Rising Stars: Meet Jeff Gebott of Denver and Longmont

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Gebott.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My culinary journey started at a young age. Throughout my childhood, my family held church potlucks at our home. I grew to appreciate the fun and fellowship that came with cooking and sharing great food with others. My dad was quite the grill master, while my mother tended to the baked items. The open flame of the fire, and the smell of the grilling meats, caught my attention and drew me in to the world of BBQ. I’m still drawn to the fire today and mastering the craft of using a flame and smoke to create delicious meats.

I attended business school at the University of Colorado, which sent me into retail sales, but the food business was always calling my name. My passion for cooking was alive and well and not to be undermined, so I sold my company and applied to culinary school at the Art Institute of Colorado. I found my place to learn, grow my talent and perfect a craft that would become my profession. The rest is history.

My food service career spanned from stadium operations at Mile High Stadium to quick service and fast casual restaurants. I gradually found my groove and started to hone my craft. When I met Jamie Cox at Ted’s Montana Grill in the early 2000’s, he got me involved in KCBS BBQ contests. BBQ quickly became my passion and livelihood. Shortly after my competition days, I operated Justin Timberlake’s BBQ restaurants, Southern Hospitality, in Colorado and New York City. I’m a lifetime member of the Kansas City BBQ Association as well as a certified judge for the organization. I’ve cooked with world champions at “Memphis in May” and have won numerous restaurant and BBQ awards over the years.

After the Covid pandemic, I left NYC and returned to Colorado to expand my BBQ brand called H3SH3R BBQ CO. We are now a premier catering and food truck company with a brick-and-mortar space at the Parkway Food Hall in Longmont, Colorado. Competition runs in our veins, and we were recently named the best food truck at Denver Food and Wine Festival in 2025. We have a few surprises coming in 2026, so stay tuned.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
A culinary career is all about reaction and adaption. The economy can take what was a huge success one day and bury it the next day. Culinary school taught me to explore food, flavors and techniques, but not how to really be a chef. Business school taught me how to crunch the numbers which is what a chef really does on a daily basis. In the end, you have to make food that produces numbers – people in seats, overhead, profits on that profit and loss statement, etc.- to pays the bills.

The pandemic made me step back from day-to-day restaurant operations and open my mind to what was next. I didn’t want to be a slave inside four walls anymore, so the mobility of a food truck scratched my itch to make food and explore at the same time. On the truck, or trailer in our case, every night is a new dining room. I was able to make new friends and fans along the way while sharing my culinary creations.

Finding your groove in culinary arts that brings personal satisfaction takes a lot of patience and fortitude. You’ll experience many victories as well as failures along the way. I’d be lying if I said I’ve had nothing but home runs over the years. Food trends and tastes change, locations lose followings, and the ebb and flow of the world modify your ability to control the chaos of any already vulnerable industry.

What is being a chef is all about? Controlling the chaos to the best of your ability while delivering a delicious product.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I love when people ask what I do for a living. I’ve never liked bragging or embellishing my title and generally make a joke of it. I’ll tell people that I do “people’s dishes” or that I “burn meat” for a living. Being a chef isn’t really about fame and “look at me” moments; it’s about building teams and training others to take over your job. I have built my career on building other’s up. I love seeing their success stories and evolutions. I’ve lost track of how many chefs I’ve developed over the last couple of decades, but it’s in the double digits. That is true success for me.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
I’ve never been much of a reader, but I do like to collect cookbooks. I currently have over 500 cookbooks in my collection, and they are a fun resource to visit to get new ideas. There is something about the feel of holding an actual book over an electronic tablet, especially when it’s an old edition. The pages have wisdom, and often times it’s the wrong kind of wisdom, but it makes you think. My cookbooks from the 70’s are especially fun to thumb through. Did we really enjoy gelatin that much back then? There are things you have to take in and laugh about. Food trends definitely have evolved over the years.

As for applications on your phone… any of the conversion apps are key. Cooking is all about numbers and scaling recipes is a thing, so you have to be able to increase or decrease your batches based on your business. Getting it right the first time will save you time and money.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://h3sh3rbbq.square.site/
• Instagram: @hesherbbqcatering
• Facebook: @hesherbbqcatering
• Twitter: @hesherbbqcatering