Page 36 - MARCH 2020 Barbecue News Magazine
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bbq ambassadors
Tyson Fresh Meats Launches Barbecue Initiative to Expand Retail, Foodservice Awareness
Brand ambassadors will use Tyson Fresh Meats products to compete in prominent cookoff events as part of The Beef & Pork ExpertsTM new barbecue initiative
 DAKOTA DUNES, S.D. – Tyson Fresh Meats, the beef and pork subsidiary of Tyson Foods, is entering competitive barbecue. The company is excited to announce its partnership with an elite team of well-known pitmasters who will compete in signature events including the Memphis in May International Festival and the American Royal World Series of Barbecue® using products from the Tyson Fresh Meats portfolio of brands.
Barbecue is seeing tremendous growth as its popularity continues to rise – both on the barbecue circuit and in backyards across America. Tyson Fresh Meats hopes to capitalize on the category’s popularity through this partnership, ultimately
driving barbecue sales across retail and foodser- vice.
“Barbecue has long been one of America’s fa- vorite pastimes because it is uniquely universally loved,” says Ozlem Worpel, senior brand manager for Tyson Fresh Meats. “We’re thrilled to partner with these talented pitmasters who can draw on their deep expertise to showcase our breadth of high-quality products paired with America’s fa- vorite flavors.”
“We’re confident that the Tyson Fresh Meats portfolio of brands offers barbecue enthusiasts high-quality beef and pork products they can count on,” adds Worpel. “For example, Chairman’s Re- serve Meats is well-known to deliver a consistently exceptional eating experience and we’re thrilled to bring it to the competitive barbecue circuit this year.”
The complete Tyson Fresh Meats competitive barbecue team is as follows:
-Tuffy Stone: Tuffy Stone is a six-time world champion pitmaster most recently awarded at the 2019 Memphis in
May World Championship Barbecue Festival. He’s also a former Marine, a French-trained chef, au- thor of Cool Smoke: The Art of Great Barbecue, and an acclaimed restaurant owner. His leg- endary precision and “smoke science” obsession make him one of the most influential icons on the barbecue circuit. In fact, in 2016, Stone and his Cool Smoke BBQ Team made history at the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational, becoming the only team to ever win the contest three times. Stone was inducted into the BBQ Hall of Fame in 2018.
 Barbecue-loving fans who follow the competition
circuit will recognize the pitmasters comprising
the Tyson Fresh Meats brand ambassador team,
including Tuffy Stone, Sterling “Big Poppa” Ball, Fred Robles, Tim Scheer and Justin McGlaun.
"Whether I'm cooking for friends and family, competition, or culi- nary development, I can count on Tyson Fresh Meats for great ribs, pork, chicken or beautiful prime beef,” says pitmaster Ball of Big Poppa Smokers. “Tyson is my absolute go-to for any protein I might want to cook. They are the only protein company that can cover all my bases."
Tuffy Stone
-Sterling Ball:
 With more than 30 years of cooking experience, Sterling “Big Poppa” Ball’s pas-
sion for cooking has led him to have his hand in almost every as- pect of the barbecue world. He has won over 40 Grand Champi- onship titles and more than 35 Reserve Grand Champion titles. In addition to those awards, Big Poppa Smokers has also won the American Royal, been named the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) National Pork champion
Sterling Ball
(2015), Tri-State Cham- pion (2016), CA Team of the Year (2016, 2017, 2018), has been inducted into the CA BBQ Hall of Fame, and has consis- tently ranked in the top 20 in KCBS since 2012.
-Fred Robles: From the great state of Texas comes Rio Valley Meat BBQ pitmaster Fred Rob-
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Fred Robles









































































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