Created by: Hack College

The internet has allowed many things in business, including the ability to perform it without being physically present or meeting in person. It has cut costs and improved efficiency, but it has also made the old “wine and dine” of potential clients an art that has been lacking.

Food, gifts, messages – they all still have their place in the business world in gaining and retaining business. This infographic by our friends at Flowtown examines the process and looks at the different ways that wining and dining are still important.

Click to enlarge.

If you like those, you’ll love these:

I think every child has gone through the Saturday morning ritual of putting on your (locally sponsored by Jim’s Auto Repair or something of the ilk) uniform, strapping on your shin guards and lacing up your cleats prior to heading out to the neighborhood field for a day filled with kicking and screaming.

One thing I always looked forward, almost more than the games themselves, was the snacks to be had afterward. It usually rotated through the season from parent to parent. It was a good way to gauge what type of parents they were by what they brought. The hippies with the no sugar added homemade granola or the lazy overweight ones that brought the store bought Little Debbie snack cakes.

Some weekends were great and sometimes it was a huge let down. I always felt bad for the kid with the divorced parents whose dad forgot to even bring the snacks on his day and had to run down to 7-Eleven during the game. Here is our list of the Top 10 Saturday soccer morning snacks…and we want to give a big thank you to all the moms out there who treat us to these delectable treats.

10.) Ants on a Log

It was always nice to get a stick of celery smothered in peanut butter and topped with raisins. This was a rare item but always enjoyable. This was from a mom that put a little love and pride into what she brought.

9.) Kudos Bars

Probably one of the more common items, you really couldn’t go wrong with any flavor of Kudos bars. I don’t think I’ve eaten these anywhere else but on a soccer pitch.

8.) Otter Pops

This was always a surprise to get because it had to come from a prepared parent. They had to have the ice chest to keep them frozen, usually a dad had a hand in bringing these. The perfect way to cool down after the game.

7.) Fruit Roll Ups

Another pretty common item but nothing wrong with that. They were fun to eat and fun to play with. They always had some wacky thing to do with them like tongue tattoos or designs you could rip out.

6.) Nature Valley Granola Bars

The most common flavor was Oats & Honey but if Brown Sugar & Cinnamon or Peanut Butter showed it’s face those were always a big hit. These one of the most brought items as they were easy to store and didn’t need any preparation.

5.) Doughnuts

This is usually what came from the dad that had to leave during the game because he forgot completely to bring something. Either from 7-Eleven or Dunkin’ Donuts. Mmmm…sugary goodness. Because he was absent minded he tried to make it up by getting something the kids would love…only problem is he then made enemies with the parents who would now be dealing with kiddies bouncing all over the minivan from the sugar intake.

4.) Oreos

These too were pretty rare but certainly one of our favorites. Usually accompanied by another snack too. The only problem here is that you never had milk to go with them but still a good treat. They were often rationed to 1 or 2 a piece.

3.) Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Depending on the parent these could actually be a hit or miss. The errors ranged from not having the proper peanut butter/jelly ratio, not being on white bread, not being slice diagonally and not be stored well so they became overly warm. With the absence of those mistakes these were possibly the best item.

2.) Capri-Sun Juice

A staple at almost every single game. We loved to grab our favorite flavor from the ice chest, rip of the straw and puncture that delicious pouch. Often times these would be consumed in seconds flat.

1.) Orange Slices

These take the number one spot mostly because of the nostalgic factor and the fact that they were pretty much at every single game no matter what. Some mom would always take the time to cut up perfect slices of oranges and fill up a few tupperware cases. Another point that makes this number one is being able to create the ever so awesome orange slice smile…which we did every single time.

They claim the bad habit of munching while navigating traffic can lead to an average increase of 25% in your insurance costs and that most accidents associated with this behavior are rear-ending the car in front of you. In general 80% percent of crashes and 65% of near-crashes involve driver distraction…well I don’t think I needed a study to tell me that.

