Food News

Andy Husbands spent the last decade turning The Smoke Shop from a Kendall Square startup into a six-location business.

Share

Send this article to your social connections.

In 1998, Chef Andy Husbands found what he jokingly calls his “mistress”: barbecue. 

At the time, Husbands was running Tremont 647, the South End restaurant he opened in 1996 and was, as he put it: “all I ever wanted.” But after discovering competitive barbecue, he fell in love. What began as a side passion soon turned into an obsession — and eventually the foundation of a restaurant group that serves roughly 500,000 customers a year. 

This week, The Smoke Shop is celebrating its 10th anniversary, marking a decade of growth from a single Kendall Square restaurant to six locations across Massachusetts.

“I never dreamed like this,” Husbands, 57, said in an interview with Boston.com. “It’s so bonkers.” 

“When we opened the first Smoke Shop, we hoped to build a neighborhood barbecue joint that people would come back to again and again,” Husbands said in a press release. 

Today, The Smoke Shop restaurants serve roughly 12,000 people every week. With so many restaurants out there, “I’m just tickled that people choose us.”

Over the years, Husbands has drawn on tricks from his IQUE barbecue competition team which he still competes with, to refine The Smoke Shop’s recipes. The meats get a “reverse rub” —  a sprinkling of seasoning after they’re sauced — and the sauces lean toward competition-style glazes rather than  traditional thick barbecue sauces. The company sells its own rubs, sauces, and Husbands’ cookbook, “Backyard BBQ.” 

For years, barbecue remained a passion project alongside.  Then around 2013, Husbands got the idea to open multiple barbecue joints..

“I thought [it] would be a really cool, fun challenge” to own multiple restaurants, Husbands said. “Little did I know how hard that would be.” 

The first Smoke Shop opened in Kendall Square in 2016, followed by locations in the Seaport in 2017, Assembly Row in 2018, Harvard Square in 2020, and Methuen, Woburn, and Chelmsford last year. Along the way, the company operated a location inside North Station’s Hub Hall from 2021 to 2024, while the original Kendall Square location closed in 2024. 

The expansion came with a “giant learning curve,” Husbands said. Moving from operating a single restaurant to multiple locations required a new management approach and a team with experience scaling and overseeing all restaurant locations.  

Despite the “ups and downs and challenges” of the restaurant industry, Husbands said the mission remains unchanged: serve quality barbecue and treat everyone like family. 

Ultimately, The Smoke Shop is “an homage to great barbecue,” Husbands said. The menu features Texas-style smoked brisket, St. Louis ribs, pulled pork and chicken, and loaded mac and cheese alongside a massive array of American whiskey. 

And while The Smoke Shop has become among the region’s most recognizable barbecue brands, Husbands is still a fan of the competition. 

“I love all other barbecue places,” he said, citing his favorite spots include Blondie’s Barbecue in Walpole, Firefly’s BBQ in Marlborough, Rusty Can in Byfield, Sweet Cheeks Q in Boston, and Blue Ribbon BBQ, which has three locations in Massachusetts.

He cited friend Carey Bringle, owner of Nashville’s Peg Leg Porker, who often says: “You don’t have to hate someone else’s barbecue to love mine.”

“I think that’s the way it should be,” Husbands said. “We’re all kind of uniquely doing what we’re passionate about.”