Joey Chestnut ready to bite into revamped QCX mini-donut competition

Champion competitive eater Joey Chestnut is back for what will be a new and improved QCX mini-donut eating competition in 2024.

This is the third year of the Queen City Ex Mini-Donut Eating Competition featuring Chestnut, the multiple-winning champion of the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest held every July 4 in Coney Island, New York.

QCX’s contest happens on Aug. 3 at 3 p.m. at REAL’s Confederation Park, timed to run before the Roughriders game. Funds raised at the event will go to the Regina Food Bank.

This is the third year in Regina for Chestnut, who first competed in 2022, and he is looking to win a third straight mini-donut eating title in the city after having set a world record eating 304 mini-donuts at the event last year.

Joey Chestnut passes the 300-wing mark in an wing-eating competition. (Joey Chestnut/Twitter)

Evelyn Cerda, director of partnerships and innovation at Regina Food Bank, said the event is about raising awareness.

Participants in the mini-donut eating competition must raise $1,000 to get a place at the competition table alongside Chestnut, and then they are supported by pledges of $3,000, $6,000 and $10,000, based on everyone’s efforts.

This year, “our goal is to raise $50,000,” said Cerda, with every dollar raised paying for three meals.

“We’re aiming for 150,000 meals.”

The 2024 contest will feature a new format featuring corporate teams of four people, with each team member taking turns eating mini-donuts over a span of two minutes. Last year, it was an individual competition with contestants eating over an eight minute span.

Cerda had been involved at past contests behind the scenes, but this year plans to be among those participating as part of the new “team” format.

So how many mini-donuts does Cerda think she can eat in two minutes?

“About 30,” she said, adding she had been “practising all year.”

Another change for the contest will move from the Brandt Centre where it was held the past two years, to an outdoor location on the Original 16 stage at Confederation Park.

Chestnut did not get the opportunity to defend his Nathan’s Hot Dog title in 2024 after he partnered with a plant-based meal manufacturer. He ended up being banned from the competition.

Cerda says Chestnut is more than welcome at the Queen City Ex.

“He’s such a well known figure in the world of eating competitions and we’re pretty lucky he likes to come to Regina and spend some time with us.”

The word is that Chestnut is looking forward to defending his mini-donut title.

“Last year when I met Joey he was very excited, he loves coming here and doing the mini-donut competition,” said Cerda. “So I think he’ll be ready. Maybe we’ll see people inching closer to his record than previous years.”

The funds raised will certainly help fill a need at the Food Bank, which added 3,500 new clients last year. About 39 per cent of clients are children.

Demand continues to grow, Cerda said. She said they are fortunate that Regina always comes through and supports them, “because we are community-led and don’t get government funding.”

Last year, the mini-donut contest raised over $72,000 for Regina Food Bank. While it’s a successful fundraiser for the organization, they raise even more funds through annual campaigns like their Million Meal Challenge, which happens in October.

With files from Gillian Massie