The wafting scent of smoked meat trails down the street, chattering voices emanating from within large glass doors, various scribblings along the far walls decorating white paneling as numerous awards line just below the ceiling. Country Boys BBQ is located on Main St. in Louisa, Virginia and serves customers, caters big events around the county, and travels for various BBQ competitions around the United States.
“What started off as a thing we did together for fun eventually turned into a dream, and we started to make it happen back in 2019 with the purchase of our 6,000 pound towable smoker, ‘Big Bertha,’” owner Genna Flint said.
Country Boys BBQ gained popularity in the community and in neighboring counties, and in 2022, Denny and Genna Flint cut the ribbon in front of their new restaurant on West Main Street.
“Grand opening day, that was my favorite by far,” Flint said. “There was so much anticipation from the community waiting for us to open and support us, and still supporting us two years later, which we’re extremely appreciative of. We were all new at the entire thing, but we got things done.”
Whenever they get a chance, Country Boys BBQ shows up to various local county events to serve food to the attendants and support the community.
“June 8th, we met at the fairgrounds to help out the fire department that’s been supported for a hundred years,” Flint said. “We do stuff like that for the community.We fed the umpires for the baseball state tournament who were there.”
The restaurant and staff keep busy, whether it’s serving customers, setting up for events, or even heading out for friendly competitions.
“The competitions are very intense, but also very fun,” Flint said. “The word competition puts a cloud over that word, because it’s not really a competition. Everybody helps each other, everybody is friends, and everybody talks even outside of competitions. We had a few of our competition friends come out and help us on our grand opening, and that was really special for us.”
Although Country Boys BBQ is supported by many, one thing they take pride in is having a dependable and ready-to-work staff.
“From the very beginning it was important to us to create a staff that we knew we could rely on, and that could run and take care of the restaurant in the times that we are gone at competitions and events.” said Flint.
Going forward, Flint and the rest of her staff are planning some new things for the future of Country Boys.
“Without giving too much detail, the goal with the restaurant is there are going to be some changes as far as how we run things,” Flint said. “It’s not going to be a traditional setup.”
