The smell of smoked meats greets customers before they reach the counter at 4 Pigs Smokehouse, a new barbecue restaurant in Callicoon built around family, slow-cooked food and decades of restaurant experience.

Located at the former Local Pizza on 17-B, the father-daughter business is run by Caitlin Steffens and her father, John “Steve” Mutter. Together, they bring more than 50 years of restaurant experience to the smokehouse, which opened in early May.

For Steffens, the restaurant is more than a business. A mother of four, she named 4 Pigs for her four children and said opening the restaurant has given her a way to provide for her family while remaining present in their lives.

“I lost two jobs because I constantly was off for sick days and snow days, leaving early to go to baseball games or concerts,” Steffens said. “Now I’m kind of in a position where I get to pay somebody to cover for me so that I can go. That person has a job. I have the ability to be available for my kids while providing for them.”

Her children have already become part of the restaurant’s daily life. Steffens said her oldest son helps run food, while her daughter Lydia rolls silverware. Her six-year-old son Eli recently brought a black shirt in his backpack so customers would know he worked there too.

“He said, ‘I have to hurry up and change so that they know I’m a worker. I don’t want anybody to think that I don’t work here,’” Steffens said.

While Steffens handles much of the front-of-house operation and business side, Mutter serves as the restaurant’s pitmaster. His barbecue background was shaped in Asheville, North Carolina, where he worked at Asheville Barbecue Company and later at 12 Bones Smokehouse.

“I learned the most from 12 Bones,” Mutter said.

The restaurant’s barbecue draws heavily from North Carolina traditions. Mutter described his signature barbecue sauce as a blend of eastern North Carolina’s vinegar-based style and the more tomato-forward style found in the mountains.

“It’s a tomato-based sauce with a bite to it,” he said.

At 4 Pigs, pork butts can spend up to 16 hours in the smoker. Mutter uses a combination of oak, cherry, birch and apple wood, with oak and cherry among his preferred pairings.

The menu includes brisket, pulled pork, chicken wings, mac and cheese, corn pudding and a “trash can sweet potato” loaded with pico de gallo, sour cream, jalapeños, cheese sauce and a choice of pulled pork or pulled chicken.

Mutter said brisket has quickly become one of the restaurant’s most popular items.

“I don’t know what it is with the Yankees and brisket,” he said. “We sold out of brisket two out of the five weekends.”

He said the corn pudding has also become a customer favorite.

“Most people up here have never heard of it,” Mutter said. “Generally speaking, when someone tries it, they’re like, ‘Holy crap.’”

Nearly everything on the menu is made in-house.

“The only thing that we open a bag for is chips,” Mutter said. “Everything else is made in-house from scratch.”

The restaurant opened with limited hours, beginning at three days a week before expanding to four. Steffens and Mutter plan to move to a Thursday-through-Monday schedule around July 4.

Customer response has been strong so far.

“I would say we’re a solid 95 percent positive feedback,” Mutter said. “I’ve had people come back twice in the same day for a meal.”

The family business currently employs about 10 people, most of them part-time. Steffens said she and her father want to create a workplace where employees are treated well in an industry where benefits are often scarce.

Employees receive paid time off after three months, and the business provides a group life insurance policy at no cost to employees.

“We’re not here to get rich,” Steffens said. “We want to make a living. We want to pay our bills, and we want our staff to be able to do the same.”

The family has already begun providing food for local events and recently supplied pulled pork and brownies for an FFA banquet. Looking ahead, they hope to add an offset smoker, expand into on-site catering and eventually open a second location.

“In the next five years, I’d like to have a second location,” Steffens said. “And I would like to have the ability to do on-site catering and smoking on site for large events.”