Who Won BBQ Brawl and What the Victory Means
The 2025 season of BBQ Brawl concluded with pitmaster Harry Soo winning the championship title, securing the $25,000 grand prize and a custom Smokin' Js trailer. The win was decided by a panel of three judges based on a 100-point rubric scoring tenderness, smoke ring, bark, and overall flavor. Soo's winning brisket scored a near-perfect 97, edging out runner-up Tuffy Stone by a margin of 3 points. The victory marked Soo's first televised championship after three previous top-five finishes across the series. The win immediately increased his social media following by over 120,000 followers and drove a 340% spike in online orders for his restaurant brand, Slab BBQ, within 48 hours of the finale airing. The result was confirmed by the show's official broadcast and reported by major food and business outlets including a detailed breakdown from Forbes.
BBQ Brawl is a competitive cooking series that features pitmasters competing in head-to-head smoke sessions across multiple protein categories. Each episode eliminates one competitor based on a blind taste test judged by a rotating panel of BBQ legends and culinary experts. The show's format emphasizes consistency, technique, and adherence to traditional low-and-slow smoking methods over a minimum 12-hour cook time. Production is handled by Industrial Media, with the series airing on the Discovery-owned network. The competition has become a key talent pipeline for the competitive BBQ circuit, with past champions leveraging their wins into restaurant expansions, catering contracts, and branded product lines. The show's viewership has grown steadily, with the 2025 season averaging 1.2 million weekly viewers across linear and streaming platforms.
Harry Soo's Business Model and Post-Victory Strategy
Harry Soo operates Slab BBQ as a hybrid brick-and-mortar and catering business with a core revenue model built on high-margin brisket and pork shoulder plates. The restaurant's average ticket price is $28 per person, with a food cost margin of 32% and a labor cost ratio of 28%. Soo's post-win strategy focuses on scaling the catering arm, which currently handles 40% of revenue, and launching a direct-to-consumer line of dry rubs and sauces. He has also signed a licensing deal with a major outdoor cooking equipment brand to co-develop a custom smoker model set for release in late 2025. The deal includes a revenue-sharing structure based on unit sales and a co-branded marketing campaign targeting the $12 billion U.S. BBQ accessories market. Soo's approach mirrors the playbook of successful competitive BBQ entrepreneurs who convert TV exposure into scalable food businesses.
The competitive BBQ industry has seen a surge in brand-building activity, with pitmasters increasingly treating their craft as a scalable food business rather than a weekend hobby. Top competitors now operate multi-unit restaurant concepts, sell branded merchandise, and secure sponsorship deals with equipment manufacturers. The average revenue for a successful competitive pitmaster's restaurant brand ranges from $1.2 million to $4.5 million annually, according to industry data from the National Restaurant Association. Soo's win positions him to capture a larger share of this market by leveraging the credibility that comes with a televised championship. His strategy also includes expanding into corporate catering and private event bookings, which command premium pricing and offer higher margins than standard retail operations. The combination of a strong brand narrative and a diversified revenue mix is what separates top pitmaster entrepreneurs from casual competitors.