If you are new to the always expanding world of food challenges and competitive eating, and even if you’ve watched every episode of Man v Food, you may not completely understand what all the details are to a food challenge and what they mean. It is pretty hard to Select The Food Challenge Right For You if you don’t fully understand the basics. Therefore, here is a list of the main details of a food challenge and what they mean:

The challenge meal and components – In order to have a food challenge, you have to have a challenge meal. There are 28 different types of food challenges, so there are many different menu options that may be available around you. Some meals consist of a main entree served with one or more side items, and some challenges such as taco, hot dog, and wing challenges typically just serve many of each item without having any side items. A majority of challenges around the world are burger challenges, but there are obviously other types of challenges available. There are food challenges ranging in all different sizes that you can possibly choose from too. The selection just depends on the location you are in and the different restaurants around you hosting them.

Time limit – 95% of food challenges have a time limit involved, meaning that you have to eat the particular quantity of food within the particular amount of time set by the restaurant. Some challenges (the other 5%) just have “one sitting” as the time limit which typically means that you can take as long as you want provided that you don’t get up and leave or go to the bathroom. If the restaurant has a “record challenge” where a customer is required to beat the previous time limit set by a previous customer that beat the challenge, that previous record time is the time limit. Larger eating challenges typically involve longer time limits, but sometimes there are exceptions to that rule. The time limit is always labeled clearly for you on the challenge’s page on our site.

Challenge rules – Some more professional restaurants have a clear list of “house rules” published but many restaurants do not. Every challenge has rules though that are set by the restaurant. If the rules are not labeled on the challenge page or on the restaurant’s website, you may need to contact the restaurant yourself to find out any specific rules. For most challenges though, the main rules are that you cannot get up and go to the bathroom, you cannot get sick and throw up, and you have to finish everything on the plate in front of you. Typically, you get disqualified if you break any of the particular restaurant’s rules, and some restaurant’s are more strict than others. The restaurants that are more strict typically have a larger prize involved, and they don’t want people cheating to win. You definitely should find out the basic “house rules” before arriving.

Price – The price of the challenge varies depending on the location and restaurant hosting the challenge. It also depends on the size, type, and components of the meal. Many larger challenges are awarded free or at least discounted in price if the customer wins, but everybody that fails the challenge typically always gets charged full price. Every now and then you will find a challenge set up so that a portion of the price goes towards a particular charity in the local community. The price is always labeled clearly on the challenge’s page.

Prizes – The prize awarded definitely depends on the restaurant and size of the challenge. Prizes always vary, and some restaurants are much more generous than others. The prize is what you win if you complete the challenge within the required time limit. There are many different prize options that restaurants can award. The most typical prizes are awarding the meal free along with awarding free t-shirts and putting your name and photo up on the Wall Of Fame hanging in the restaurant. The prizes are also listed on the challenge’s page.

While there are only 5 main details that eaters care about when checking out challenges, there are 8 details that restaurants decide upon when creating a food challenge. To learn more about the different challenge details, check out the Creating A Challenge section under the Promoters tab. Make sure you understand these basic details before you start really searching for food challenges. Otherwise, you may find yourself lost and not fully understanding things that you see. The 5 star rating system that you may see while searching around for challenges is an exclusive system developed by FoodChallenges.com. For a better explanation of that system and what each star means, read Selecting The Food Challenge Right For you. Once you understand the details above and have picked a food challenge to attempt, you are ready to Set The Challenge Time And Date and then Confirm The Details With The Restaurant. Then you can start training for your upcoming eating challenge!!

These are all basic details that you need to know so that you can understand all of the other aspects of food challenges. For a great list of specific rules and questions that you need to clarify before the challenge so that you don’t end up getting disqualified, please read all of the Questions To Clarify Before You Begin Eating.

Thanks for reading why you must fully understand the food challenge details & using FoodChallenges.com!!

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