Our Lucky Legacy

Our Lucky Legacy. Welcome back to the Elevate Polk Podcast, and this happens to be lucky number 7 for this season. And I'm your host, Chrissanne Long, and with me today as my copilot, Nate the Great Kendrick. How are you, Nate?

I'm excited to be here. I'm always excited to be here.

Good. And I was teasing with Annie talking about how I'm going to continue to say Nate the Great. She says, you have to, you have to. Yeah.

The listeners are so used to it now. It's just, you know, they're waiting for it.

They'll wonder what happened, like why you're not so great.

Yeah.

Or don't say it anymore.

Meet the average. Yeah, right.

Meet the average. And we have an awesome guest with us today. I'm super excited to introduce our audience to Jack McHugh. Hello. Everyone knows him as the guy at Molly McHugh's. And so we're going to talk a little bit about his story and get you guys caught up with everything that's going on at our favorite Irish pub in Polk County. So let's welcome you to the show.

Awesome.

Really happy to be here, guys.

Have you ever done a podcast before?

I haven't. So it's the first for me. Oh, nice.

I'm excited.

Very cool. I always like to ask. I never think to ask, but I always realize that the people that come in and they're just like, they're ready to rock, but you're ready to rock.

So I was kind of thinking stuff like radio, like we usually for Patty's Day and stuff, we'll do it, go on the radio and stuff like that. So, okay.

So you're not stranger to the microphone, but podcasting specifically. Okay. Well, cool. Well, so we are going to just walk our listeners through a little bit of the history, the before Jack history of Molly's so that we can kind of get the whole story from beginning to now. Okay. So if you want to tell us your version of the Molly McHugh's history, the legacy, why don't you start wherever you would like to start?

Yeah. So I think it starts back in Ireland, in Galway where my dad was born. As a 19 or as a 20-year-old kid, he moved over to Boston. Started just doing whatever jobs he could. Then eventually met my mother. They moved down to Orlando. My father was running an Irish pub in Orlando and decided he's doing all the work, may as well own it. So he started scouting out locations for his pub, came to Lakeland and just absolutely fell in love. Back then, downtown Lakeland wasn't anywhere near where it is right now.

He was a catalyst for a lot of the growth. Yeah.

So, yeah. So he opened the pub actually May 15th, will be 25 years. Oh, wow. So he opened the pub and really brought something to downtown that they had never seen before. And a lot of people were really surprised by that. So I actually wasn't even born then.

That was in '96.

I was born in '97. So I've kind of had the unique opportunity of growing up with the business. It's— it was when I was a kid, I didn't think anything of it. I just thought, yeah, every kid grows up in a bar. Like, I didn't understand that it was weird or different or cool. It was just what we did.

Talk about your siblings and the family in general. Just give them all a shout out.

So there's 4 of us. I'm the youngest of 4. My sisters are twins, Katie and Grace. They're the oldest. They're the bosses.

So growing up, there was them and Seamus is 2 years older than me.

So we were all within 4 years. So it was a lot of fun. My parents really put an onus on that the bars, and because at that time we had 3, that the bars weren't just what they did, it was what our family does. So we, from a young age, we were in there cleaning bathrooms, scraping gum off tables, things like that. And it was just normal for us. Our summers were spent in the pub working. So for me, it was always something that I enjoyed doing. And from a young age, I'd say When I was 3 or 4, I knew that I wanted to run the pub. I always love to tell the story I told my kindergarten teacher, you know, when they go around and they ask like, what do you want to be when you grow up? Everyone says astronaut, I'll be a teacher, whatever. I told my teacher I wanted to own a bar.

I bet that was the first time she had a student say that.

She was taken aback by that. I think she told my parents and my dad was like, had to explain it.

I want to own a bar.

So with that, I've always kind of I've been able to tailor my education, my work experience to this. And I'm fortunate in that I've had the ability to work with some really great people and really intelligent people. And I was lucky enough to have my father as my first kind of mentor in this business. And in my opinion, there's no one that could do it better than he could. He was incredible. So to be able to grow up with that role model, And just bouncing questions off of him, I think really helped me develop.

Absolutely. Yeah. And I have never, I never had the chance to meet your dad. I came into the Lakeland community a little bit late, but he is a legacy in just by name and by commitment to the community. You know, and I think that that's what I think about when I think of Molly McHugh's, because I have watched your mom and just how everything has just kind of continued to be maintained as a commitment to our community. So I just think that you're stepping in and I've I've just watched you kind of, you know, in the last year or so just become the leader, you know, of the community, which is exciting to watch, you know, the new generation, the young generation coming in and being a part of the community and the way that you're doing it with such grace. And I just admire the way that you've done that. And I haven't had a chance to tell you that until now. So I appreciate that.

Thank you.

Keep doing what you're doing.

Thank you. Yeah, I think it's exciting. It's one of those I was talking to one of my friends the other day, and I think we get so caught up in the day-to-day and everything like that. I had to step back and I just kind of realized I'm living what I've always dreamed of becoming, and it's a lot of fun.

