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.
Bear Bonz 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 125 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 Bear Bonz BBQ has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-headA longer road to the same neighbourhood — 5 contests to 2.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 5 years after Bear Bonz BBQ did, first appearing in 2024.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with Bear Bonz 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-headTheir last contest in the data was back in 2023, 3 years before Bear Bonz BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 160.5716 | 156.5028 | 158.54 | top 82% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 158.8228 | 158.8000 | 158.81 | top 82% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 171.4172 | 142.8344 | 157.13 | top 60% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 154.2288 | 146.8000 | 150.51 | top 88% |
“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.
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| ND | 1 | 0 | top 89% |
| WY | 1 | 0 | top 89% |
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 89% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 89% |
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 89% | 89% | 89% |
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 89% | 84.6% | 84.6% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-05-01 | ND BBQ Championship 🏅 Fargo, ND | 63 / 71 (640.9488) | 66 (156.5028) | 66 (158.8000) | 22 (171.4172) | 62 (154.2288) |
| 2019-09-13 | Smoke & Soul Fest 🏅 Casper, WY | 25 / 28 (609.0288) | 20 (160.5716) | 20 (158.8228) | 25 (142.8344) | 25 (146.8000) |