Tommy Lee, president and CEO of employee-owned Vulcan, Inc. in Foley, is all about efficiency, fairness and quality control in just about all aspects of his life — right down to judging barbecue at the Barbecue and Blues Cook-off in Foley.

For the past five years, Lee has run the judges' tent at the annual event, which is a fundraiser for the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation.

This year's event will be held March 16 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Foley's Heritage Park. 

“You've got to be organized,” Lee said. “We are known as a backyard event, and this is supposed to be a fun, family event, but the reality for the barbecue teams that are competing is it's serious business. They are competing, and we have to give them every bit of our energy and attention and be devoted to scoring them properly and being fair to everybody.”

Organizing the judging for the Barbecue and Blues Cook-off is second nature for Lee, who has a degree in industrial engineering and manages a company that relies on its employees to be dedicated and precise.

“I (take judging seriously), and the reason I do is because I want to be fair to those teams, just as I want to be fair to all the employees that work for us,” Lee said. “I know that if I'm putting myself in the shoes of a team — if I'm out there spending all night at the grill and cooking all this food for everybody, I would want the people that are judging it to be as committed to fairness and putting out a quality product as the team is with their food.”

But Jeanette Lawrence of the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation said Lee also ensures judges have fun at the event.

“Mr. Tommy Lee has been our Judge Coordinator Guru for each of the five years of our event,” she said. “He is the most popular chairperson on the committee, and everyone wants to volunteer to be a judge. He is always so supportive and makes the event a lot of fun for everyone.”

How judging works

There are five categories teams can compete in to win: chicken, ribs, pulled pork, sauce and Anything Butt (anything cooked on the grill that doesn't fit into the other categories).

Each entry is judged on appearance, tenderness and flavor, and six judges give each entry a score of five to 10, five being the lowest score possible and 10 being the highest.

Lee explains the importance of honest, consistent judging to all of the judges at an orientation before they begin tasting.

“I explain to them it's OK to rate something a 10, but you need to understand that if it's a 10, it's probably the best piece of chicken they've ever tasted in their life,” Lee said.

Lee is detailed in his explanations of the rules to the judges. For the appearance category, judges are to rate the entry based on the appearance of the meat, not the garnish or the overall presentation. Once judging begins, there is no discussion allowed until the scores are submitted.

And close attention is even paid to the order in which the entries are tasted. Sauces are last, Lee said.

“Some teams like very spicy sauces, and we learned very quickly that if someone provides a very spicy sauce, it may upset the judges' taste buds,” he said.

Rules and attention to detail aside, Lee said once someone judges at the cook-off, they are hooked — it's a fun day of tasting mouth-watering barbecue.

“A lot of our judges are repeat judges,” he said. “They really like it and they like coming back and doing it.”

Everyone who comes to the cook-off has a chance to be a judge for the People's Choice Award, which honors the attendees' favorite pulled pork of the day. One dollar equals one vote, and all proceeds from voting go to the South Baldwin Chamber Foundation.

South Baldwin Chamber Foundation

Lee said the reason he keeps volunteering to organize the judging at the cook-off is because he believes in the mission of the organization for which the event raises funds. Lee was on the board of the South Baldwin Chamber foundation in the years leading up to the first Barbecue and Blues Cook-off in 2009, and he is pleased with the growth the cook-off and the Chamber Foundation has experienced since then.

“This is a great event, and it's for a great cause,” he said. “One of the joys of working with the Chamber and the staff is simply working with the staff. They are as good of a group of people to work with as I've ever worked with in my life.”

The South Baldwin Chamber Foundation serves Foley High School and all of the schools in its feeder pattern, and it exists to provide above-and-beyond enrichment for students through extracurricular programs, leadership development, scholarships and more. It has invested more than $2 million into educational programs and services since 2003. The Barbecue and Blues Cook-off is one of the Foundation's main fundraisers. In 2011, more than $27,000 was raised through the event, and about 3,500 people attended.

Lee said as CEO of a local business, he supports the Chamber Foundation's mission to develop a capable workforce that will become the future leaders of the community.

“Vulcan is one of the larger employers in the area — certainly not the biggest — but the students of Foley High school, eventually one day some of them may be employees of the company,” he said. “We want them getting the best education they possibly can, whether it's a degree from high school and being ready to go to work or moving on to a four-year degree from college and coming back and being an engineer for us. That's very important to us here, as we would like to support and provide opportunities for people home grown in our area.”