But it's hard.

Yeah, it's difficult, but I've kind of known the challenges my whole life because I grew up seeing them.

Right, so the gum is nothing new.

No, no, no.

So what's the secret? What's the easiest way to get gum off of a table?

Razor blade.

Razor blade.

All right.

So you have plenty of those around to take care of that. Okay. So let's talk. I want to talk a little bit about the coming of age, how that dream never changed. Okay. So at kindergarten, you're saying, I want to be the, I want to own a bar. It's easy for us to look around our parents and say, that's what I want to do because we see our parents and we just say, I want to be that, you know, I want to be my dad. I want to be my mom. But that hasn't changed. So What was that like as you were probably around a lot of people growing up and going through school that didn't have a clue what they wanted to be when they grew up, you know, and you've kind of always kind of had that path in front of you. Can you talk a little bit about knowing what you want to do and how that was different for you than for the people that you hung around with?

Yeah, it was different. I think early on in life it was not really taken seriously. 'Cause like you said, you're a kid, you say whatever. And then as I got older and started working in the pub, and I worked my first night there as a barback when I was 12 years old, actually Patty's Day night. So it was quite an introduction. So then throughout high school, it was always, I'd go to school and then go to work. It was never anything different. Obviously played sports and stuff like that in high school. And yeah, like you said, all my friends, They didn't know what they wanted to do. Their high school jobs were just something to pay for gas and go to the movies on the weekends, whereas mine was learning and getting ready for what I wanted to do. So then as I moved into college, it was kind of an easy option to pick a major because I already knew what I wanted to do. I went into tourism hospitality management with a concentration in hotel restaurant management. I went to the University of Florida. Go Gators!

Oh man.

There's no whoop whoop for me.

Oh man. It's all good.

Too bad Craig's not the co-host. You'd get a whoop from him.

Yeah, definitely would have. So yeah, then I enjoyed my time there probably a little bit too much. It was a lot of fun.

And throughout my time there, did get a bit of studying done and was lucky enough to have a few internships. One with the first one being with Universal, their hotels. So their hotels are ran by a company called Loews Hotels. So I worked with them in one of their Orlando locations and that was, I experienced so much growth there just because that was the first job that I'd had that my parents weren't my boss.

Right, right, right.

Yeah. So having to report to someone and having the, try to please a boss that doesn't have to be pleased by you.

Yeah. Was that a tough adjustment at first?

It was, but it wasn't at the same time because there was always— it wasn't like when I was growing up, it was expectations weren't less because I was working for my parents. It was always high expectations, but it was different, just unfamiliar territory. I wasn't used to it, but I think I experienced a lot of growth there and At first, I'm sure I didn't do well. I think the first, the first night I was on the floor as manager, I had like 5 or 6 guests leave hating me.

Oh no.

Absolutely hating me. Oh well.

How can you hate that smile?

I mean, at least you just would've smiled them and charmed them back, right?

Yeah, I don't know.

But yeah, I think you need to experience that to then bounce back and experience growth. So then I had a couple other internships, one at a barbecue place in Gainesville called Four Rivers.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Shout out to Four Rivers.

I hear rumors that there's one coming. No, I've eaten there, but I've heard that there's one coming to Polk County. Ooh, okay. It's a rumor though.

I hope so. Great barbecue and great company. Great place to work for. They actually, they wanted me to work for them after I graduated, but I wound up taking a job with a company called Hillstone. So they have probably about 50 locations throughout the country. And I was kind of conflicted because I had a few offers out of college and just in talking to my professors and a few mentors I had in the industry, they really suggest that I go with that. They had a training program that went about 6 months and that was really what I wanted from a job out of college was the option was there to go straight back to the pub and take over. But I still felt, despite the fact that I had a couple internships, I felt I needed to learn more to be the best that I could be for the bar.

Was that 100% you thinking you needed more or was there maybe mom wanting you to have a little bit more experience? Was there a combination or was that, was it all you?

Funny enough, mom didn't even want me to go to college.

Okay.

She wanted me to go straight into it. And so then after graduation, she wanted me to go straight. I think, I think it was, it wasn't, there wasn't much pressure. It was really up to me. Which is, I think, why I've always stayed the course of wanting to do this, because there's never been pressure on doing it.

That's cool. That's a great— say that again. There's never been pressure. That's what made it easy for you to stay on course.

That was what— it was never that I had to do it. It was always that I wanted to do it. And I think in a lot of family businesses, there's this pressure of you have to do this, or this is what you're going to do, or this is your legacy.

Yeah.

That no kid can grow up with that. And no, especially young adult, that's trying to figure out what they want to do with their life, that's just entirely too much pressure. And there was never that on me, which is why I think I wound up doing it because it was just always fun for me.

Right. Did Katie Grace or Seamus ever want to run the bar or was that—

None of them had any interest in it.

