The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
BARK & SMOKE BBQ has 2 rated contests — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 145 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
One contest in common so far: too few to settle anything, but a team BARK & SMOKE BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-headThey've been 1510 at their best, 31 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Head-to-head24 contests to 2: their number has had years to settle where BARK & SMOKE BBQ's is still finding its level.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 7 years after BARK & SMOKE BBQ did, first appearing in 2025.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with BARK & SMOKE BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 2.
⚔ Head-to-head| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 157.1200 | 134.2972 | 145.71 | top 91% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 147.9772 | 137.1200 | 142.55 | top 94% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 158.8800 | 141.7256 | 150.30 | top 83% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 159.9656 | 138.8456 | 149.41 | top 80% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 90% | 86.7% | 81.7% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-09-15 | 39th American Royal World Series of Barbecue (OPEN) Kansas City, KS | 395 / 467 (623.9428) | 388 (157.1200) | 432 (147.9772) | 341 (158.8800) | 308 (159.9656) |
| 2018-06-22 | The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle Lenexa, KS | 178 / 185 (551.9884) | 184 (134.2972) | 176 (137.1200) | 172 (141.7256) | 173 (138.8456) |
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 ↗ | Master | #1954 (60 pts) | #2012 (60 pts) | #1996 (60 pts) | #2030 (60 pts) | #1990 (60 pts) |