You have basically already established the size of your challenge through selecting which kind of challenge you will host, and you established the main components of the challenge by selecting the type of challenge you will be hosting. Now it is time to set the specifics of the challenge regarding what you will serve. To start, let me recap the 10 different kinds of food challenges and their basic size parameters (limitations):

Very large quantity challenge – A 4 star challenge weighs between 6.25-8lbs (2.75-3.5kg). A 5 star challenge is anything greater than 8lbs (3.5kg) for an individual to eat alone. (Note: If you want this size of a challenge to succeed, you will need a prize worth more than a free meal with a long time limit)

Large quantity challenge – A 3 star challenge weighs between 5-6.25lbs (2.25-2.75kg)

Medium quantity challenge – A 2 star challenge weighs between 3.5-5lbs (1.5-2.25kg)

Small quantity challenge – A 1 star challenge is anything less than 3.5lbs (1.5kg)

Quantity record challenge – The quantity starts small and builds as people keep winning.

Speed record challenge – This can be any size, but there won’t be much “speed” involved with 3 star challenges and larger. Restaurants typically start the time limit at 1 hour and let the record decrease as people keep winning. Remember the larger the challenge, the less people you will have trying it.

Speed challenge – Speed challenges have a maximum time of 15 minutes so they are typically 5lbs (2.25kg) or less. 1 or 2 star challenges are definitely recommended. A 3 star challenge might succeed only if the challenge is a 5lb burrito or another food that is easier to eat faster. Even then, the chances are slim.

Small spicy challenge – These challenges would be classified as 1 star challenges, but most small challenges weigh less than 2.2lbs (1kg). Over 75% of spicy challenges weigh 1lb (.5kg) or less.

Medium spicy challenge – These challenges would be classified as 2 star challenges, but a medium spicy challenge would be any spicy challenge weighing more than 3lbs (1.36kg). Again, they are very rare.

Team challenge – Team challenges almost all weigh over 8lbs (3.5kg) which would be considered 5 stars if they were an individual challenge. Any team challenge less than 8lbs needs to have a shorter time limit.

Now that you know the size parameters that your challenge will be around, it’s time to establish all of the components of the challenge. You already know the type of challenge that you will be having, so get creative and create a meal that really shows off your menu and restaurant. Many challenges include side dishes, which is great, but remember that the side items all factor into the total challenge weight too. Also remember that they are SIDE ITEMS and the sides should not weigh more than the main course. A 2lb burger with 4lbs of fries really isn’t a burger challenge. Make sure the side items accent your menu too, and don’t just throw 2lbs fries in as a “filler” just to add weight and more difficulty. No customer wants to eat 4lbs of delicious burger and then have to choke down 2lbs of bland and boring french fries. Make sure to keep the sides in line with the main course too. It is silly to have french fries as the side item for a burrito challenge, rather than nachos.

I could go on and on about different food challenge ideas, but rather than listen to me, do yourself a really helpful favor and spend some time checking out the currently existing challenges that restaurants around the world have already created. You should definitely be able to get a few good ideas that you can use by looking at challenges that are the same type as the one you will have. You may want a burger challenge but there are hundreds of ways to set up a burger challenge. The same goes for burritos, hot dogs, breakfasts, desserts, and just about every other challenge type. Check out the different search options located under “Challenges” on the top menu. Browse around and look at other challenges until you get a basic idea of the challenge you will have in your restaurant along with the sizes of the components and sides that will make up the challenge.

For those restaurants that have chosen to host a very large quantity challenge weighing over 6.5lbs (3kg), and especially a 5 star challenge weighing over 8lbs (3.5kg), please make sure you have read Why You Should Not Make The Challenge “Unbeatable” just so that you are fully aware of what you are getting yourself into.

Once you have selected your food challenge’s size and components, please go to step 4.

To go back and view other Creating A Challenge articles, click here.

The most important factor for whether people will have a chance at beating your challenge is the total size of everything, but the next most important factor is the time limit that you allow for customers to finish the challenge. Having an unrealistic time limit can totally ruin a challenge and cause it to become unbeatable. Having an “unbeatable” challenge is the best way to not get any benefits from having a food challenge. You may have a 4.5lb (2kg) 2 star sandwich challenge that is definitely able to be finished by customers, but if you place a 15 minute time limit on the challenge, turning it into a speed challenge, 80% of the people that are able to finish that challenge in one sitting cannot defeat the challenge because they can’t eat that fast. A person may know they can eat that much, but they still won’t try the challenge if they know they can’t eat that much that fast. The main goal during a challenge is for the person to finish the challenge. Time limits just make sure that they don’t have all day to do finish it. If you want to have a successful food challenge at your restaurant, you need to make sure that you aren’t setting a time limit that only experienced professional eaters can beat.

You have already figured out your kind of challenge and you have a pretty good idea of exactly what you will be serving, so now it’s time to set the time limit. “A pretty good idea” means that you know all of the main components such as the meats, carbs (bun), and sides that make up the actual weight of the challenge, but you may still be unsure of the miscellaneous toppings such as vegetables and sauces that don’t really have a big effect on the weight. Using your kind of challenge, type of challenge, and geographic location, decide on the time limit that you will have for your challenge. Here are a few additional words of advice to consider:

You can’t always use “uniformity” when selecting the time limit – The biggest reason that some restaurants set ridiculous time limits is because they are trying to maintain uniformity for all of the details. What I mean by this is that a restaurant that lives along Route 66 in the United States may decide to host a 66oz burger challenge with a 66 minute time limit. That is a perfect example of how to create an awesomely symbolic challenge. This does not always work though. A restaurant would definitely be able to host a 22oz burger challenge with a 22 minute time limit, but a 22″ pizza in 22 minutes just will not work. Only experienced eaters have a chance at doing a pizza that big in that short amount of time, and you want more than pro eaters taking your challenge.

The definition of “one sitting” – Many restaurants with food challenges, typically challenges that are not even discounted if completed, do not set a specific time limit on the challenge. This is a great option if you are more focused on whether the customer can simply finish it or not, and it doesn’t really matter how long it takes. If your challenge does not or will not have a time limit, the time limit will be considered “one sitting” rather than “no limit” because “no limit” is way too broad of a term. A customer may be at your restaurant for 5 hours if your challenge has “no limit” rather than “one sitting.” “One sitting” basically means what it sounds like. The customer may take as long as they want as long as they are continually eating. A 5 minute smoke break is a one thing, but taking a 1 hour break and coming back to finish is something that you don’t want or need to deal with. Many restaurants set “one sitting” as a time limit, and place “house rules” stating that the customer can’t leave the table or go to the bathroom. Customers can rarely last over 2 hours without having to go to the bathroom, so this would be a great time limit to set if you don’t want to set a specific time limit. For smaller challenges though, a 1 hour time limit means the same as “one sitting” because if a person can’t finish a smaller challenge in 1 hour, that person probably won’t finish the entire meal in 2 hours either, and therefore time doesn’t matter.

Keep the time limit in line with the “kind” – This tip is just to stress that the kind of challenge you chose should reflect on the time limit you choose. Remember that a speed challenge is any challenge with a time limit of 15 minutes or less. Quantity challenges are over 15 minutes, and the size and type should be kept consistent with the time limit. Burritos, ice cream, tacos, milkshakes, and similar foods are easier to eat fast, so it is possible to have shorter time limits for these challenges than you would place on a steak challenge or more “meaty” challenge. Typically, the larger the challenge is, the higher the time limit should be if you want people to actually attempt the challenge. If you do really want to have a 4 or 5 star challenge, you are crazy if you think normal people will be able to eat even half in less than 30 minutes, so the time limit should definitely be an hour or more, and even then your cooks should not plan on making many, because most people can’t eat that much.

The time limit should align with the prizes to be awarded – We aren’t establishing the prizes until step 7, but you probably already have an idea of what the prizes will be. Keep in mind that the time limit should align with the prizes awarded. The less the prize is (aka just getting on the Wall of Fame or a certificate), the less strict the time limit should be. If the eater only gets to be on the Wall of Fame or even a t-shirt, it would be silly for you to set a time limit that keeps all slower eaters from winning, because that ruins all the fun. Then the challenge becomes not worth attempting. Most small money making gimmick challenges have “one sitting” as the limit.

Remember to factor in your geographic location – As you have already learned, geographic location also plays a role in choosing your time limit. Smaller town restaurants should have higher time limits than a bigger city restaurant would simply because there are not as many big and fast eaters around them. If you doubt this theory, contact us and we can send you 30 or 40 examples of failed challenges supporting our claim.

The point of a food challenge is for everyone in your restaurant to have fun, and the more strict your challenge is, the less fun it becomes. Definitely think about the time limit you are setting. Remember that it is easier to decrease the time limit than to increase the time limit. Decreasing the time limit typically happens after having too many happy customers winning. Increasing the time limit typically only happens after all of your customers complain, which will really damage the future chances of success for the challenge. To avoid all of these complaints, don’t get greedy. It’s one thing if one person complains, which typically happens no matter what time limit you set, but its another thing if 100 customers tell you that the time limit is too short. Before officially announcing the challenge, it is best to have a “bigger eater” test the challenge. This will really help you gauge whether you have established a proper time limit. Hopefully this article has helped you decide the proper time limit for your new challenge. If you now have the challenge time limit selected, then go to step 5.

To go back and view other Creating A Challenge articles, click here.

Now that you have already figured out the components and size of your challenge along with the time limit, it’s time to establish the particular “house rules” that you want customers to follow while attempting your eating challenge. Since it is your food challenge at your own restaurant, you get to decide the rules that customers must follow while in your “house.” Here are some examples that restaurants use to help you build your list:

Can eaters drink during a spicy challenge? – This is the most important rule to establish if you are creating a spicy food challenge. What are customers allowed to drink during the challenge, if anything? Most restaurants don’t allow people to drink anything during the challenge, but some restaurants allow customers to drink water only because water and most non-dairy beverages don’t really alleviate the pain that occurs during spicy food challenges because capsaicin, the chemical that creates the level of heat, is fat-soluble only and not water-soluble. Then there are a few restaurants that allow eaters to drink whatever they want, including milk and other fatty dairy products. This is up to you as the challenge host, but I definitely recommend eaters being allowed to drink something if you are hosting a medium sized spicy challenge rather than a small one less than 1 lb (1 kg).

An “afterburn” period for spicy challenges? – Most spicy challenges involve eating a small amount of really spicy food in a very short amount of time, and a large majority of those challenges don’t allow eaters to drink anything while eating the meal. On top of that, many spicy challenges require the eater to wait a short period of time (usually 5 minutes) after finishing the food, and sometimes even licking his or her fingers, before he or she is allowed to take a drink and start alleviating the pain. This interval of time, if required, is referred to as the “afterburn” period (which really hurts). Most challenges with an afterburn award the meal free if completed.

When will the official challenge time begin? – Most restaurants choose to start the timer as soon as the customer takes his or her first bite. Whether they let the meal cool for 5 minutes or 15 minutes, that does not matter, and they just start the clock when the person takes a bite. Some restaurants begin the clock as soon as the person touches the food. Some restaurants start the timer as soon as the challenge hits the table and is placed in front of the customer (not recommended because most customers will want to take pictures). Then there are other restaurants that allow a 5 or 10 minute cooling off period, and then start the clock whether the customer is ready or not. That option is usually used if the restaurant wants the hot temperature to be part of the difficulty, and I have seen it used for some pho and ramen soup challenges. Starting the timer when the eater takes a bite is the most simple and recommended rule, but as you can see, you have other options.

What can the customer do with the food before the time begins? – If your challenge is served really hot or is one big item made up of many different parts and ingredients, you need to establish a rule regarding what the eater is allowed to do before the time starts. If you have a steak challenge, is the person allowed to cut the steak up prior to the clock starting or does time begin as soon as he or she starts cutting? If you serve a 6 patty burger challenge held together by wooden skewers, is the person allowed to disassemble the burger and separate all the layers before time begins? This is related to the question above, but needs to be its own separate rule. Can your burger be cut in half so that it can cool faster or will time start as soon as the cut is made? The choice is up to you and how strict you want to be. Just make sure to enforce the rule uniformly for everyone, and not just most people, with some exceptions made. You will create a few problems for yourself by operating like that.

Does the food have to be swallowed or just in the eater’s mouth? – This question needs to be answered to eliminate arguments at the end of the challenge when an eater is approaching the maximum time limit. If the time limit is 1 hour, does the eater have to have the entire meal finished and swallowed before the hour is up, or does the eater just have to have the remaining bit of food in his or her mouth? This doesn’t happen often obviously, but when it does it can turn into a big deal if the rule isn’t clear before the challenge begins.

Will the eater have to “keep it down” for a period of time? – This question will eliminate possible arguments at the end of the challenge too. 99% of challenges have rules that don’t allow the eater to throw up during the challenge, so that rule is a given, but a rule needs to be established in case the rare occurrence happens where an eater “gets sick” just a few seconds or minutes after swallowing the last bite. Restaurants usually establish a short “waiting period” (typically 5 minutes) just in case this does happen (15 minutes maximum). Then some other restaurants declare the challenge over directly after the eater proves the meal is finished & swallowed.

What is the eater allowed to do while eating? – This rule lets a customer know what he or she is allowed to do during the challenge. Can they sit, stand, or kneel? Can they go to the bathroom as long as they don’t throw up? Can they go take a break and smoke a cigarette or walk around for a few minutes while the food already in their stomach settles? Most restaurants have a rule that the customers can do what they want while at and around the table, but they can’t leave the area or go to the bathroom. This is the best and most simple rule to have, and is usually always acceptable to customers wanting to take the challenge because it allows a lot of freedom.

What can the eater(s) drink during the challenge? – This question has already been addressed for spicy challenges, but what about quantity and speed challenges? Does the price of the challenge include unlimited soft drink refills and water? Does the eater still have to pay for drinks ordered even if he or she wins? The purpose of the challenge is to finish the meal, and it should not really matter how much liquid a person drinks in addition to the required beverage, if you even require one. The extra liquid will just take up room in the person’s stomach, so why does that matter to you? It does happen occasionally though where a restaurant restricts people to only 1 glass or cup of water or soft drink. This is rare, but some restaurants don’t let eaters drink anything at all with the quantity challenge. Small spicy challenges are a different story, as mentioned up above. If you really want to set a rule restricting all beverages, especially if you have a challenge filled with chewy foods that are not really moist, make sure that you have a pretty good sized check book in case a person chokes, because you will be liable, no matter what you have the person sign beforehand. One of the purposes of drinking liquid while eating is to help moisten the food so that it can be swallowed more easily. Without being able to drink anything to help the food slide down, the chances of a person choking increase 2000%, and that person’s family will not be happy. Foodchallenges.com will agree with and support the lawsuit too along with all of the awful PR your restaurant receives all over the world, because that rule is completely unsafe. Choking is not a laughing matter. You don’t want that happening in your restaurant, so don’t create rules that might cause it.

Does the eater have to pay beforehand or after the challenge? – This is up to you as the restaurant owner, but you should establish whether the meal has to be paid for upfront and then refunded if the person wins, or whether the person gets the bill afterwards if he or she loses. For more expensive challenges, the restaurant sometimes asks for the money up front or at least for a credit card to put on file, just to make sure the person has the funds to pay for the meal if he or she fails the challenge. In restaurants where customers are required to walk up to the counter and pay for their meal when ordering regardless of them ordering the challenge or not, it makes sense for a person to have to pay beforehand, because everyone else does too. It is typically not a big deal for a person to have to pay beforehand, but you may want to specify so that there is no confusion.

Do you allow dunking? – This question should be established too beforehand, regarding whether or not you allow customers to dunk their food while attempting the challenge. If you don’t know already, dunking is where a person dips his or her food, usually breads and other carbs, in order to soften up the food making it easier to eat and swallow. For a better understanding of the effects that will occur by allowing customers to dunk, please read The Effects Of Letting Eaters Dunk The Challenge Food. This issue should definitely be addressed in the rules because it will have a direct effect on your atmosphere during the challenge, and the eater’s strategy.

Answering these questions will get your “house rules” off to a very good start. To help you establish your own set of rules, take some time and check out the rules of other challenges similar to yours. The rules can usually be found on the particular restaurant’s website. To search for challenges like yours, check out the search options under “Challenges” on the top menu bar. You can set as many rules or as few rules as you  want since they are your “house rules,” but I suggest that you post the rules once you are finished both online and in your restaurant. You may want to place the rules up on your restaurant’s Wall of Fame so that people can read the rules while checking out all the photos. If the rules are posted, the customers can’t really complain if an issue comes up that is established clearly in your rules. There are a few rules that some restaurants set, but they are really silly and I suggest you avoid them because they are universally frowned upon by eaters that enjoy food challenges. For a list of those rules, check out the article Silly Challenge “House Rules” To Avoid.

Once you have established most of your challenge’s house rules, please go to step 6.

To go back and view other Creating A Challenge articles, click here.

Now that you have the challenge components and rules established, you are ready to price your challenge. The prize surprisingly plays a huge role in whether or not a person wants to attempt your challenge. Customers want to have fun attempting the challenge, but the challenge won’t be fun if the experience isn’t worth the price they have to pay for the experience, especially if the prize for winning isn’t worth the risk either. Here are a few ideas and words of advice to help you price your challenge so that more people purchase the meal and attempt it:

For smaller challenges only awarding a free shirt – If you are going to host a small quantity challenge that only awards a free shirt and picture up on the Wall of Fame, price the challenge so that it entices hungry customers to order it simply because they have a shot at winning the shirt. I have actually seen this work firsthand, where a person ordered the 3lb (1.36kg) challenge just because for a few dollars more than the other item he was thinking about, he had a shot at winning a free shirt. This pricing structure will definitely work, especially if you are a location that gets groups of guys that are competitive and will provoke each other into trying the challenge without you even having to doing anything. The extra bit of fun is well worth the few extra bucks, especially if they have been drinking, and the few extra dollars cover the cost of the shirts actually won.

Make the price uniform with the challenge if it fits – It may be worth sacrificing just a few dollars off the price you want to price the challenge at to make the challenge uniform and consistent, and on the other hand you may be able to add a few bucks into the price if it sounds cleaner. For example, you may want to sell your 24″ pizza challenge for $26.99, but doesn’t it sound a lot more crisp to say your 24″ pizza challenge is only $24? At the same time, you may be thinking of pricing your 40oz steak challenge cheaply at $35, but wouldn’t it sound better to make the price $40? This doesn’t always work, and not every restaurant can pull off pricing a 32oz burger challenge at $32, but sometimes the pricing depends on the country you are located in since different countries use different currencies. Quality of food and average prices of other menu items are a big factor too.

Make the challenge worth ordering just for leftovers – If the actual food cost for you is low and you are able to, price the challenge so that customers will order the item just so that they have leftovers the next day. If the price is low enough and the meal is delicious, some customers will order the meal knowing they have no chance of finishing, but they want to take the leftovers home to eat the next day (or rest of the week). This mostly applies to breakfast challenges because the actual food costs are typically lower than other challenges.

Entice groups to order the challenge – To make more money off of your challenge, price the meal so that it entices small groups to order it and share. If a family of 4 knows each of their meals will cost $10, they might be willing to all share your challenge item which costs $35. Your staff will have to do much less work because they are only cooking and serving 1 meal, and everyone is having fun. Plus, you can take that family’s picture and market the photo on part of your Wall of Fame display, making the situation a win-win for everyone involved.

The higher the price, the less it will be ordered – This is just economics, but obviously the higher your challenge meal is priced, the less it will be ordered. Not everybody can afford a $35 American Dollar or a £20 British Pound challenge meal if they lose. Most people definitely don’t want to pay $50 American Dollars or £30 British Pounds for losing a challenge, especially when there was a time limit restricting them from completely enjoying the entire meal. If your menu is typically priced high to begin with, you are more likely to be able to get away with having a higher priced meal. Also know that if your meal is bigger and priced high, eventually the only people that will be willing to try it are professional eaters that have a higher chance of winning, causing you to basically lose money by having the challenge. Hopefully you are already aware that nobody will want to try your big challenge if it is expensive and they will have to pay regardless of winning or not. The only time that doesn’t really apply is in expensive steakhouses. I have seen steak challenges that sell for over $100 American dollars that only offer winners a name on the Wall Of Fame. These challenges have a chance at selling simply because most of the clientele that goes there either doesn’t need to worry about money or the meal is being expensed on a company’s credit card, and therefore the price doesn’t matter. If you want people to try it, price it right!!

Since your food challenge should represent your restaurant’s attitude and menu, the price of your challenge should be inline with the rest of your menu too. Remember that the main purpose of a food challenge is for marketing and to get new and existing customers in your door. Pricing the challenge right and inexpensively will get even more people in your door, so when pricing your challenge remember that the main goal is not to directly make money off of sales from the actual challenge. You are making the money and revenue from all of the other people that come along with the food challenger and because you have and advertise a challenge. When you were deciding the components of the challenge, hopefully you did not decide to use the most expensive foods and ingredients available in your kitchen, because obviously you can’t set a price on the challenge that will make you lose money. You want to make money off your challenge, but you can’t set the price too high, so make sure your food costs aren’t excessive. If you need to rethink the components of your challenge, definitely do that now. Once you have selected a great food challenge price, please go to step 7.

To go back and view other Creating A Challenge articles, click here.

Now that you have established the meal you are serving along with the challenge rules and price, you’re ready to decide what prizes you will give to customers that attempt the challenge based on whether they win or lose. The prize is one of the last things you establish but it is equally as important as all of the other details in regards to selling and marketing your food challenge. People will not attempt your challenge if the risks taken are not worth the rewards for winning (or taking the challenge in general). Here is a list of all the standard prizes that are given out for winning and losing food challenges, with a brief description about each typical prize awarded:

Bragging Rights  – Every challenge awards “bragging rights” to winners whether the prize is specifically written or not. It just means that the winner is able to brag to his or her friends and peers. Be careful adding this to your list of prizes though, because “bragging rights” in “eater terminology” means that you really don’t have much of a prize so you are trying to make the prize sound better by adding “bragging rights” at the end. If the only prize awarded for winning is bragging rights, then it won’t be recognized as a food challenge on this website.

