
• Items for this year’s Pop-Up Shop to discuss:
  • The public component, not just selling to Judges this year.
  • We have four volunteers, but we may need 6 depending on who is judging during those times.

• Still working with Ole Hickory Pits to plan out a year-round marketing partnership where we highlight other KCBS members that use Ole Hickory products.
• We still owe last year’s winner a 1099 for 2025, as it was received in January of 2025.
• State of NY Post Sweepstakes filing complete.

• Provide a copy of the Codicil to the BOD for review and approval.
  • This may have already been provided to the BOD.
• Write an explanation of what a Codicil is and how to create one with sample language and place template as DOCX to put on website, downloadable.
• Create a campaign for educating members (Bullsheet, email campaign, Social Media)?

• The new maturity date on the CD is 05/19/2025. The current balance is over $61,000.00.
• Our current cash balance is $21,149.39 (February statement balance).

Nominating Committee
No report for this period.

Technology Working Group

• KCBScore
  • Add Overall Ranking to Teams Detail sheet.
  • Add Invoice capability
  • Saving points during certain steps in the process (e.g., after setting up the contest, after category scores are entered) and creating a “BACK” button to go back to a saved point if issues arise.

Hall of Fame Committee  
Organizer Working Group

• Organizer Guide and 1 meat guide - in progress (Julie Poe)
• Mentor/Mentee program (Joel - lead, Nick, Kathy) 
• Organizer Survey analysis - from April 18, 2024 - in review
• Quarterly Town Hall kickoff zoom meeting - April 22, 2025 at 7pm CST. QR code in April Bullsheet page 38, Brian DeCoud (host) and Ben Lobenstein (guest organizer)

• People's Choice Guide (Chiles) - in review
• Kid's Que and Kid's Zone (Kathy) - possible Town Hall
• Other aspects - in review

• Criteria - approved via consent agenda by prior KCBS Board - in discussion
• Nomination period - in review

Membership Subcommittee
No report for this period.
 
Backyard Working Group
No report for this period.
 
Sponsorship Working Group
No report for this period.

World Invitational Working Group
No report for this period.
 
CEO Report
Key Highlights:
The staff is focused on the day to day operations with an emphasis on the World Invitational. Weekly WI workgroup meetings, and more recently, judge selection meetings, both occurring weekly. Weekly staff planning meetings are increasing in duration, and we’ll begin to meet with the WI Reps periodically until the event date in late May. We are working closely with a new trophy maker, as ribbons, big checks, and related award and event supply lists are updated and finalized. Partnership conversations are active and nearing finalization. The office is currently down two staff members. The start date for our new Office Manager is April 28th and our Manager of Digital Media is set to return on May 1.
World Invitational:
This year’s event adds four categories on Friday, include One Meat Series chicken and ribs categories, plus Anything But and Dessert categories. In addition to the four categories of the Wells Cup on Saturday, the Holladay Distillery Cocktail category is scheduled for Saturday. Sunday is the Backyard Series and Master Series Invitationals. This year we’re adding the public facing barbeque festival element, which includes a People’s Choice event, live music all day, a Kid’s Que contest on display with two age groups, food vendors, a beer garden, and barbeque exhibitors, including the KCBS Foundation Pop-Up Shop, where a wide variety of rubs and sauces available for purchase with all proceeds going to support scholarships for children of KCBS members. We’re also offering a behind the scenes view of competition barbeque via a VIP experience. A limited number of People’s Choice and VIP tickets are available to purchase via EventBrite.com.
Total teams signed up to compete as of 4/3/25 - 77 teams
Breakdown by event:

• Wells Cup and Masters Invitational - 41 teams
• Wells Cup and Backyard Invitational - 14 teams
• Master Invitational only - 0 teams
• Backyard Invitational only - 12 teams
• Wells Cup only - 10 teams
• One Meat Series, Chicken - 26 teams
• One Meat Series, Ribs - 23 teams
• Anything But - 8 teams
• Dessert - 14 teams
• Cocktail - 20 teams

Youth Que - 11

• 10 & Under - 7
• 11 - 16 - 4

Membership: Contests:  CBJ & Table Captain Classes: Marketing & Communications:

• Bullsheet: The email open rate for the March and April issues of The Bullsheet has a current open rate of 22% and 28% respectively.