Rollin’ Smoke BBQ to open at former sandwich shop location in Halfmoon

The former Halfmoon Sandwich Shoppe is pictured in August. The site will be the new location of Rollin' Smoke BBQ.

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HALFMOON — Rollin’ Smoke Handcrafted BBQ will be moving to a new location in Halfmoon in January.

The popular BBQ eatery will be moving, but not far. The business will relocate from its current location on Guideboard Road to 1613 Route 9. The new space is the site of the former Halfmoon Sandwich Shoppe. Husband and wife owners, Rob and Amy Carmel, plan to open at Rollin’ Smoke’s new location sometime in January.

“We like to keep everything family-oriented,” Rob Carmel said. “We support local, we buy local when we can. When we get our beer license it will all be local craft beers, supporting local breweries. We’re excited.”

Rollin’ Smoke began as food truck business in 2019. Ten months later, in March 2020, the business opened its brick and mortar location on Guideboard Road.

The new site On Route 9 will allow the business to continue to grow as it is about three times the size of the current location, Rob Carmel said.

“That was 1,000 square feet, this is 3,100,” he said. “We have five tables down at the old place, this will have 15 to 18 here for dine-in service. Plus the bar, we’ll have our beer and wine license.”

The business continues to do a lot of catering for weddings, graduations, parties and other events, and the new location also has backyard space that can be rented out for parties and events.

“There’s more parking, it’s easier to get in and out of,” Carmel said. “It’s exciting. We got the digital sign working outside yesterday. I posted that picture online, and it blew up, almost 600 likes, 30-something shares, I don’t even know how many comments. It’s going to be awesome. My wife and I are very excited, our kids are very excited.”

The new location will have the same menu as the current on, as well as a few new items, such as a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, roast prime rib, bacon-wrapped filet mignon and stuffed bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin,” Carmel said. Some favorites, like lobster mac and cheese, will be available every day and not just as a special. Eventually the couple plans to serve breakfast.

“The town of Halfmoon has been amazing to us since we’ve opened our doors,” Carmel said. “We do a lot with the community, a lot of fundraisers, a lot of donations to local nonprofits, our chicken BBQ fundraisers.”

Finalizing work, inspections and a few minor preparations are left before the new location opens.

“This started off just cooking in the backyard for friends and family for parties,” Carmel said. “They were like, ‘Your food’s awesome, you should sell it.’ My retirement goal was to retire, open my food truck and just travel the country with my wife doing festivals and stuff like that. It turned into this. We’re extremely blessed and extremely humbled to be in the position that we’re in.”

The new location will be open for the same hours as the current location, Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“We want to stick to our roots, we’re a small, family-owned and operated business,” Carmel said.