Tater Tot Feature-Virginian Pilot

Like many elite competitors, Robert Bryan has a strategy.

At tonight's Tater Tot eating contest at Bar Louie in Hampton, the 30-year-old Virginia Beach native will be the guy playing with his food.

"I'm going to crush them all up and make one big Tot and just stuff it in my face," he said.

If that's not intimidating enough, Bryan, who will go by the name "Hot Tottie," also plans to mount a clever defense. He's somewhat cagey about specifics but will say that he's bringing in backup.
"I'm going to have my own squad of cheerleaders to heckle and distract the other contestants."

All's fair in love and potatoes tonight as Bar Louie locations around the country stage their sixth annual "Rock the Tot" Tater Tot eating contest, which starts at 8 in the Hampton location.

If you're not into overeating, you might be interested in the novelty of history: Bar Louie will also be attempting to set a world record for the most Tater Tots eaten simultaneously. That challenge comes at 9 tonight when each customer in the franchise's 74 locations will be given a single Tater Tot to eat en route to a possible record.

Hampton's Bar Louie, in the Peninsula Town Center, is a new addition to the national chain, so this marks the first year that hungry hordes in Hampton Roads can be part of Bar Louie's annual Tot fest.
Tonight's competition will be broken into two parts, team relay races and a solo competition. The relay race will kick off at 8 when, at the sound of a buzzer, the first team member will eat a pound of Tater Tots as fast as possible, followed by the second person and so on until each of the four members has consumed a pound of Tots. The team to finish with the fastest time wins champion T-shirts and, more importantly, free Tots for one year.

Solo competitors will then go head-to-head eating as many Tots as possible in three minutes. The contestant who swallows the most will also receive a year's worth of complimentary Tots, a gift card, a trophy and an even bigger shot at glory.

The top five Tot eaters in the nation will be flown to Cleveland, where they will compete in Bar Louie's national championship Oct. 5. Last year's event was an epic display of man versus Tot with the victor consuming 5 pounds 4 ounces of Tater Tots in six minutes. Perhaps in an effort to avoid another potato famine, the 2013 championship round will be reduced to just three minutes.

If you think you've got what it takes, it's not too late to participate. The deadline for registration is 7:30 tonight.

 Just be ready to eat.

Almost 250,000 Tater Tots were consumed nationwide during last year's competition, a figure Bar Louie's Hampton manager, I.V. Miller, doesn't find all that surprising.

 

"A lot of people, including myself, have fond memories of them from childhood," he said. "Tater Tots are just a lot of fun."