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.
TASTE BUDS 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 143 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 TASTE BUDS has actually stood beside rather than a stranger on the same rating.
⚔ Head-to-headCareers of much the same size, 7 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-headThey turned up 7 years after TASTE BUDS did, first appearing in 2022.
⚔ Head-to-headLevel with TASTE BUDS on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-headCareers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-headCareers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.8684 | 161.1544 | 164.01 | top 45% |
| Pork Ribs | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 140.5256 | 126.7768 | 133.65 | top 98% |
| Pork | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 158.8112 | 157.7256 | 158.27 | top 71% |
| Brisket | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 149.7832 | 148.5256 | 149.15 | top 79% |
“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 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 77% | 82.5% | 82.5% |
| 2015 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 92% | 85.6% | 85.6% |
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-03-23 | Hammond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2017-03-24 | Hammond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2016-05-06 | *Bixby BBQ'N Blues Festival Bixby, OK | 64 / 83 (594.1824) | 37 (161.1544) | 81 (126.7768) | 52 (157.7256) | 59 (148.5256) |
| 2015-08-14 | Atlanta BarB-Que Festival Atlanta, GA | 44 / 48 (615.9884) | 22 (166.8684) | 47 (140.5256) | 38 (158.8112) | 42 (149.7832) |
| 2015-03-27 | Smokin Blues & BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |