About Us

Hey There, we’re Ruben and Jennifer.

 Hogback Mtn BBQ began as a competition barbecue team in 2007 and opened as a catering business in 2010. We have a great team that is very experienced in the catering industry. We cater everything from drop-off meals to complete on-site wedding packages with set/breakdown, bar service, and more. Ruben and Jennifer Showalter reside in Fairfield, Virginia, and have two children: a son, Anthony, who is a welder/fabricator, and a daughter, Katie, who is an award-winning wedding photographer. Their BBQ adventure started in 1998 when Jennifer gave Ruben a BBQ Smoker for Christmas. Their passion for BBQ kept growing for the next several years, and in 2005, they started feeding larger crowds of family and friends. In 2007, Ruben decided to build a sizeable trailer-mounted BBQ pit. During the process, he decided to form a BBQ competition team and put the BBQ skills he had learned over the years to the test. During the 2008 and 2009 competition seasons, their team proved to be contenders on the National KCBS BBQ Circuit, winning several awards along with top ten finishes in chicken, ribs, beef brisket, and pork in the Virginia State BBQ Championships, including a 1st Place BBQ Beef Brisket Virginia State Championship in 2010. In 2010, they decided to take their BBQ passion to the next level, opening Hogback Mtn BBQ to make it a premier barbecue catering company. Ruben and Jennifer are ServSafe certified and members of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, and Ruben is Virginia ABC MARTS Certified, both KCBS Certified BBQ Judges.

Jennifer Showalter is a native of Rockbridge County, and Ruben is from Clifton Forge. Jennifer graduated from Eastern Mennonite University in 1999. In addition to being the right arm of Hogback Mtn BBQ, Jennifer owns Cruise Planners of Fairfield, a travel agency with over 29 years in the travel industry. She was the Rockbridge County High School Head Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Coach from 2006 to 2026, with plans to retire this spring, and was inducted into the Rockbridge High School Sports Hall of Fame in 2022 for her high school athletic career.