First Food Champ Rankings Released by WFC

ORANGE BEACH, Ala., July 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Most every major sport has world rankings for its competitors. And now, so does Food Sport.

The World Food Championships announced today the first World Food Champ Rankings for home cooks, chefs and pro teams, all based on qualified competitors who will be competing this year in Orange Beach, Alabama. From category champions to newcomers, barbecue to dessert contestants, every competitor in this year's championship will be ranked based on a new set of performance questions and a proprietary scoring system.

"We can now take a look at which competitors entering our championship will stand the best chance of winning," commented Mike McCloud, President/CEO of WFC. "This is revolutionary for the Food Sport industry. It doesn't mean that the top-ranked competitors will win. Because as we all know, on any given day, an underdog can outperform the odds-on favorites. And that"s exactly why we "play the game." But this does mean we can predict the favorites before the competition begins, and that's going to be a fun element for TV, social media and on-the-scene chatter."

The rankings are based on a series of questions about a competitor's past performance and culinary training, giving both chefs and home cooks or pro teams an equal shot at garnering a top spot in the world's richest Food Sport event. Once the questions have been answered, a WFC official verifies the accuracy of the survey and then the WFC scoring system applies a weighted score to each answer. All competitors are then ranked on a potential scale of 0 to 100 points.

So who is ranked number one in the world? For now, it's Phillip Dell, a chef in the barbecue category from Las Vegas, Nevada. But each Wednesday, the rankings will be updated as more contestants enter WFC 2017 and fill out their surveys, so Dell's position may change as the championship nears.

To see the inaugural list of almost 100 contestants, check out the World Food Rankings here. For registered contestants who have yet to fill out their ranking profile, please click here.

About the World Food Championships
The World Food Championships (www.WorldFoodChampionships.com) features hundreds of culinary champions seeking food fame and fortune. The sixth annual event, scheduled for Nov. 8-14, 2017 at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Alabama, features 10 categories of competition before culminating in a high-stakes Final Table showdown for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and prizes. Follow World Food Championships on Twitter (@WorldFoodChamp), and Facebook and Instagram (@WorldFoodChampionships).

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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/236600fd-9925-4f34-b74e-8394b62c956f

Gabriella Farley
World Food Championships
9315288852
gabriella@mmacreative.com