A rib-eating
contest at Tony Roma’s raised hundreds for Make A Wish Central & Northern Florida, and the winner earned Roma’s ribs for a year.
Michael Jenkins had quite the delicious dilemma on Saturday morning.
Should he stay near his Cocoa home to compete in a pizza-eating competition or drive the roughly 50 miles to Tony Roma’s on International Drive for a rib-eating contest? Jenkins made the drive. It paid off. Jenkins won the competition using a strategy some might consider overly simple if it were not so effective.
“The trick is to get as much into your mouth as you can,” the champion chomper explained shortly after shoveling 3.4 pounds of ribs into his mouth in 3 minutes.
Jenkins won free ribs for a year at the restaurant along with a $50 gift card.
But the furious feast also raised money for Make A Wish Central and Northern Florida, the Maitland-based local arm of the national organization.
The company will donate $500 plus another $20, which represents one dollar for every pound of ribs eaten by the 12 competitors.
It was the second year for the fundraiser, which the location started last year in an effort to do more for the community, store general manager Brandon Santos said.
“We are trying to be more civic-minded,” he said. “With this, it’s having a good time and a great experience while doing more for the community.”
Santos estimated that the restaurant would go through 600 pounds of ribs throughout the day.
The honor of making them? That falls on the shoulders of Chef Bob Gallagher.
“It’s all about fun,” he said. “It’s a good competition and it’s always enjoyable. Most people don’t get to eat four pounds in one sitting, so why not try?”
Sitting with a cup of water alongside them, the 12 competitors were seated, waiting for the restaurant’s staff to show up bearing mouth-watering gifts. Santos counted down. 3. 2. 1. The competitors dug in, frantically filling their mouths, barely slowing down enough to ensure that the bones didn’t fly off the table.
As time wound down, several racks of ribs remained untouched.
For Jordan Conomos, the whole idea of the competition was overwhelming.
“You’re trying to chew as fast as your hands can move,” said Conomos of Orlando, who was competing in his first eating event.
Dana Williams of Longwood accidentally ran into the event while trying to find a place to eat with her family.
Instead, she and her husband signed up for the competition.
Dana Williams finished in second place, consuming 3.1 pounds of ribs in that 3-minute span.
She said she had a hidden motivation when she started to eat.
“There were no girls except for me,” said Williams. “So I said, ‘I’m going to show them how it’s done.”