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A new food court at CAK called for a big celebration. But ribbon-cuttings often get little love from the press so Team CAK had to figure out how to create an event that would get our $1.1 million food court the attention it deserves.
This is where it pays off to be a reality TV junkie like myself. My thoughts turned to having an eating competition based on the popular Travel Channel show, Man vs. Food. I have long been a fan of that show because of the unique restaurants it showcases as well as the ridiculous eating challenges host Adam Richman faces. Our MSE employees were up for the challenge and they decided that our competitors would eat Buckhead Grill’s double-bacon cheeseburger, spicy chili cheese fries and a large Coke. I was psyched. This was really going to happen! A few calls to action on our Facebook page brought three All–Star competitors, local residents, Doug Mills, Justin Dominick and Brian “Big Tuna” Thaxton. These guys were awesome! Not only were they enthusiastic but ate very neat and clean too. You can check out the entire CAK Fan vs. Food Challenge video or Flickr pics to see Brian win it all. He crushed the challenge eating the whole meal the fastest at 4:11. With a nickname like Big Tuna, I guess we should have known!
And, back to our original goal – did we get press coverage? You betcha! Two Cleveland news stations were there as well as some local radio stations and news outlets. My favorite was the coverage done by the North Canton Patch. Editor Morgan Day took a fantastic video and interviewed Big Tuna on his winnings. And one final observation, I also tried our double b