There's a growing appetite for competitive eating contests - and it's become a valuable marketing tool for brands and cities
- Competitive eaters like Joey Chestnut make a living devouring food on the Major League Eating circuit.
- Chestnut is legendary for his victories at the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, and he recently won the shrimp cocktail eating title in Indianapolis for the seventh straight year.
- The competition is just one of over 70 Major League Eating events hosted each year.
- The league has become a valuable marketing platform for both food brands and cities.
- View more episodes of Business Insider Today on Facebook.
Following is a transcript of an episode of Business Insider Today.
These men are racing to eat as much shrimp cocktail as humanly possible.
After eight straight minutes of this, the winner is Joey Chestnut, who put away 10 pounds of jumbo shrimp.
Sam Barclay, Major League Eating host: "Salute him! He is your one and true king."
Joey's fame follows him year-round at competitions across the country, run by a professional sports organization called Major League Eating.
Barclay: "Let the contest begin!"
We went to Indiana for the last contest of 2019 to get a taste of the competitive eating world.
Here at the St. Elmo Shrimp Cocktail Eating Championship, what's hard to swallow isn't the seafood, it's -
Barclay: "- extraordinarily horseradish-y, very challenging sauce. Very challenging flavor profile."
Craig Huse, co-owner, St. Elmo Steak House: "It hits them pretty hard, and you can see their eyes light up and then begin to water and that look of shock and awe."
At December's contest, Joey Chestnut wolfed down about 140 pieces of sauce-covered jumbo shrimp.
Joey Chestnut, competitive eater: "It's a rough one. I'm red. I'm sweating. Competitive eating, it's not comfortable."
But that discomfort hasn't stopped Joey, who holds dozens of competitive eating records.
Chestnut: "I have a couple of chicken wing records. There's, oh God, Twinkies, Hostess Donettes, pizza."
And of course, hot dogs. Joey is the 12-time champion of Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest, held every Fourth of July on Coney Island and broadcast worldwide.
George Shea, Major League Eating chairman: "Joey Chestnut!"
These are just a few of over 70 events that the professional sports organization called Major League Eating oversees every year.
As chairman of the league, George Shea has emceed the Fourth of July contest for decades.
Shea: "I love hosting more than I love any other job I've ever done. I have to tell you, I just love it. It's about the power of narrative. There has to be humor. There has to be drama. You have to produce goosebumps."
But for contest organizers, Major League Eating is about more than just food and fun. It's also a business.
Shea: "The power that we bring is a marketing platform. We come into a town, or a venue, an event, and we bring a show, we bring media."
At the shrimp cocktail competition, the spotlight is not just on the contestants but on St. Elmo Steak House - the century-old restaurant in downtown Indianapolis that sponsors the event. This year, St. Elmo prepared 120 pounds of shrimp for the big day.
Bryn Jones, St. Elmo Steak House vice president of marketing and retail: "What we've tried to do is just create enough buzz and excitement and just build the brand equity on St. Elmo Steak House. So when that person does come back to Indy, they want to check this place out."
The show is also a way to sell the city to the crowds.
Ryan Vaughn, Indiana Sports Corp. president: "I want them to feel like they got a taste of Indy. Part of our job is to put the city of Indianapolis on a global media stage. And nothing says Indy more than St. Elmo's."
Since the first contest in 2013, Joey Chestnut has been undefeated.
Barclay: "Seven years of complete and total dominance!"
Shea: "I have never met anyone, bar none, who is as focused and committed to victory as Joey Chestnut. // He is an American hero."
The 36-year-old has been eating competitively for almost 15 years now.
Chestnut: "I love the competition. I love to eat naturally. It's a matter of just making it, pushing to the limit."
He makes a living off not only the contests, but also brand partnerships and his own line of condiments. But that was never his original plan.
Chestnut: "I got a civil engineering degree. I worked in construction management. I didn't want to make competitive eating my job, but eventually it just made sense."
Shea: "For some reason, competitive eating connects with people in a very, very powerful way. I think it's because we're all very obsessed with food. "
Major League Eating is already starting to fill up its 2020 calendar.
Shea: "We start with the sweet corn eating contest in South Florida. And then on we go. We've got oysters in Louisiana, you've got pizza, you've got potatoes, you've got lobster, you've got all kinds of events. Gyoza in LA, chicken wings in Buffalo on Labor Day."
As for what's next for Joey Chestnut -
Chestnut: "I'm just having fun with it. We'll see what happens. Yeah. I still have my engineering degree to fall back on."