If all this food makes you hungry for dessert head over to TechVert to see how to make your own DIY Cotton Candy machine at home.

1. Coffee

Obviously the number one item that people will be consuming in their rides next to soda or another drink. This would pull the top spot due to the temperature and the fact that you can never seem to get that lid on their quite right and just as you’re running through a yellow light it spills all over your good khakis.

2. Hot soup

I’m not sure who is consuming “hot soup” in the cars, not to mention who eats “cold soup”, but I guess I can see why this would make the list…in the same way that maybe eating sushi with chopsticks really should have been number one.

3. Tacos

I have never in my life managed to eat an entire hard shell taco without it at some point falling apart and creating a messy pile in the wrapper. This, I imagine, is why they make the list. Try doing that while weaving around Grandma Florida Plates and you’ll be feeling it in the Sundon’tshine State.

4. Chili

This one seems the most strange to me. Who is eating chili while driving? I have never personally, nor do I know anyone else who has. Matter of fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen another driver partaking in a bowl either. I have seen drivers eating cereal and milk with spoon and all…now why was that not included here?

5. Hamburgers

Now this one I believe most all of us have gotten away with. A big problem here is the grease that can get on your grubby paws and transfer over to the steering wheel. Just as you’ve got to swerve out of the way of the Civic with “Student Driver” plastered all over it…the wheel slips through your fingers and you’re now learning your lesson.

6. Barbecued food

Again…another weird one. Who eats ribs while driving? I mean…I can clearly see why eating barbecue while you’re heading down to the local swap meet can be precarious, I just don’t know who is doing it. If I had to pick my poison though…I choose a nice BBQ pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw on a kaiser roll…I’m just saying.

7. Fried chicken

Another problem with grease on the digits but this I can sympathize with. Who in their right mind can get all the way home without digging into that bucket of the Colonel’s Chicken with his delicious blend of 11 herbs and spices…it’s almost like KFC is asking for a lawsuit.

“…and Colonel Sanders before he went tits up. Oh, I hated the Colonel with is wee beady eyes, and that smug look on his face. “Oh, you’re gonna buy my chicken! Ohhhhh! He puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave it fortnightly, smartass!” – Stuart Mackenzie, So I Married An Axe Murderer

8. Jelly or cream-filled donuts

This makes sense as I’m always dropping off my dry cleaning with at least one stain from a Boston Cream filled long john induced disaster. No fail…happens every time. You’d figure I’d have learned to wait until at least the traffic came to a stand still. Oh Dunkin’ how I have a love/hate relationship with thee.

9. Soft drinks

This of course is the item which most every single person has done and probably done the most often. I would say this makes the list because of it’s prevalence. A point to certainly make is that the safest route would be to never eat or drink anything while operating a vehicle of course….but where’s the challenge in that? My life is too boring not to add death possibilities to mundane tasks. That’s why I always open my mail with a Ginsu while blindfolded perched atop my bar stool.

10. Chocolate

This I can see especially if it’s a nutty chocolate bar…say a Snickers or a Baby Ruth. Peanuts dropping in your lap and all. Other than that really I’m not quite sure how this is considered top 10 worthy. I would have thought maybe French fries would have been able to slip into this spot. If I may go out on a limb here…I would say that it seems women eat more chocolate than men…and if you extrapolate that further…nevermind, I’ll stop there.

If the old Chiquita girl wasn’t cutting it for your bananas you’re in luck. Designer, DJ Neff, has done a rebranding for the potassium rich fruit. There is a very thorough post on Design Related with the artist (with a lot more pictures). You will see them on the wonderfully yellow (and phalic) delights in your local supermarket soon. The stickers are just part of entire new campaign which includes a new website (with a few flash games, custom stickers, etc.), a Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and some new slogans:

• Banana Yo Face
• Bananafy Yourself
• Build Your Banana
• Party With Potassium
• Be Your Own Banana
• Bananafy Your Sticker

Take a moment to read through the previous episodes, especially the first one if you haven’t already. It will give you a better understanding of the “characters” involved with the show and with the rules and procedures for the BBQ competition circuit.

