Mad Munch Grilled Cheezer Co.

Follow the story below of Mad Munch: It's long strange trip from the prairies of Illinois to the sunny shores of Ocean Beach, San Diego....

15 January 2025

Mad Munch's 1st Cook-Off Competition at Gallagher's

"You guys should enter.  Your menu is creative & fun.  Grand prize is $1000 & we pay for your supplies," Clare told us at the end of the OB market one Wednesday.  She talked so fast it was hard to tell from her hard Scottish accent what she said.

"Ok, well here's my email," Kate handed it to her on a slip of paper.  "Let us know the details & we'll see if we can do it."

"Perfect.  It's during football on Sundays.  You gotta be ready to serve at one.  We'll figure out what date works best for you," Clare told us & walked away.

"What was that all about?" I asked.  I had been busy cleaning the griddle in back of the tent.

"Gallagher's does a cook-off competition every Sunday & she wants us to enter," Kate said.  "We'll see if she emails me or not."

Clare emailed Kate the next week & after talking it over we decided to enter.  The Irish bar down the street from us would pay us $125 a week before our setup date & we would make our most creative sandwiches that day & bring them to the bar to be judged.  

Free food for people at Gallagher's watching the afternoon football games, free exposure for Mad Munch with a samples of our Cheezers & we had a shot at winning a grand.  No risk for us besides not delivering quality sandwiches & keeping them warm enough to be judged.


Kate & I decided to showcase three different Cheezers: Tommy Applewood, Sleepy Pedro, & our special that Clare really liked, the Bat Outta Hell- a meatloaf & mashed potato grilled cheese that market goers had been going wild for.

We needed to feed 50-60 people & spend no more than $125 on groceries with a receipt to prove it & be reimbursed.  The good news was that they had the chafing dishes, plates & napkins taken care of, so that $125 could go strictly to food.

At that time, my weekly grocery bill for Mad Munch only averaged around $100, so this was a big event for us.    

That Sunday morning before Thanksgiving, I gave myself extra time on the griddle & cooked 100 Cheezers (33 of each with 1 extra Bat Outta Hell).  It took me over two hours, while Kate was cutting them in half as they came off & wrapped them up in tin foil.  She loaded them in the empty big cooler & I drove my truck to Gallagher's, parked in back.  We unloaded the wrapped half sandwiches into the warm chafing dishes a few minutes before one.  

Kate had spread the word on Facebook & I had told some friends to come out for some "free Mad Munch."  We had sacrificed watching the 10am Bears game at Sunshine Co. that morning but most of our crew stopped by for lunch post-game.

People liked our sandwiches & it felt like a success.  Clare gave us the thumbs up & the $125 check from Gallagher's had already cleared.  It was a great way to get people in the door & help some drunks sober up with some food.

Weeks later, we found out that "Notorious P.I.G." won the grand prize money for their pulled-pork BBQ sliders.  "The Master Basters" came in second.                  

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