Bloodhound

When Matt Stonie has a bad
day at work, it must be hard
for him to find someone who
can sympathize with him.
. . . . .
. NEED it now.
.”
That’s because the 22-yearold
Stonie is a competitive
eater specializing in, you
guessed it, bacon.
o n
TIME
He then passes the cuts
to his family members,
the only other employees
at Crane’s. His grandson
grinds the sausage into
plastic sleeves, his wife
puts them all through
a heat-sealing machine
and his two pretty young
granddaughters carry
the packaged meat to
bins. Crane’s small family
business has outlasted the
arrival of corporations.
But that task may pale in
comparison to what Stonie
pulled off very recently at the
Daytona 500. In a competition
sponsored by big Smithfield
Meats, Stonie set a new world
record by eating 182 slices of
bacon in five minutes Yum?
Stonie is one of the fastest
rising stars in competitive
eating. He’s currently the
youngest member of Major
League Eating and is already
its second-ranked competitor,
behind only Joey Chestnut.
Indeed, Chestnut had some
words for his young rival after
Stonie’s great performance.
~ Written by Matt Stonie
In 1969, Crane worked as a
meat cutter at IGA, a small
grocer in Columbia. After
he returned from the army,
the small grocery business
floundered as big chains
moved in. So he decided
to start his own business.
In the very beginning,
everything was housed
in a tiny side room of
Bill and his wife, Linda’s,
house. As the business
grew, it widely expanded.
~ Written by Susan Bracket
Crane shows off his plate of soon-to-be devoured bacon
6 apple pie