Boxcar Burgers to open in Smith Haven Mall

A new burger joint is headed to the food court of Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove.

The fast-casual eatery Boxcar Burgers will open in the mall this summer, after launching outside the Ronkonkoma terminus of the Long Island Rail Road in 2020, co-owners Steve Cannon and Michael Dorian said.

The two longtime friends and business partners have not yet secured permits to begin construction on the roughly 1,000-square-foot space, which formerly belonged to a Duchess Cookies, Cannon said. They plan to build and staff the store by July, with about 15 to 20 employees, Dorian said.

The new restaurant comes six years after the duo launched their burger business in January 2020, just six weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, Newsday reported. Cannon and Dorian, both longtime veterans of the restaurant business, said that offering pickup and delivery helped keep the Ronkonkoma location afloat.

"2020, with COVID, that year was a wash," Cannon said. "But in the past year or two, it’s not that anybody forgot about COVID, but you could comfortably feel that it’s in the rear view mirror."

They had wanted to open at the mall a few years ago, but at the time, the space was "a little too big for our britches," Dorian said. After considering a handful of other locations, Cannon said they reached back out to the mall last year to see if space was available — and it was.

"We always liked the idea of being" at the mall, because "of the volume and the foot traffic and the exposure," Cannon said.

Dorian said they hope to expand further across Long Island in the future, though right now, they’re focused on the Smith Haven outpost.

"We want to keep expanding," Dorian said.

A representative for Smith Haven Mall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.