Steve Cook of Cook Cartel: New Zealand's First BBQ World Cup Qualifier

Steve Cook did not grow up cooking.

Seven years ago he could barely be bothered firing up the gas barbecue in the backyard, had never entered a contest in his life, and could not have told you the difference between a stick burner and a pellet grill.

This year he became the first New Zealander ever to earn a place in the BBQ World Cup.

In August, on home soil in New Plymouth, Cook and his family team out-cooked the field to win King of the Mountain, the single automatic qualifying spot in all of New Zealand, and booked the flight to Las Vegas.

In April of 2027, 100 teams from around the world will cook there for $1,000,000, and for the first time one of them will carry the Kiwi flag.

How Steve Cook Got Into Competition BBQ at Meatstock

Cook is a self-described westy, proud of the deep west side of Auckland, and he runs his team the way it began, as a family.

He cooks alongside his brother Mike and their dad Brian, the man the whole crew simply calls the old man.

The story starts in 2019, and not with a brisket.

The Cooks are a classic-car family, and they took one of their cars along to Meatstock, the huge touring barbecue and music festival, just to put it on display.

Steve wandered in for a look and could not get over what he saw: a paddock full of black shirts, live music, smoke and good food.

He turned to his brother and his dad and told them they should give this a go.

They told him there was no way. Steve did not really cook.

He was not even sure he owned a working barbecue at home.

He bought his first Oklahoma Joe's offset that same day, shipped in from Texas, and while he waited for it to arrive he went and grabbed another one.

He has lost count since, somewhere north of 26 smokers, stashed all around the place and quietly multiplying while his wife hides them from him.

The family went back to Meatstock the following year as competitors, took a trophy at their very first contest, and that, as Steve puts it, was the hook, line and sinker.

Why the Team Is Called Cook Cartel

The team name was almost too easy.

Steve had long admired a New Zealand outfit called the Q Cartel, loved the sound of the word, and being a fan of tattoos and old-school style, thought cartel fit his sensibility perfectly.

Their surname did the rest.

He checked with the Q Cartel lads to make sure they were happy with something similar, and Cook Cartel was born.

Cook by name, he likes to say, cook by nature.

What sets the team apart shows up on every box they turn in.

Steve is a graphic designer by trade and his brother Mike is a signwriter, so the two of them are wired to care about how things look.

They have branded everything, hats and flags and banners and merch, and they run the same philosophy through the food.

You eat with your eyes first, Steve says, and Cook Cartel chases a perfect appearance on every entry.

It is that detail-obsessed, slightly perfectionist streak that has quietly carried them to the top of the table in the New Zealand Barbecue Alliance.

Cook Cartel's Biggest Wins: Meatstock and the Jack Daniel's Invitational

For a team that started as a lark, the trophy shelf filled up fast.

Cook Cartel earned New Zealand national titles in pork, brisket, ribs and overall, then went looking for bigger fish across the ditch in Australia.

At Meatstock Melbourne they took grand champion, and at Meatstock Sydney they did it again, becoming the first international team ever to win the event and beating the Aussies on their own soil.

That one, Steve says, never gets old.

Their edge on the big meats comes off a seven-metre competition trailer Steve had custom-built, nicknamed Game Changer, and a pair of New Zealand-designed Octopit smokers on the back that he calls absolute weapons.

Cook Cartel runs its briskets hot and fast, three to four hours rather than the usual twelve, and at one point strung together five first-place briskets in a row, a run almost unheard of at that level.

When they finally punched their World Cup ticket at King of the Mountain, brisket led the way again, taking first on the way to the grand champion trophy.

The proudest result of all came on the sport's biggest stage.

At the Jack Daniel's Invitational in Lynchburg last year, Cook Cartel took first place in dessert, a world title, with a biscoff and Manuka honey caramel cheesecake dreamed up by Steve's brother.

Standing in that room and hearing a New Zealand team's name called among idols like Heath Riles and Phil Breeden was, Steve says, what dreams are made of.

They flew home with three barrel-head trophies, adding a third in the chef's choice and a third in sauce alongside the dessert win.

Steve Cook's Family Team and Supporters

None of it means much to Steve without the people around him, starting with the ones who share his last name.

His dad and brother are in it with him, his mum has cooked a few contests, and his wife and their three kids are part of the travelling circus.

The friends came next. Steve talks about the barbecue community the way some people talk about family: mates for life made in car parks, rival cooks who become close friends, a camaraderie he swears no other sport can touch.

To anyone thinking about starting, his advice is simple.

Just start.

Immerse yourself, give it a crack, and you will have the best weekend of your life.

The team leans on a long list of supporters, among them Ken at BBQ BOI up in the Bay of Islands, Dan Barrett of Four Monkeys, and Black Origin Wagyu, whose New Zealand beef Steve credits for a good share of those brisket wins.

When Cook Cartel lands in Las Vegas, they will not be alone.

Steve expects a sizeable Kiwi contingent to make the trip, flags and noise and all.

What Steve Cook Would Do With $1,000,000 at the BBQ World Cup

For a man chasing a life-changing sum, Steve is oddly unbothered by the money.

Converted into New Zealand dollars the prize runs closer to 1.6 or 1.7 million, and yes, he has let himself picture a two-storey barbecue trailer with a garden bar and maybe a big fishing boat.

But he refuses to count the chickens, and he is honest that the cash is not the real pull.

It is the legacy.

To be the first team ever to win the BBQ World Cup, and to do it coming from little old New Zealand, means more to him than any cheque.

He is not afraid of the weight of it, either. Pressure, he will tell you, is something he loves.

He names Brad Leighninger as his barbecue GOAT and rattles off the American greats he cannot wait to cook beside.

Ask him what makes great barbecue and he does not reach for rubs or temperatures.

Love, he says.

You have to cook from the heart, because you cannot just run through recipes and methods, you need the touch.

In April, seven years after a day out at a festival turned into 26 smokers and a wall of trophies, Steve Cook will carry the New Zealand flag onto the sport's biggest stage, cooking from the heart, for $1,000,000.

Sources

Steve Cook, Road to 1 Million qualifier interview with Shannon Pruitt (BBQ World Cup). BWC Qualified Pitmasters Tracker (Cook Cartel, Steve Cook, New Zealand, King of the Mountain, Grand Champion, entry #55). King of the Mountain, New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand, August 2026, NZBA / BBQ Alliance New Zealand, one BWC spot, Grand Champion Cook Cartel (brisket first). Supabase teams (Cook Cartel, Auckland, founded 2020, family team Michael, Steven and Brian Cook, NZBA / KCBS / SCA, five national titles, world dessert title at The Jack 2025, sponsors incl. Black Origin Wagyu, Four Monkeys, BBQ BOI, Octopit, Traeger). RNZ, Kiwi brothers beat Aussies at barbecue competition (Meatstock Melbourne and Sydney grand champion; first international team to win Sydney; first brisket at both; NZ national titles). Instagram @cook_cartel; cookcartel.co.nz. Hero image: Steve Cook of Cook Cartel, BBQ World Cup pitmaster program.