Wall Of Fame (Winners) – Adding winners to the Wall Of Fame or Wall Of Flame (or whatever you decide to call it at your restaurant) is the minimum requirement to be considered a food challenge. Some restaurants take either before or after photos of the different challengers and add each photo to the WOF along with the challenger’s name. Some restaurants just add the photos without names, and others add just names. Some restaurants even get the names of winners engraved on a special plaque hanging up in the restaurant. A few restaurants choose to only have a Wall Of Fame featured on their restaurant’s Facebook page which is also perfectly acceptable.

Wall Of Shame (Losers) – Some restaurants do this and some do not, but many restaurants with a Wall Of Fame for winners also have a Wall Of Shame for the pictures of people that fail the challenge. For the Wall Of Shame, restaurants usually take a photo of the loser with the remaining food left at the end of the challenge for everyone to see how that person did and looks afterwards. If your challenge is smaller and will get a lot of attempts and a lot of winners, you may only want to have a Wall Of Fame. If your challenge is big, then you may want to have a Wall Of Shame just so that you have pictures and names to put on the board to show people have tried it. Having a Wall Of Shame also depends on the amount of space you have in your restaurant to put a Wall Of Fame and Wall Of Shame. If you have a lot of space, then you may definitely be suited to have both. If your Wall Of Fame is only featured on Facebook, then you may choose to have a different album for the Wall Of Shame too on the Facebook page. The best scenario is to have pictures in your restaurant and also online.

Certificate Of Achievement – Some restaurants make a certificate of achievement to give to the winners of their challenge. Most restaurants that award certificates also have a Wall Of Fame and they take photos of the winners with their certificate to put up on the WOF. Some restaurants print out a certificate on site with a computer, and some restaurants have a standard certificate that they simply fill in and give to the winners.

Shirt, Hat, Or Other Restaurant Apparel –  Other than putting winners’ pictures on the Wall Of Fame, the most popular prize to award challenge winners is a free shirt or hat. Some restaurants create custom printed shirts specifically for challenge winners, and some restaurants just give out standard restaurant shirts, typically shirts that are already available for purchase as souvenirs. Shirts are popular prizes to give out because they are a good souvenir, and people are also advertising their particular restaurant when they proudly wear their shirt. Also, they can be as expensive or inexpensive as the restaurant decides to make them, but they still accomplish the same goal no matter how expensive they are. Every now and then, usually for bigger challenges, a restaurant may award a more expensive sweatshirt or hoody to challenge winners. The choice is fully up to you the owner.

Shirts For Losers Just For Taking The Challenge – This is less rare than you’d think, but some restaurants with bigger challenges give out shirts to people that lose their challenge just to thank them for trying. This usually means that the challenge is expensive, with the price of the shirt built into the price of the challenge, and the restaurant is simply trying to entice people to try the challenge, knowing that most people don’t have a chance. Every now and then, restaurants make up shirts specifically for challenge failures, but most of the time the restaurant just gives out the same shirt that is available for the public to purchase as a simple souvenir.

Discounted Meal – For challenges that are bigger but aren’t tough enough to award free due to the challenge rules, restaurants may decide to award the winner the meal at a discount, usually half price, if not more.

Free Meal – For tougher challenges, a very common prize is to award the meal free. This is the most universally accepted prize by eaters, and much appreciated too. Awarding the meal free to winners will definitely attract more attempts, as long as it is winnable. Many eaters won’t even try a challenge unless winners get it free.

Gift Certificates or Gift Cards – Gift cards can be used as a prize in a variety of ways, and typically the amount depends on the price, toughness, and the restaurant’s goal of the challenge. If the challenge is not really tough enough to award for free, but it is still pretty large, the restaurant may charge full price but award winners with gift cards totaling the amount of the challenge price. That gets the person to come back to your restaurant and possibly even bring friends, and for the eater it may be accepted because he is basically getting 2 meals for the price of 1. For tougher challenges, restaurants may decide to award the meal free along with additional gift cards too in order to get the customer to come back and make the prize package even sweeter. The value of the gift card usually depends on the toughness of the challenge, and a higher valued gift card will typically attract more attempts as long as the challenge is not unbeatable. The card value depends on your comfort level.

Cash Money – If restaurants really want to get people to try their challenge, they will award cash money to winners as part of the prize package. Almost all restaurants that award cash money also award the meal free, and then promote the cash prize on top of the free meal. I have only seen 1 challenge that awarded $100 cash but still charged for the price of the meal. The amount of cash awarded mostly depends on the toughness of the challenge. Challenges that have prizes over $500 are typically 5 star challenges that are really tough, but awarding a prize that high is really the only way to entice people to attempt the challenge. The higher your cash prize, the more likely people will be to attempt the challenge, especially if it is not unbeatable. Most cash prizes are typically between a value of $100 and $300 American dollars. There are some challenges too that are smaller where the restaurant will claim, for example, “If you lose then you pay $20, and if you win we pay you $20.” There are many ways to use cash money as a challenge prize so feel free to really get creative with  it.

Those are all of the standard prizes given out as rewards for winning (and losing) food challenges, and they can be combined in any way that you’d like. The most common combination of prizes for winning a challenge is a person getting the meal free, a free shirt, and his or her picture posted up on the Wall Of Fame. Some places combine 2 different kinds of challenges into 1 actual challenge, and then award a smaller prize for beating the easier challenge, and then award a larger prize if the customer is able to defeat the harder challenge too. For example, a person may get a shirt for beating a challenge in under 30 minutes, but he or she may get the meal free if the person defeats the challenge record too. To help you decide which prizes you should choose, feel free to check out other challenges similar to yours that are currently available. Figure out what prizes you want to give out and what prizes you want to avoid. To check out other challenges similar to yours, please use one of the list or map search methods available under “Challenges” on the top menu above, and then begin browsing.

One recommendation is that you DO NOT check out the prizes for challenges that were featured on Man v Food. Some of the challenges featured do no have good prize packages and are too expensive, and they were failing before their particular episode aired. After premiering on the show though, the number of challenge attempts then skyrocketed simply because it was featured on the show. Some of the challenges from Man v Food should be free or at least discounted, but Man v Food made the restaurant so popular that they don’t need to discount the challenge because people will attempt it anyway. You may definitely check out the challenges, but don’t necessarily choose your prizes based off of them, because what works for them may not work for you.

For additional unique prize ideas and prizes that are not necessary, click here.

Once you have chosen which food challenge prizes you will award, go to step 8.

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You have now established almost every major detail for your food challenge, and now its time for the eighth and final step, picking the name for your challenge. The name really has nothing to do with whether or not your customers are able to defeat the challenge, and it really isn’t a factor for the customer when deciding whether or not to try the challenge, which is why it is the last step. The name of the challenge is the most important detail for you though because that challenge name will be featured on every advertisement and promotional thing that you do. The name of the food challenge is the link that connects that particular challenge to your restaurant, and it is the main vehicle driving your focused and powerful marketing campaign to promote it.

Many restaurants already know what they are going to call their challenge before they even start planning what the challenge will be. Some restaurants already know the challenge name because they are just turning an existing menu item into the challenge, and will just be adding “challenge” on the end. If that applies to you and you already know your challenge name, then you really don’t need to finish this article so click here to go back and read more Creating A Challenge articles. For those restaurant owners that need help selecting the right name for their challenge, here are a few ideas and recommendations that might help you make the decision:

Sometimes its ok to be plain – Sometimes restaurants don’t have a particular attitude or theme and they just worry about serving great food. Your challenge name may be plain and simply just explain what the challenge is. In this case, your challenge name may be The 3lb Burger Challenge or The 28″ Pizza Challenge. Some cafes and restaurants also just throw their name in front of the challenge type to create the challenge name. For example, a restaurant named Crown Candy Kitchen named their challenge The Crown Candy Milkshake Challenge. Nobody ever has to ask the name of the restaurant hosting the challenge when they hear the very descriptive name!!

