Fired up for Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue: evolution from food truck to restaurant on J-Creek | Life | themountaineer.com

Mar 12, 2025

There’s a new barbecue joint with a familiar name: Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue, a restaurant surrounded by aromatic wood-fired smoke, on Jonathan Creek. Come with an appetite, because owner Ben Hooper cooks the ‘cue slowly over wood, so it’s juicy and good.

Hooper successfully operated Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue mobile food trailers since 2021 in Haywood County. This is his first brick-and-mortar restaurant and it’s off to a great start, serving an estimated 200 plates of barbecue on opening day March 1.

At first, cooking barbecue was a catering interest for firefighter Hooper. Then came his venture into the food truck segment, and now, a restaurant. He calls the place “a proper casual barbecue joint,” with great smoked meats and quick service.

It’s owned and operated by Hooper and his wife, Bayley, a nurse. The name, suggested by his mother-in-law, seems appropriate since like the meaning of backdraft (a sudden explosion of fire), Hooper’s business has exploded in popularity.

Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue focuses on wood-fired smoked meat. Hooper feels the secret to great barbecue is the low-and-slow cooking method.

“Each meat is cooked over a live fire, fueled with a mixture of oak and apple wood,” Hooper said. “Our No. 1 core value is the meat must be cooked over wood.”

In N.C. tradition and history, “true” barbecue is cooked with heat and smoke from burning wood. Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue has earned a certification for barbecue trueness from True ‘Cue, dedicated to promoting wood-smoked tradition, making Ben’s one of a select number of N.C. establishments with the stamp of authenticity.

Hooper did his homework, spending time with pitmasters at the prestigious Carolina Barbeque Festival in Charlotte and making a trip to Austin, Texas, to check out offset style smokers and Texas-style barbecue.

While at the barbecue festival, Hooper met and picked up tips from Elliot Moss, renowned Carolina pitmaster and previous owner of Asheville’s Buxton Hall Barbecue. A fun bit of BBQ trivia: Hooper cooks on the actual smoker from Moss and Buxton Hall.

Ben’s barbecue is getting attention. Hooper is invited to showcase his ‘cue at the Charlotte Carolina Barbecue Festival this year, one of only 17 pitmasters invited to the event.

Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue serves traditional barbecue “Texas inspired, with a NC twist.” The Texas part comes in the juicy brisket and beef ribs; the NC part is freshly pulled smoked pork and chicken and fall-off-the-bone pork ribs.

Customers choose platters, sandwich forms or containers. Mouth-watering specials include beef ribs, smoked turkey, brisket burgers and spuds, stuffed with choice of meat. For starters, try nachos, piled with cheese, pork, chicken or brisket. The hand-cut fries are tasty, cooked in beef tallow.

Don’t forget homestyle sides, like baked beans, slaw, hush puppies, loaded potato salad (sour-cream based, with bacon bits and cheese) and banana pudding.

“We love to bring good Southern homestyle sides to the table,” said Hooper, proud of the traditional accompaniments.

Cooking is done by the Hoopers and Ashley Peacock in the ample 1,000-sq.-ft. kitchen. Take out is available, too.

While alcohol is not served at the restaurant, there’s a range of soft drinks, including Cheerwine, “which you have to have in a N.C. barbecue joint,” Hooper mused.

The restaurant seats 46 inside and 12 outside, with a large kitchen and smoke shack.

The Waynesville native and resident went to Tuscola High School, where Hooper joined the volunteer fire department as a teenager.

“Like any other kid, I wanted to be a firefighter,” Hooper said. He’s served as a firefighter in Waynesville, Asheville, Cherokee and West Buncombe.

Hooper became interested in smoking meats when he saw a smoker used at the Maggie Valley Fire Department. He decided to give smoking meats a try, enjoying it so much, he began catering in 2018. In 2021, he ventured into a food truck. Its output was outgrown within six months.

A second, state-of-the art trailer followed. Ironically, the new trailer burned down in an electrical fire July 2024. Hooper, undeterred, replaced it through a loan and insurance settlement.

Then came Hurricane Helene. He was on duty during the storm at the Waynesville Fire Department and aided in several water rescues as part of the swift water team.

Helene left a calling card at the Dellwood Road building that Hooper used for his commercial kitchen and parked his trailers, with flooding coming within six inches of the building.

He and Bayley immediately saw the need for people to find food. Hooper invested $10,000 ordering food, which they gave away to anyone needing a meal in the weeks following the storm.

Food companies and individuals saw his community action on social media and donated funds and supplies. Duke Energy commissioned one of Ben’s trailers to feed its relief workers helping after Helene. Hooper continued to give food away from the other trailer, thousands of meals in total. The money he invested in the food order came back in donations.

“That it all worked out was a God thing,” he believes.

Hooper has advised local festivals about food truck planning and was a guest instructor at the HCC Small Business Center’s 2024 “Food on the Move” summit.

Hooper said he had an ‘Ah-ha moment’ at the Carolina Barbecue Festival last year after visiting with Jon G. Barbecue of Peachland. Seeing that company’s success, starting as a food truck then opening a restaurant, helped Hooper decide to open a brick-and-mortar location.

Patrons may see three Hoopers at the restaurant: Ben, Bayley and their three-year-old son Hayes, who Ben calls a “pitmaster in training.”

Ben’s Backdraft Barbecue Restaurant is open 11 a.m.–8 p.m. (or until sell-out) Thursday-Saturday, 3028 Jonathan Creek Rd., Waynesville. Check out the weekly food trailer schedule on Facebook. Visit www.bensbackdraftbbq.com.

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