BBQ Pitmasters Episode 1 Smokin’ in Mesquite Nevada Open BBQ Championships
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 2 Murphysboro Barbecue Cook-off
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 3 Decatur Riverfest Cook Off
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 4 American Royal Invitational
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 5 American Royal Open
BBQ Pitmasters Episode 6 Dover Delaware Championship

This episode was the Big Pig Jig in Veinna, Georgia, Myron Mixon’s home town. He’s also won the competition 4 times and looking for his 5th. It’s a Memphis Barbecue Network event and different than the others that have been featured on the show previously. There are three categories, pork ribs, pork shoulder and whole hog.

Again, as always, there were some people that weren’t featured. This episode left out LeAnn Whippen and Harry Soo. In TLCs defense they didn’t compete in this one so it’s obvious to exclude them (although I swear I heard Harry in the crowd) but that’s not always the case.

They finally showed Jamie Geer of Jambo Pits. He’s been popular on the competition scene and he is the manufacturer of a lot of the competitors pits. He decided only to cook ribs as did Johnny Trigg so they had a small battle going on. They’ve know each other for over 20 years and they went back and forth a bit.

Tuffy Stone had never cooked whole hog so he brought in buddy Jack McDavid who is supposed to be an expert on the subject. He says that he’s got over 50 years experience doing it and he tries to impart some of that knowledge on Tuffy.

Big Pig Jig
Location: Vienna, Georgia
Date: November 6-7, 2009
Categories: Pork Ribs, Pork Shoulder & Whole Hog
Total Competitors: 120
Promoter: Memphis Barbecue Network
Website – Results

Pork Ribs
1 – Jamie Geer – Jampbo Pits
2 – Johnny Trigg – Smokin Triggers
6– Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
28 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
46 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ

Pork Shoulder
11 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
15 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
32 – Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ

Whole Hog
10 – Myron Mixon – Jack’s Old South
14 – Tuffy Stone – Cool Smoke
18– Paul Petersen – Pablo Diablo BBQ

“I walked into his trailer and we were sitting there talking and he said “I’m going to use Myron’s rub and MyRon’s recipe on these ribs today.” and I said “you’ve lost your ever loving mind.” Go with what brought you here. If you want to try Myron’s process you go home and your try it at home in your backyard and you do it there. But you don’t come to a cook-off this magnitude and we’re only cooking one meat…and try something you’ve never done. That’s one of Jamie’s fallacies. He won’t stick with a gameplan. I guarantee ya next week if he go to a cook-off and somebody else does better than he, he’ll go over there and start picking their brain and the next week he’ll be trying their method.” – Johnny Trigg

“I’m disappointed and I feel stressed right now. I just want to get through these three on-site judges. Ya know, I’m going to have to be a real actor today and bullshit my way through. Givin’ ‘em by damn hog that’s overcooked and falling apart. I’ve painted her up, I’ve put pretty stuff ll around her but bottom line is she’s not really good.” – Tuffy Stone

“I felt like a used car salesman. I’m out there and I’m talking up this hog that I just didn’t believe in, it’s just not there you know. I know good food and when I have it…that just wasn’t it.” – Tuffy Stone

“Didn’t get a call in whole hog…didn’t make finals…and ah, you know, that pisses me off. That son of a bitch was dead ass on.  Sometimes it makes you not want to come back to your damn hometown. That’s a bad thing to damn feel.” – Myron Mixon

In the end Johnny Trigg finished 2nd in the ribs loosing to his buddy Jamie but earning $700. Jamie got the big trophy and $1000. Myron was a little miffed that he didn’t get in the top in any of the categories but he did get 6th in ribs and 10th in whole hog, I think that’s pretty darn good.

I was surprised to see how touched Myron was by the others winning and mentioning him. It was a side of him that hasn’t really been shown and it was quite nice. Well…there’s only one more episode left from the first season of TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters. I guess only time will tell if it comes back from a second.