Max McGarity, founder of Smoked On High BBQ in the Brewery District, got his start in the restaurant business at a young age. In high school, he worked at a full-service BBQ restaurant where he slowly worked his way from dishwasher to pit master. In 2010 at the tender age of 20 (while still asking his mother to do his laundry) Max launched his own BBQ company, Buckeye Back Ribs. He traveled all across the state of Ohio slinging smoke out of his branded Buckeye Back Ribs food truck.

In 2011, Max rebranded Buckeye Back Ribs into Smoked On High BBQ. As a result of extensive catering demands, Smoked on High BBQ opened the door for Max’s true dream — to open a brick and mortar restaurant of his own. His dreams were realized in 2017 when he converted a Victorian house in the Brewery District into what we now know as Smoked On High BBQ.

In 2024, after years of catering private kosher events on the side of his main restaurant, Max opened Smoked on Chai BBQ (pronounced with a “kh” like challah) — a sister company to Smoked on High BBQ and Max’s kosher BBQ concept. Growing up Jewish, he saw the lack of kosher food options in central Ohio first-hand in his community. Now, he runs a kosher pop-up and bulk ordering food truck twice a month out of Torat Emet synagogue in Bexley and provides consistent catering opportunities for the kosher community. Smoked on Chai is Vaad certified by Buckeye Kosher and follows all kosher guidelines while providing Max’s signature Texas-style BBQ to the kosher community.

Now, in 2025, Max is getting creative again! Pivoting to meet the needs of a post-pandemic restaurant industry, Smoked on High BBQ (and Max) are going back to their food truck roots to bring their meats back to the streets! With visual rebrand, menu updates, operational restructure and a brand new food truck, Smoked on High isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it’s going everywhere!