Kim Sainato, Customer Service Manager
Mini‑Circuits Missouri turned up the heat—and the sweetness—on March 11, 2026, with our much‑anticipated Annual Chili Cook‑Off and Dessert Challenge. This favorite tradition once again brought members together for great food, friendly competition, and even better company.
Last year’s champions set the bar high, with Logan Young taking home the Golden Ladle for his winning chili and Tammy Lethcho earning the Golden Whisk for her dessert masterpiece. This year, however, a new group of contenders stepped up to defend bragging rights and claim the coveted trophies.
The competition featured five chili entries and four desserts, all anonymously submitted to ensure fair and unbiased voting. Each member had the chance to sample every chili and dessert before casting their votes—a tough task given the outstanding quality of every entry!
After the votes were counted, we were excited to crown our 2026 champions:
- Kristy Maschke won the Dessert Challenge with her crowd‑pleasing Chocolate Poke Cake, earning the Golden Whisk
- Larry Bilyeu captured the Chili Cook‑Off title with his bold and flavorful Korean Spice Chili, taking home the Golden Ladle
Kristy and Larry will proudly display their trophies in their offices for the next year—until they return to defend their titles at next year’s challenge! Each entry remained anonymous until after the competition, allowing members to focus solely on flavor and creativity. We all enjoyed sampling the contestants’ entries while spending quality time together and connecting outside of our normal day‑to‑day business processes and collaboration. A special thank you and recognition goes to our Missouri Culture Champs team, led by Devin Braswell, with Lorie Lenharth and Janie Dillion. This team planned and executed the entire event, and their hard work, creativity, and attention to detail made the day a tremendous success. As always, it was a great time filled with amazing food, laughter, and camaraderie. Congratulations to our new champions and thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this event so memorable. We’re already looking forward to next year!
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