Use a name that is related to your restaurant’s name – Figure out a way to tie your restaurant name into the name of the challenge, and this will also make your marketing easier too. For example, a restaurant named Stella’s Bar & Grill in Nebraska created the Stellanator Burger Challenge. A Mexican restaurant named their burrito challenge The Mexicutioner. A greek restaurant named their challenge The Trojan Horse Sandwich Challenge. It can be catchy to customers when the challenge name is tied to the restaurant name too.

The name can be symbolic – Is there a way to tie your location or community into the challenge name? For example, my friends at Cookin’ From Scratch in Missouri are located off a major landmark called Route 66. They created a 66oz burger challenge and named it The Route 66 King Of The Road Burger Challenge. A famous restaurant in Iowa named Jethro’s BBQ had a local basketball legend named Adam Emmenecker pick a few of his favorite meats and they put everything on one big sandwich and simply called it The Adam Emmenecker Sandwich Challenge. Tying your community into the challenge can definitely be one marketing angle that you take which can make people want to try the challenge and promote the challenge to their friends. The local news would be more likely to take interest too since it involves the community, so you may want to try that.

The name can be about the food type – Some restaurants and challenges can make this work and then others simply cannot. Can you involve the food type into the challenge name? For example, a little barbecue restaurant named Papa Buck’s BBQ created a pork sandwich challenge named Pigzilla which is a fitting challenge name.

Is there a descriptive name that fits your theme? – Some restaurants choose an adjective to add before the challenge type that fits the theme of the restaurant. One of the first examples that comes to mind is when “island themed” or “tropical themed” restaurants use the adjective phrase “The Big Kahuna.” Doing this can make your challenge more unique, rather than simply adding “Monster” or “Mega” in front. There are quite a few Monster Burgers and Mega Burgers around the world, for example, but sometimes those really do work too.

The name can involve a famous event or thing – Sometimes past historical events can work into your challenge name which can then be used in your marketing plan. For example, GoBurrito in England has a 6lb Titanic Burrito Challenge and they use “Can you sink The Titanic Burrito Challenge?” on advertisements. Around the time that London had the Summer Olympics in 2012, a restaurant in England named What’s Cooking? started an Olympic Burger Challenge which is still doing well today. Papa Bob’s BBQ in Kansas has The Ultimate Destroyer Sandwich Challenge and they also use “Can you sink The Ultimate Destroyer Challenge?” in their marketing plan. There are many unique famous events and things that can be used, so feel free to get creative with it.

Hopefully some of these ideas helped you pick the name for your challenge. The more bold and powerful your challenge name is, the harder you can push it in your marketing scheme too so keep that in mind. Hopefully while you were searching around for particular challenge detail ideas and checking out other existing food challenges, you thought about all of the different challenge names that have been used too. Hopefully doing that helped you pick your own challenge name. The challenge name is very important and should not be taken lightly. You can have the best challenge with the best prizes, but if you have a boring food challenge name it will sound pretty boring to customers that find out about it, and nobody likes things that are boring.

Congratulations on being done establishing all 8 details for your food challenge!!

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Creating food challenges is an art form that nobody has ever perfected or even tried to master, and there has never been any rules or guidelines established for restaurants wanting to create and host a food challenge to follow. Therefore, over 3,000 food challenges have been created by restaurants that were just hoping the challenge would work. Well I am by no means a master, but I have been doing and studying food challenges since March 19, 2010 and I have won over 170 food challenges in 7 different countries. More importantly, I spent over 3 months researching food challenges all over the world to come up with the over 3,000 existing food challenges that are in the FoodChallenges.com database. Every challenge was verified at the time, and I studied each one individually. During my studies, I have noticed many similarities between the different kinds of food challenges which were all created by totally different restaurants and management, and those similarities are reflected in these guidelines. These guidelines are based on each of the ten different challenge kinds:

Small Quantity Challenges – These challenges weigh less than 3.5lbs (1.5kg) and typically weigh between 3-3.25lbs (1.36-1.45kg). Anything less than that is too small and is not a challenge for most people. These challenges are almost never free, and award Wall Of Fame, a free shirt or hat, and/or a certificate.

Medium Quantity Challenges – These challenges weigh between 3.5-5lbs (1.5-2.25kg). In the United States, challenges weighing between 3.5-4.5lbs (1.5-2kg) are not free but they award gift cards equal to the challenge price along with Wall Of Fame. Some restaurants include a free shirt too. Because they are not free, the time limit is typically around 30 minutes and some go higher. In other countries where most challenges are 2 stars, these same challenges are typically free along with Wall Of Fame and sometimes a shirt, but the time limit is typically between 15 and 25 minutes. In cases where the meal is not free, the time limit is 30 to 60 minutes, with many of them allowing the full 1 hour. In the United States, challenges weighing between 4.5-5lbs (2-2.25kg) are typically free but the time limit is between 20 and 45 minutes. These challenges that are not free award gift cards equal to the challenge along with Wall Of Fame and a free shirt, and the time limit is between 45 and 60 minutes. In other countries, these challenges are definitely free and they include a 45 to 60 minute limit. Challenges of this size in other countries won’t work if the time limit is under thirty minutes.

Large Quantity Challenges – These challenges weigh between 5-6.25lbs (2.25-2.75kg). Challenges weighing between 5-5.75lbs (2.25-2.6kg) are free along with a free shirt and Wall Of Fame. Some restaurants award gift cards also. These challenges have time limits typically between 30 and 45 minutes, with some allowing 1 hour. Challenges weighing between 5.75-6.25lbs (2.6-2.75kg) are free along with a free shirt and Wall Of Fame. These challenges also include cash money or at least a high value gift card. These challenges have a time limit between 45 minutes and 1 hour and sometimes higher. If no additional prizes, the challenge price is cheap.

Very Large Quantity Challenges – These challenges weigh over 6.25lbs (2.75kg). 4 star challenges weigh between 6.25-8lbs (2.75-3.5kg). They all have a time limit over 45 minutes with most challenges allowing 1 hour or more. These award the meal free along with a shirt and Wall Of Fame. Successful challenges of this size award cash money and/or gift cards valued over $100 American dollars. Some challenges of this size have prizes valued up to $500 American dollars. Challenges without any extra prizes don’t get attempted. If creating a 5 star challenge, you may make up the rules because nobody other than professional eaters have a chance at beating your challenge. To find out why you should not create an unbeatable challenge, click here.

Quantity Record Challenges – A person starts the challenge off by eating as much of the food as possible which establishes the record quantity. The restaurant sometimes starts the challenge off by establishing a starting challenge to beat, which also establishes the quantity. The time limit is typically pretty relaxed because the goal is to beat the record, but varies among restaurants, and can be anywhere from 15 minutes to “one sitting.” The challenge gets tougher and the price typically increases as the challenge grows. Successful quantity record challenges award the meal free or at lease discounted to winners that break the record. Those challenges that only award Wall Of Fame and/or a shirt don’t get many attempts unless the meal is cheaper and delicious.

Speed Record Challenges – These challenges vary from 1 to 3 stars. If this kind of challenge is 4 or 5 stars, it is because it is combined with a very large quantity challenge and a person typically gets a large prize for beating the speed record. Most speed challenges are 1 or 2 stars in size, and the time limit continually gets smaller as the record decreases. To start off the challenge, restaurants typically have a high time limit (1 hour) just so that a person can win and get the record established. Successful speed record challenges award the meal free to winners or at least discounted along with Wall Of Fame and a free shirt or hat. Smaller speed record challenges have a higher success rate if the restaurant has a clear and visible leader-board posted up for all to see.

