For years, Lucio Moya would walk the aisles of H-E-B and picture his own seasoning sitting on the shelves.
At the time, that dream felt far away.
In 2020, Moya was working in the oil fields, when the pandemic temporarily put him out of work. The unexpected time at home gave him and his wife more time to experiment with the homemade seasoning blends he was already using on brisket and carne asada.
Now, the Roma, TX family behind In Your Smokin’ Face is one of just 10 finalists in H-E-B’s 2026 Quest for Texas Best competition.The statewide contest drew a record 978 entries from more than 500 companies, all hoping for a shot at $100,000 in cash prizes and, for the grand-prize winner, a spot on H-E-B shelves.
For Moya, simply getting this far already feels like a win.
Barnes & Noble-trained
Moya said his love for barbecue really took off after he and his wife Kristina married in 2008. He wanted to learn how to smoke brisket, but there was one problem, everyone seemed to have a secret and no one wanted to share it. So Moya started teaching himself.
Without money to spend on cookbooks, he’d sit in Barnes & Noble and read as many as he could find, while Kristina explored the children’s section with their young sons. He read about barbeque. He studied spices. He jotted down notes. And all that led to his first seasoning blend, a beef rub he still sells today.
Moya had always encouraged his children to pursue whatever God placed in their hearts, and years later, Moya’s oldest son, Derek, then 8, gave the same advice.
“Dad, why don’t you do what you want to do?” Moya recalls.
The family sat around a table brainstorming business names. Then, all of a sudden their youngest son, Izzak ran through the house yelling randomly, “In your face!” With a little tweaking later, “In Your Smokin’ Face” was born.
COVID turned the hobby into a business
When Moya was laid off during the pandemic, he started smoking briskets and ribs from home to bring in extra income, posting them for sale on Facebook. Customers kept asking what he was using to season the meat, and soon, Moya was selling his seasonings in mason jars. That’s when the dream was formed.
“I would walk through the aisles of H-E-B and just imagine them being on the shelf,” he said.
He found a packaging company, and today, the family sells several blends online.
Three seasonings, one shot
Moya submitted three of those products to Quest for Texas Best: orange pepper psiquín seasoning, beef blend, and BRUTO! carne asada rub.
He says the idea behind BRUTO! was simple. No matter where someone is, he wanted the flavor to take them back home to the Rio Grande Valley, the 956, and a backyard carne asada.
Moya won’t be the only finalist hoping to spice up H-E-B’s shelves. Three of the other nine finalists are also competing with sauces or seasonings.
On October 8, the finalists will head to San Antonio to pitch their products and their stories to a panel of judges, “shark-tank-style” Moya said. Four winners will split $100,000 in prizes, with $50,000 and H-E-B shelf placement going to the grand-prize winner.
For Moya, getting to this point has meant betting on an idea without knowing whether that bet would pay off.
“We’re not millionaires,” he said. “My wife’s a teacher. I work out of town. It’s the fear of investing into it and not knowing if it’s going to get back to you.” But he said his faith and family have kept him going.
Derek helps his dad edit videos, earning himself the unofficial title of “marketing director.” Izzak, whose childhood catchphrase helped inspire the company’s name, is the “professional taste tester.” Moya’s two younger daughters are the cheerleaders and Kristina has been beside him through all of it.
Along the way they built a sizable social following, something Moya says happened organically from posting cooking videos and recipes online. Opening doors he never expected like the opportunity to cook for bands, like Intocable and Grupo Frontera. Recognition from H-E-B has been that little extra seasoning on an already impressive run.
“I feel like I’ve already won,” Moya said. “Just to be recognized … and to make the top 10, it’s just like, wow.”
