Commercial Vendor Guidelines

Charley West BBQ Fest is the Bob Burdette Center afterschool program’s annual fundraising event. The event will be held Saturday, May 18, 2024 at City Center in Charleston, WV from 2pm-7pm. There is a registration fee of $250 for each commercial vendor and registration and payment are made online at www.charleywestbbqfest.com. Vendors will be given a place on Laidley Street adjacent to City Center and will be permitted to set up their BBQ equipment and start cooking as early as 8 PM on Friday, May 19th or at any point throughout the night or morning of the event, but should be ready for sales to the public by 2 PM on May 18.

Vendors may sell any BBQ food products they would like at whatever prices they would like and keep 100% of the receipts. An additional donation of 10% of proceeds of commercial sales from the event is encouraged, but that is entirely up to you. The Bob Burdette Center will be the exclusive seller of water and soft drinks and there will be an exclusive vendor for beer, seltzer and ciders. Such sales are a significant portion of our fundraising efforts, so please do not sell beverages at the event. All funds raised go to support the Bob Burdette Center free afterschool program which serves over 120 children.

Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Requirements for Commercial Vendors

The Kanawha-Charleston Health Department requires that all commercial venders participating in the Charley West BBQ Fest possess a mobile food vendor permit and follow all mobile food guidelines. A Kanawha-Charleston Health Department Sanitarian will be present to check for food safety compliance.

Vendors will receive voting tickets from the public for a "People's Choice – Best BBQ Vendor” and we will provide you with a bucket to collect those voting tickets throughout the day.

You will notice that there are also booths set up for our two other divisions – Backyard BBQ Cook and Competition Team. They compete against each other in blind judged events and a separate People’s Choice event from yours. Starting at 2pm, they also provide the public with BBQ samples in exchange for sampling tickets we sell onsite. Every member of the public is advised when buying those sampling tickets that they are exchanged for Backyard and Competition Team samples but not for vendor BBQ. If a member of the public tries to give you sampling tickets or requests samples, you should remind them those tickets are not for purchases from vendors and that you only take cash. If any member of the public raises an issue about that, please tell them to speak with the sampling ticket sales team at the ticket sales booth.