Speed Challenges – Speed challenges have a time limit less than 15 minutes and challenges smaller than 2.2lbs (1kg) sometimes have 5 minute limits. These challenges are 1 or 2 stars in size. 3 star challenges only have a chance of success in bigger cities in the United States because most people can’t eat that much food in 15 minutes. Since the challenge is smaller and the customer doesn’t get to enjoy the food, the meal is usually cheaper making it easier to give away free to winners. If not awarded free, gift cards equal to the cost are awarded along with a shirt & Wall Of Fame. In other smaller countries, 2 star challenges are definitely free.

Small Spicy Challenges – Over 1/2 of small spicy challenges are wing challenges consisting of 6 to 18 wings depending on the restaurant. Spicy burgers, curries, and BBQ sandwiches usually weigh around 3/4lbs (.35kg). These challenges typically have time limits under 20 minutes, and 6 wing challenges sometimes have 5 minute limits. Since the challenge portions are smaller, the prices are usually less than quantity challenges. Challenges that do not allow drinks and have 5 minute “afterburn” periods award the meal free and usually Wall Of Fame and a shirt. Some restaurants even award a smaller gift card for the customer to use later. Restaurants with relaxed rules that do not have a time limit or “afterburn” only award a free shirt and/or Wall Of Fame. Some restaurants provide milk or ice cream to customers afterwards for “free” and others price it separately.

Medium Spicy Challenges – These challenges are typically between 3-4.5lbs (1.36-2kg). These challenges are rare, but the time limit is typically between 30 and 60 minutes, and customers are allowed to at least drink water. Some restaurants allow milk and fatty dairy drinks too because the goal is to actually finish the meal. To be successful, these challenges award the meal free along with a significant additional prize such as cash or gift cards. Challenges only awarded free rarely get attempted because risk definitely isn’t worth the reward.

Team Challenges – 2 person team challenges typically weigh between 10-12lbs (4.5-5.5kg). There are some challenges weighing 8-10lbs (3.64-4.54kg) and some that weigh 12-15lbs (5.45-6.8kg), but most are 10-12lbs. There are some team pizza challenges allowing 4-7 teammates which are all much larger, averaging around 4-5lbs (1.82-2.25kg) per eater. 2 person challenges under 10lbs usually have a time limit of 30 minutes. 2 person challenges over 10lbs have a time limit averaging 45 to 60 minutes. 2 person team challenges over 10lbs always award the meal free along with shirts and Wall Of Fame, and some even award additional cash and gift cards. Large team challenges averaging 4-5lbs per eater typically just award the meal free to winning teams and there is usually a shorter time limit when more people are involved. Extra large team challenges averaging over 5lbs per eater usually have a significant cash prize awarded to the winning teams, and therefore get more attempts.

As with everything in life, there are always exceptions to the rules. Exceptions to these rules are usually easier to eat foods such as burrito challenges and ice cream challenges. A 5lb (2.25kg) burrito can be eaten much faster than a 5lb burger, and sometimes even a 3lb burger for that matter, because they require much less chewing. Also, geographic location plays a big factor in the sizes of time limits of challenges too, keep that in mind too before declaring a challenge an “exception” to the rule. These guidelines are based off the similarities between all of the different similar kinds of challenges. Feel free to check out existing challenges to see how accurate these guidelines are. Using these rules will give your challenge a much higher chance for success. All restaurants are different though, so definitely don’t feel you have to follow every single guideline exactly.

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In step 5 of the design process, you established your “house rules” that customers must follow while taking your challenge. That list may be pretty detailed or it may be pretty basic with relaxed rules so that people can focus on having fun rather than making sure they don’t break the rules and get disqualified. Every now and then, a restaurant will establish a rule that is just ridiculous which unnecessarily damages the experience and fun atmosphere for the customers attempting the challenge. Here is a list of “house rules” that are just plain silly and frowned upon by “eaters” that enjoy trying food challenges, and I suggest you avoid using them:

A professional eater clause – If you have not already, please click here to read the definition of a professional eater. This rule typically only is enforced when a restaurant has a large cash prize worth $250 American dollars or more. Some restaurants restrict “professional eaters” from attempting the challenge because they have a higher percentage chance of winning. The problem with this clause is not that these restaurants don’t allow real professional eaters, because professional competitive eaters that are signed with Major League Eating cannot attempt the challenge anyway due to contract restrictions. The problem is that their definition of a professional is “any person that has done an eating event before.” If a person wins the challenge, that restaurant owner will then Google his or her name and if that person has done any challenges or eating contests before, the owner will declare the person a professional and avoid paying the advertised prize. If you are found to be this type of owner, your challenge will not be advertised on FoodChallenges.com. There are no exceptions. If you haven’t already, please read Things To Consider Before Starting A Food Challenge. Don’t start a challenge with a prize that you can’t afford to pay, and don’t restrict certain groups of people from attempting your challenge anyway. You should be happy when people win your challenge, and not running away with your tail between your legs.

Beginning the challenge time as soon as it is served to the table – I have seen a few restaurants establish this rule, and it is one the most ridiculously silly and counterproductive rules that can be set. Over 3/4 of the people taking your challenge will want to take pictures with it, and some will even want to video it. By starting the time as soon as the meal hits the table, you are basically saying that you don’t want people to take pictures and other things beforehand so that the eater and people with him or her have things to share via social media which just further advertises your restaurant to everyone that follows those people. I have had a few restaurants try to do that to me with big challenges that I knew I would need most of the time limit allowed to complete. I still had to set up my camcorders and take pictures, and immediately did everything possible to get rid of that rule. Luckily, I never had an issue with any of the restaurants, and they let me have the extra time that I needed. Setting a 5 minute “cooling off” period is pretty silly too, but nothing compared to starting the time on a big quantity challenge as soon as the meal hits the table. You want people to have fun attempting your challenge, so either start the time when the person touches the food or takes the first bite. The challenge will go much smoother.

Restricting eaters from standing up during quantity challenges – This rule is also very rare, but I have seen restaurants with a rule that challengers are not able to stand up, kneel, or do anything other than sit during the entire challenge. These restaurants feel that it makes the challenge tougher because the eater is not able to move around to help let the food settle. Hopefully that sounds as dumb to you reading this as it does to me as an eater writing about it. Whether the challenger sits, stands, kneels, or constantly switches his or her position should not matter as long as the eater is using good manners and not making a scene and jumping around while standing. The challenge is for fun, and restricting the eater in this way is just silly and takes away half the fun.

Restricting a challenger’s drink limit on quantity challenges – This rule is also very rare, but some restaurants try to make the challenge more tough by restricting a challenger to only 1 glass of water or beverage. The purpose of drinking liquid is to help soften the food so that it slides down the eater’s throat which greatly reduces any chances of choking. Challengers are able to eat faster if they use more liquids, but that liquid also fills up the person’s stomach faster. The goal of a challenge is for the eater to finish the meal put in front of him by the restaurant. If you want to make the challenge more tough, do it the right way and make the challenge larger. Do not make the challenge more tough by restricting how many beverages the person may drink. It is one thing for a restaurant to charge for drinks, but it is another thing to completely not allow the eater to drink anything. The amount of beverages that the eater requires in addition to finishing all required beverages should be left up to the eater to decide, and not you, so please allow unlimited soft drink refills during the challenge.

