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Culpeper Times • February 21-27, 2019
LOCAL NEWS Shawn's Smokehouse BBQ celebrates six years by expanding By Jeff Say Culpeper Times Staff Writer Shawn and Magdalena Moss are blessed. The owners of Shawn’s Smokehouse BBQ Company will celebrate six years in business March 4. Their BBQ has become a staple of Culpeper cuisine and they expanded to Warrenton in November 2015. Along with their catering company, which Shawn’s mom Sue started in 1980, they have a lot of successes to celebrate. “It boils right down to the community support,” Moss said. Now, Moss is hoping to continue to receive that support as he grows some more - there are plans to expand to Fredericksburg this summer. However, it’s the love and support he’s received in Culpeper that has led to his success - where he lives, where his children go to school and where he first started his business in 2013. “To me, that’s the biggest thing, the most important thing - we cannot be here without the community and any of their support,” Moss said. “It’s important to give back to the community, that’s our mission, that’s my passion.” A member of His Village Church, Moss and his family will be going on their first mission trip to Honduras with Pastor Erick Kalenga in April, helping build a home for a family in need. “I felt it in my heart, I never had the opportunity to do it and I wanted to participate,” Moss said. Making sure his family is included is one of his biggest passions. He’s always surrounded by his family - his wife Magdalena can be found cooking in the back at Shawn's’ BBQ in Culpeper and he is a regular at sporting events his five children participate in. His mom Sue is also a visible part of the catering business. “I could not do this without my wife,” Moss said. “She is my rock. Family is first, my mom has been a part of this since she was two years old. I can’t say enough of what she taught me. Not just cooking, but life skills because it’s not all good times.” He’s constantly giving back to the schools his children attend - Emerald Hill Elementary School, Culpeper Middle School and Culpeper High School - and helps host fundraiser for the activities his kids participate in, especially soccer and baseball.
PHOTOS BY IAN CHINI
Shawn and Magdalena Moss will celebrate six years of business March 4 at Shawn's Smokehouse BBQ. “I do my very best to get to their games, that’s more important to me,” Moss said. “It’s very important to give to those organizations so those kids have an opportunity to do what they want to do.” He’s also looking to partner with Project Rize to help become a sponsor of the youth mentoring organization. While the community connections are important, it’s the food that keeps bringing people in. “It’s the passion and love we put into it and the quality,” Moss said. “We’ve never sacrificed the quality since the day we’ve started this. We keep our standards high.” He estimates that they go through more than 50,000 pounds of brisket a year. They smoke the brisket for 1216 hours and that labor of love comes through in the flavor. Two things have always been at the forefront of his strategy - quality of the food and customer service. His smoked BBQ is known for the high quality of beef, pork and chicken he uses and smokes. “Those two things will never change,” Shawn said. “Quality is very important to us. Over the past six years there have been some spikes in
the meat market. Through those times we stuck with the same product.” The company uses Harris Ranch all-natural brisket from California and he says he often gets comments on the high quality of products they utilize. As for customer service, he’s always looking to improve the customers’ experience and has plans to implement a new point of sale system that will allow people to order and pay online, simply having to pick up the food at
the restaurant at 602 Sperryville Pike.
More inside
Inside today's paper is our Spring/Summer edition of Treasures of Culpeper, where we take a tour of some of our favorite restaurants - from the neighborhood bar feel of Grill 309, to the community-minded spirit of the restaurants of East Davis Street to a special tour of Culpeper's Hispanic Food Truck scene - we hope you follow along and prepare your taste buds for a foodie's dream.