Official Rules

General

  1. Various categories are established as guidelines to ensure fair competition between teams.
  2. Business teams are encouraged to market their company product and/or services. Promotional items may be given away with advance permission.
  3. Up to four (4) individuals for each team will be permitted on site.
  4. Teams are responsible for supplying all ingredients, cooking devices, coolers, serving utensils, etc. All cooking teams MUST also bring a metal stem meat thermometer and provide a means for hand washing. Electricity is not available, you must use propane cookers.
  5. Smoking and alcoholic beverages are prohibited.
  6. Every member of each team must comply with the established rules or will be disqualified.
  7. No Teams can sell any items from their booths (baked goods, cook books) due to the location of the bean soup cook off event.
  8. All teams must unload their vehicles and move them off of the cooking property to the SU Foundation lot no later than 9:15 am.

Setup / Teardown

  1. Each team must report to tent at the rear of the SU football stadium to sign in and receive your space assignment between 8:30 am - 9:00 am. The event for patrons runs from 11:00 am - 2:15 pm.
  2. Each team will be allocated a space. Teams are responsible for all of their own equipment and supplies. Don't forget to bring all appropriate cooking supplies. We will provide you with one table and you will be under the main large tent (if space permits on the morning of the event you may be able to put up an additional tent adjacent to the main tent). Please bring lawn chairs.
  3. Sampling cups, spoons and napkins will be provided by the "Spill the Beans" Cook Off committee to each booth before 11:00 am.
  4. All vehicles must be unloaded and removed immediately from the grass by 9:15 am. Parking is available at the SU Foundation parking lot adjacent to the tailgate/bean cook off area. NO long-term parking will be permitted on the grass and will be enforced by SU Police. Failure to follow these directions will result in a team being disqualified.
  5. Booths must be completely torn down and your area completely free from garbage by 3:30 pm.

Bean Soup Entry

  1. Bean Soup cannot be defined. Whatever you call BEAN SOUP, we will call Bean Soup. Bean Soup may or may not contain meat. Bean Soup MUST contain some type of Beans as a main ingredient.
  2. No ingredients may be pre-cooked or treated prior to the preparation period. Commercially canned and bottled ingredients are allowed. Pre-cut raw ingredients are allowed. You are encouraged to cut all of your raw ingredients at home to save more time for your soup to cook on the morning of the event.
  3. The preparation period can begin immediately once the Cook Team registers at the event area, up to as early as 8:30 am on Saturday, September 17, 2011 but no later than 9:30 am.
  4. Spectator sampling will begin promptly at 11:00 am. Samples for judging will be collected at 12:30 pm. Please be patient – a "Spill the Beans" Cook-off Committee member will visit your booth to collect the soup sample during that time period.
  5. All teams are required to prepare a minimum of three (3) gallons (or about 11 liters) of soup. There is no maximum quantity each team may prepare. One (1) pint (or about 1⁄2-liter) of soup must be reserved for judging.
  6. Spectators sampling the Bean Soup will be issued armbands. Cook-off teams MUST monitor the spectators that are requesting soup samples to ensure that they have purchased an armband. Please remember... this is a fundraiser.

Judging / Awards

  1. Individual / Non-Profit Organization division and the Business division will be judged separately. The Individual / Non-Profit division will be competing for cash prizes and Business division for the Traveling Trophy! Cash prizes include: first place is $500.00; second place is $250.00 and third place is $100.00. All contestants will be a part of the People's Choice Award of $100.00.
  2. Bean Soup will be judged on a scale of 1-5 (5 is the highest rating) on the following criteria: Aroma, Appearance, Taste and Texture (Consistency). The winning Bean Soup must rate well in each of these criteria. All criteria will be weighted equally for each category.
  3. To ensure confidentiality and impartiality during the judging process, each team will be randomly assigned a team number and will be given an official sample judging cup with their number on it. The "Spill the Beans" Cook-Off Judging Committee will control cup numbers and sample collections to ensure anonymity.
  4. Event theme, visual display, and showmanship will be evaluated in determining the Best Booth prizewinners. We encourage each team to maximize their judging points as well as market their affiliated organizations products and/or services. Teams will only be judged on presentation within their assigned area. Your booth should be decorated with the theme of your soup. A $100.00 award is given for the best booth decorating.
  5. Bean Soup Cook-Off patrons may cast votes to select the "People's Choice" award winning soup. All votes will be collected and tallied at 2:30 pm and the winner announced during the Bean Soup Cook-off Awards ceremony. Teams are encouraged to engage the cook-off patrons and encourage them to place a "people's choice" vote. Extra "People's Choice" votes (tickets) may be purchased for $1.00 each or 10 for $5.00 at the event registration table until 2:30 pm.
  6. The decisions of the judges are final. All entrants participate at their own risk. D.O.I.T. and the "Spill the Beans" Bean Soup Committee are not liable for losses or damages resulting from team participation in this event. D.O.I.T. and the "Spill the Beans" Bean Soup Committee reserve the right to change or modify these rules at any time. Any changes will be communicated to all entrants.

The Committee also reserves the right to disqualify any team for violation of these rules.

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