Restricting eaters from bringing their own beverages – Some eaters have their own preferred beverage that they like to drink during food challenges, and they bring that beverage to the restaurant to drink during the entire challenge. It is completely silly for a restaurant to deny a person from being able to drink his or her preferred beverage during challenges, especially if the restaurant does not have that particular beverage. Please not that I am referring to soft drinks like Gatorade, Powerade, lemonade, and soda. Alcoholic beverages are excluded. The most common preferred beverages are zero calorie or low calorie sports drinks. Since eaters consume so many calories during the challenge meal, they try to reduce the amount of calories they consume via liquids. Not many restaurants provide low calorie beverages other than unsweetened teas and diet sodas. Since an eater bringing their own non-alcoholic drinks has no real effect on your restaurant finances, don’t be silly by denying that person from being able to drink their preferred challenge drink that just betters their overall experience.

An unnecessarily long “afterburn” or “waiting period” – An “afterburn” refers to the amount of time that an eater must wait after finishing a spicy food challenge before he or she is able to drink or eating anything to help alleviate the pain inflicted by the really spicy food. A “waiting period” refers to the amount of time that a person must sit there after completing a quantity challenge, making sure that he or she does not throw up the challenge food. An “afterburn” period should not be longer than 5 minutes, and any amount of time longer than that is just silly and unnecessary. If the person can last 5 minutes, the person can last 10 minutes too. The only exception might be if you allow 6 minutes to finish 6 spicy wings and then have a 6 minute “afterburn.” This makes sense because the challenge is then kept uniform. Most “waiting periods” are 5 minutes. If a challenger is going to get sick, it will happen in the first 5 minutes. After the first few minutes, the food starts to settle which makes the person feel better if he or she was initially uncomfortable or feeling bad. Any “waiting period” over 10 minutes is very silly, and also becomes inconvenient for the eater. Most eaters don’t have two or three hours to take the challenge. They need to move on with the rest of their day, if they can still even function.

Making the eater pay days in advance – This rule is also very rare, and only really applies to restaurants with a challenge that requires a large and expensive specially cut piece of meat, but some restaurants require a person to come in days beforehand and pay a deposit down to reserve the challenge so that they can attempt it a few days later. Restaurants do this to make sure the challenger is serious and will actually be taking the challenge, while making sure they don’t order the required food and have to “eat” the costs if that challenger backs out and decides not to try the challenge. I understand this from a business’ perspective, but you are crazy if you think customers will make a special trip up to your restaurant just to pay for a meal they will be coming back for a few days later. That is just as silly as thinking people would pay to use Facebook. Many challengers that do bigger challenges with special cuts of meat are just traveling and want to do the challenge while in the area, and they would not be able to come in and reserve the challenge beforehand anyway. Having the eater pay before taking the challenge is one thing, but days beforehand is just silly, and will not happen very often.

Being ridiculously over-the-top restrictive regarding the challenge rules – The point of a food challenge for a restaurant is to help get more customers into the restaurant and make more money, but the point of attempting a food challenge is to have FUN. Would you like working while your boss looks over your shoulder and watches everything you do all day? No, that would be terrible!! Avoid being super nitpicky about every single detail and just let the customer have fun and eat. The eater will not have a good experience if he or she spends the whole time worried about doing something wrong and getting disqualified. You can’t just let the customer do whatever he or she wants, but the person doesn’t need to be treated like a prisoner either. Keep the rules pretty relaxed, especially if there is no cash or big prize involved with winning your challenge. Focus on the FUN and not all of the minor details. You may have a perfectly designed challenge, but if you are a real jerk about everything regarding the rules, nobody will take your challenge. Smile, have fun, and everyone else will have fun too!!

As previously stated, all of these “house rules” are very rare and hardly ever come up, but I just wanted to make you aware of them and that you should avoid them if you want your challenge to be successful. There are a few exceptions, but those are very rare too, and remember that most of these apply to quantity challenges only and not spicy food challenges since the structure of a spicy challenge is completely different than quantity ones.

Thanks for reading about silly food challenge “house rules” and checking out FoodChallenges.com!!

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Deciding whether or not customers are allowed to dunk their challenge food is a very important decision that should not be taken lightly. Whether or not challengers can “dunk” not only affects the challenger, but also all of the customers watching along with the atmosphere around the challenge while it is in progress. The point of dunking food is to make the food soft and moist before even entering the eater’s mouth so that the food can be eaten and swallowed much faster than if he or she had to chew the food enough to be able to swallow like eaters normally do. Almost all dunking involves high carb chewy foods such as hamburger buns, hot dog buns, thick sandwich buns, pizza crusts, and other breads, because they tend to be tougher and more chewy than greasier foods. In step 5 of the design process, you established your “house rules” that customers must follow while taking your food challenge, and a “dunking clause” was one of the rules to decide upon. To help you make the decision whether or not challengers can dunk their food, here are few effects that dunking can trigger:

Dunking makes a mess – It is possible to dunk food in a mannerly fashion that doesn’t make a big mess, but that hardly ever happens. If an eater is dunking, you can typically find food particles all over the dunking cup, and there will also be food particles dropping all over the eater’s area due to the soaked food breaking down as the food is transported from the liquid into the eater’s mouth. There will also eventually be a puddle of the dunking liquid in front of the eater because of the liquid that drips off the food while he or she is eating it. Challengers rarely dunk just enough for 1 bite, and tend to dunk entire pieces at a time which is also messy. If an eater is dunking the food, it is because that person is trying to eat really fast. Eaters that strictly focus on speed eating tend to care very little about making a mess or the environment for others around them, so just be careful.

People dunking will NOT enjoy your food – If you have ever watched the annual 4th of July Hot Dog Contest on ESPN, you watched eaters dunking their hot dogs in liquid so that they can eat faster. They ask the winner many questions, but one question they never ask is whether the food was delicious or not. That is because the food tasted absolutely terrible, just like all other food that is dunked. Any person that says they like the taste of food dunked in water is lying. You may put a lot of time into preparing your challenge and making it taste delicious, but as soon as the eater starts dunking, the eater will not be enjoying the taste of it. If you want the customer to say he or she enjoyed the challenge, then you shouldn’t allow dunking, or at least not provoke them to do it.

Dunking makes it easier to cheat – If you dunk 10 different Oreo cookies in milk, your milk is going to have Oreo particles left in it and the milk will become more of a chocolate color. This is inevitable, and the same thing happens to the food dunked in eating contests and food challenges. When eaters dunk, they typically put the dunking liquid in a big cup that fits their hand, and some eaters use darker liquids like Kool-Aid rather than water. In eating contests, eaters may try to hide food (debris) in their dunking cups in order to get credited for a higher amount. Food challengers may try this too if you are not careful. If you allow dunking, you may want to check their cups at the end to make sure there has been no foul play. At the same time though, since you allowed dunking you need to be ok a few food particles being leftover in the dunking cup. I have heard of a restaurant wanting the eater to drink the dunking cup, trying to avoid paying the $250 prize, even after the eater strained all of the larger particles out. That is the most ridiculous “eating story” I’ve ever heard.

It will be hard for customers to watch – One of the best things about food challenges is that they can become free entertainment for normal customers to watch while dining at your restaurant. Since dunking creates a mess and the food does not look appetizing, the challenge can be hard to watch for customers. If Adam Richman dunked his challenge food on Man v Food, the show never would have even made it to the Travel Channel in the United States. Nobody wants to watch somebody eat like a baby eats cake on its first birthday. If you know that a challenger will be dunking, you will want to put the person in a different area than where normal customers are enjoying their meal. Bread soaked in liquid quickly begins to look just like “throw up” and nobody wants to see that, so think about that before allowing people to dunk your food. It’s just like watching a bloody fight.

