Office chili cook-off: a planner by headcount
Pages on this topic, like PaperDirect's guide to hosting an office chili cook-off, cover the idea: invite people 10 days ahead, collect RSVPs, use ballots or an anonymous voting system, hand out small prizes. PaperDirect's post gives no numbers for the day itself: how many pots, how many cups, how many outlets. Those are below, worked out from your headcount. They are my own planning estimates, and the page says so wherever it uses one.
Skip the paper sheet: start a phone scorecard from an example. Swap in your entries and it is ready in a minute.
Numbers by headcount
"People" means everyone who will taste, cooks included. I assume one pot per six people (never fewer than 3 or more than 12), a 2-ounce taste of every pot, and 10 percent spare cups. Each pot gets 15 percent extra chili for refills.
| People | Pots | Chili per pot | Cups and spoons | Tasting time each | Circuits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 3 | 1 qt | 33 | 4.5 min | 1 |
| 20 | 3 | 2 qt | 66 | 4.5 min | 1 |
| 40 | 7 | 3 qt | 308 | 10.5 min | 2 |
| 80 | 12 | 6 qt | 1056 | 18 min | 3 |
I use 1.5 minutes per pot for tasting time, so 3 pots take under 5 minutes of eating, but a queue at one table takes longer. Split the pots over two tables once you pass 7. Avery's cook-off guide recommends small, disposable cups and spoons to keep everyone on a reasonable pace. The 2-ounce size is my own generous planning estimate, chosen on purpose so nobody runs out. The judging page suggests two tablespoons per pot for judges, which is a smaller taste. How much each cook should bring is also a line on the chili cook-off rules sheet.
Slow cookers, outlets and circuits
Avery's checklist asks whether you have enough outlets and power strips for everyone's slow cookers. The answer sets how many entries you can take. I plan on 250 watts per 6-quart cooker on high. That is my assumption, since ratings differ by model, so read the label under a real cooker before you rely on it. A standard 15-amp, 120-volt circuit supplies 1,800 watts, and I stay at 80 percent of that (1,440 watts) because the cookers run for hours. That is 5 cookers per circuit.
- Find the circuits. Outlets on one wall often share a breaker. Ask facilities which ones, or plug in two cookers and see which outlets go dead if one trips.
- Unplug the kitchen appliances. A microwave or coffee maker on the same circuit uses part of that 1,440 watts.
- Use power strips with a breaker, and run cords along the wall where nobody walks with a hot bowl.
- Cap the sign-up list at your outlet count. A pot without power goes cold, which is a food-safety problem as well as a weak entry.
A lunch-hour timeline
Say lunch runs from 11:30 to 12:30. This is the order I would use for 20 people and 3 pots.
- By 11:00: cooks plug in. The organizer numbers the pots and puts up the ingredient cards.
- 11:30: open the vote link and the tasting table. People taste in any order.
- 11:30 to 11:50: tasting and voting. Full bowls wait until voting closes.
- 11:50: close the vote and show the ranking.
- 12:00: announce third place first, then the winner. Cooks name their pots.
- 12:10: bowls come out and everyone eats. Cooks take their cookers home or to the sink.
PaperDirect suggests an invitation email 10 days before and a reminder the day before. I would put the cap on pots and the plug-in time in that first email.
Rules that matter at work
- An allergen label on every pot. List dairy, tree nuts, wheat (a flour roux) and soy (some sausage) on the ingredient card. A coworker should not have to ask a cook what is in the pot.
- At least one meat-free pot. PaperDirect notes people are grateful for no-spice or low-spice options. I would add a vegetarian one so everyone has something to taste.
- No alcohol in the chili. Beer chili is a classic, but an event with mixed staff is easier to run without it. Say so in the sign-up email.
- Entering is voluntary. Cooking costs time and money, so nobody should feel assigned. A manager can enter a pot as long as the pots are numbered.
- Remote staff. A phone vote works from anywhere, but only people who tasted should vote. Decide that up front and say it in the invitation. Remote coworkers can still follow along in a team chat thread.
- Few prizes. One winner and one "most unusual" is enough. Gift cards and bragging rights are the usual prizes.
Judges or a phone vote
Avery calls card ballots "time-tested, intuitive, simple, and perfect for food competitions", and suggests swapping tasting cups for bowls once the votes are in. A phone vote does the counting for you:
- Everyone votes (People's Choice). Each person rates every pot from 1 to 5 on a link, and the ranking appears when you close voting. It suits 15 or more tasters.
- A panel of three judges. For a smaller team, two or three people score on paper. The printable chili score sheet scores aroma, color, consistency, taste and aftertaste, and has a tie-break.
- Both. A panel picks the best overall and the crowd picks its favorite. Name the two prizes separately so no one argues over which counts.
Voting stays anonymous with either option, because pots go by number.
How the phone vote works
Type the entries in the order of their numbers. Guests open one link, see Entry 1, Entry 2 and so on, and rate each from 1 to 5. The ranking appears with the names when you close voting. A paper sheet suits a judging panel, and the link suits a people's choice vote.
Your guests open one link and tap 1 to 5 for each entry. You print a table card with the QR code. Free, no account for you or your guests, deleted after 30 days.
Make the office vote link. The title is filled in; add the pots in cup order and put the QR card on the table.
Create a scorecard See a sample contest