Dunking in eating contests is more acceptable than during food challenges because contestants in eating contests are typically further away from the crowd and usually on a stage above the crowd’s eye level. The crowd cannot see all the gross food in front of the eaters. Also, people watching an eating contest are there by choice. Most regular customers do not go to your restaurant expecting to watch a serious food challenge going on. Don’t let them involuntarily be subjected to having to watch a person dunking food and making a mess. If they wanted to see that, they would be at home with their children rather than out at a restaurant. If customers are grossed out while watching a food challenge, you should definitely expect complaints. At the end of the day, the decision is up to you, but you should establish whether dunking is allowed or not in your house rules. If you don’t address the issue, then eaters may just assume that they can. A person dunking challenge food occurs more during speed challenges, and it also tends to happen towards the end of the challenge when an eater is running out of time. To learn even more about dunking, please check out the article Dunking: The Steroids Of Competitive Eating. That will also help you make the final decision, which should not be taken lightly.

Thanks for reading the effects of letting eaters dunk challenge food and using FoodChallenges.com!!

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In step 7 of the design process, you established the prizes that winners receive after completing the challenge. In that article, I listed all of the standard prizes that restaurants typically give out including the meal free, free restaurant apparel, cash, gift cards, and other prizes. If you haven’t yet, please read Step 7: Establish The Prizes For Winning. Some restaurants do get creative and award other prizes that are pretty unique. You may want to award unique prizes for winning your restaurant’s challenge too. After researching and confirming over 3,000 food challenges around the world and finding out all of the restaurant and food challenge details, I have seen quite a few unique challenge prizes. I have also received a few pretty unique prizes for winning food challenges too. At the same time though, I have also received and seen prizes that are just simply a waste of money and effort by the restaurant because they are unnecessary and not fully appreciated by the winners. Here is a list of all of those prizes to give additional ideas so you can make your own decisions about the prizes you will award:

A gift card or menu item each month for 1 year – This is typically a prize for winning very large food challenges. One restaurant as a prize awards a $50 restaurant gift card per month for 1 year totaling $600 for defeating their 4 star burger challenge. A few different pizza restaurants award 1 free pizza per month for 1 year for beating their pizza challenge. These are good prizes for getting people to return to your restaurant, and they spread out the cost of your challenge prize over a year’s time rather than all up front when the person wins. You will learn that Eaters Can Be Your Best Promoters so it can be smart to keep your challenge winners happy so they are more likely to tell their friends about your food. A very attractive prize like this is easy to promote too.

Trending Electronics – These are typically for bigger challenges too, but some restaurants award smart phones, Ipads, or flat-screen televisions for winning their challenge. This especially works for owners that are able to get the items at a significant discount too. The prize value is the same as retail to the winners, no matter what you actually paid for it. If a person really wants an Ipad, he or she will spend $40 attempting your challenge and trying to win the Ipad before going and spending all of his or her money buying a new one, so think about that.

10% Off Discount Or Free Drink For Life – Some challenges award winners a discount or free item every time they come in for life. This is definitely a great prize that keeps people coming back to your restaurant. The discount is typically between 10% and 25% if a discount is awarded, and the item is usually a free drink or small side item if that is the prize. The prize sounds a lot better than it really is too because the chances of that person coming back that often (unless the person lives close) are slim, and 10% is not a big discount, but is still attractive.

Award apparel that gives winners a discount if they wear it in the restaurant – Some restaurants award a free shirt or hat for winning their challenge, and then give a special discount to the people that wear that shirt or hat when they come back and eat a normal meal at the restaurant. It’s usually 10% to 25% off, or a free small item.

Shirts made custom for losers are unnecessary – This is pretty rare, but some restaurants make custom shirts for the people that fail their challenge. This prize is a waste of money and effort by the restaurant 95% of the time because who is really going to wear a shirt that claims they are a loser or failure? Many people will wear a shirt proclaiming a victory, but if you provide a custom shirt for the losers, plan on that shirt getting thrown away or donated to charity. The shirt might be funny to everyone right afterwards, but it would be much smarter to take the cost of the shirt out of the challenge and lower the price which will attract even more attempts. If you want to give out a shirt to losers, just use one of the regular shirts that you sell to regular customers, because then there is a higher chance of the person actually wearing the shirt when he/she is out in public.

Making fancy certificates is unnecessary – Many restaurant award a certificate of completion for beating their challenge, but some restaurants go above and beyond by framing it. How many people are actually going to hang that certificate up in their house? How many wives will let their husband do that? The answer is definitely not many. It is one thing to award a certificate of achievement, but it is definitely unnecessary to spend the time and money framing it and making it fancy. Most certificates get thrown away anyway, so don’t waste your time.

Naming Rights – This occurs most on record challenges, but sometimes restaurants name the challenge after the current record holder. This is free to award, but can be a meaningful prize to the challenge winners.

A free hotel night or event tickets – This is a good prize idea for restaurants that are attached to a hotel or some type of event place. If a person wins your challenge, award them with a free night stay at the hotel that your restaurant is located next to or inside. If your restaurant is attached to an event center that has concerts and events, award 2 free tickets to a concert or other event. These cost next to nothing for you, if anything, but they are meaningful prizes. The same goes for casinos too. Some casino restaurants with challenges award free money to spend inside the casino. Most people give the casino money back, so that is a great option for you!!

Free bottle of liquor or bar glass – No man has ever turned down a free bottle of liquor, and not many people will turn down a free beer. Many people like to receive bar glasses too as souvenirs for their own bar or kitchen. If the challenge is bigger, and you are a bar, award a bottle of liquor to winners that are of drinking age. I have received bottles of liquor and champagne for winning challenges, and I have always accepted with a bright smile. If your challenge includes a large beer or drink that is served in a nice glass, award that nice glass to winners of the challenge to take home. If the challenge is smaller, award winners a beer or two, especially if you are a bar. This has nothing to do with beer, but it relates to the bar glasses. I once won an ice cream challenge served in a big glass serving dish. I got the glass dish as a prize which I gave to my mom, and she uses it often.

Voucher for free meal – Rather than gift cards, some restaurants award a voucher for a “free meal for two (or 4)” so that you and a date (or family) can come back at a later date and enjoy a free meal that will be on the house.

Progressive Jackpot – Some restaurants with tough challenges decide to have a progressive jackpot where the cash prize increases every time a person loses the challenge. A restaurant may start the prize at $100 and then increase the prize $5 every time someone loses. Then when somebody wins, the jackpot starts back over again.

Let the customer create a menu item – This prize works at restaurants that have a large selection of particular menu items like tacos, cheesesteaks, hot dogs, and other sandwiches. If a customer beats your challenge, that person gets to name and create a menu item. Eaters love winning this prize, and usually come back to try it!!

Let the customer roll the dice – I have only heard of this once, and I was completely intrigued by it. The bar and restaurant had a gambling theme, and they let the winners of their challenge decide their own fate by rolling a dice. There was a different prize for each number on the dice. A “1” meant that the meal would cost $1. One other number meant they had to pay full price. Another number meant it was half price. Another number meant that the meal was free and they got a gift card, and then another number meant that the person won $20. I don’t remember the final prize option, but that prize was extra unique. It would not be fun to have to pay full price, but the eater knew the possible prizes (and prices too) before attempting it. This was a great & fitting prize idea!!

As you can see, there is an unlimited number of prize ideas that you can award to customers that win your challenge. Hopefully these ideas sparked some thought and creativity for you. Now you also know what prizes not to award to people that lose your food challenge. The prize, just like the actual challenge, should fit your restaurant’s theme. More importantly, make sure the prizes for winning are worth attempting the challenge.

Thanks for reading about all the unique prize ideas and checking out FoodChallenges.com!!

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