No interest.

Yeah. Which is why, yeah, I mean, people always say to me like, oh, you're the youngest. Like, why'd you get it? I was the one that always wanted it. Wow. Got it.

So that's cool. So take us through that process of internship, working, okay, Four Rivers and then Hillside is what it was called?

Hillstone.

Hillstone. And you needing more experience or feeling like you needed to have more experience. So what were those conversations like? Who were you talking to at the time? Who are your mentors? I mean, other than obviously having an amazing dad when you were young, your mom obviously wanting the bar to continue to succeed and feeling like you were going to play a role, but who do you go to when you need to kind of get some advice?

So I have a few. I mean, it's, it's one of those, I don't think we, in the time, I don't think you realize someone was a mentor to you. I think it's after the fact. So when I was at the Universal place, I had two managers. One was named Ante, who, he was amazing. He was this old Croatian guy and he had worked on cruise ships for years and he knew everything and just, Not even asking him questions, just when we were in the office just doing work, I'm working on one computer, he's working on another and just bounce, just talking, like just his life experience. I just learned so much out of that. And then I also had a mentor there named John who was my direct manager and he had been out of college for probably about 3 years. I'd been working at this job. So I looked at him as someone that I wanted to be in 3 years' time. So he was really helpful and was one of those people that even still I know I could message him. I haven't talked to him in a while, but if I did, then I'd be fine. And beyond that, it's actually funny to say because I'm technically now his boss, but one of my bartenders, Joe Varco, he's been working for us for 21 years now.

Oh, wow.

And so there's not a situation in the bar that he hasn't seen. Everybody knows him. He's one of those larger-than-life characters. but just being able to go to him and ask him, hey, like I have an encounter in this situation. What, what, what did we do in the past?

Yeah.

Like what worked for us in the past with this? And that's been a great resource for me. And there's, there's a few people like that for me. Um, also the, just right across the street from us, um, at Palace Pizza, they're great. They kind of have the same situation as us where It's now being run by the second generation. And similarly, we opened in '96, they opened in '97. So I think it's really cool that we're right across the road from them. And all of them, I know that I can go to them and ask them for anything and they'll help us out. And they know that they could do the same for us. So I consider all of them to be my mentors as well.

There's just so much wisdom. And I don't even know how old you are, but I know that you're wiser than your years. Just listening to the lessons, the understanding of being able to like, just what was his name? The Croatian guy?

Ante.

Ante. Just knowing that you wanted to hear those stories, right? So you just listened to what he had to tell you and you wanted, you learned from, you were a sponge. I can almost see you just like, all right, tell me about that time and tell me about that time. So what about like from a, So who has influenced as far as the customer service side? Because I feel like your game is strong in being customer service friendly and focused on just the experience at being at Molly's. I've noticed a shift in just the few times that I've been back since you've been in charge. It's kind of a weird thing to say, you're in charge.

I know, it feels weird.

But talk about like where you, what your positioning is and where you've learned, you know, kind of your I don't know, your thoughts toward customer service? I don't know.

I mean, I never, I don't feel like I ever learned. I don't think anyone ever learns how to customer service. For me, it was just, I grew up in the pub and I was talking to customers from when I could talk. So I think I just grew up with it. And I think customer service is one of those things, like it's, It's one of those things that could be made really simple. It's just treat people with respect and treat people well, and then they're going to reciprocate. It gets overcomplicated sometimes. A place I worked before, everything was scripted with customer service and I was terrible at it.

Oh yeah.

Because I'd walk over every situation, it was just like, insert this. I'd walk over there and I'd say it and I wouldn't even mean what I was saying. I wouldn't, I couldn't do it. And yeah, so I think it's just one of those things, just treat people well and they'll treat you well back.

And then what about the unruly? You're working in a bar, it gets late, you know, what's that process? How do you handle that?

I got the security guys for that one.

No, but even that, like, it's just, it's a confidence thing.

If you approach it confidently and go up and be strong about what you're saying and people usually listen.

So I want to pull a Chrissanne Long, uh, real quick and, and go back a little bit to, uh, when you were talking about not really feeling like you were necessarily ready to take over the bar. When did you feel like you were like, all right, I've gone through the necessary training, I've taken the necessary steps with the jobs and internships, and I'm ready?

Honestly, I don't think I even now feel ready. I think it's just one of those things that you're always learning, you're always You're always getting better. Yeah, I think if the second that you stop getting better, then that's when you start to get worse. So for me, it was— I was at Hillstone and I had worked with them at their, um, Winter Park location. And it was— I did their training program and it was the hardest few months of my life. It was— I was working 70, 80 hours a week, like, in the kitchen, on my feet, like and expectations there were high. It was, you had to be perfect. There's no such thing as an off day. You had to be on it every day, every day. And I think that was really challenging to me because for me, everywhere that I'd ever been, I could be successful just off of working hard. If I wasn't doing well, I just worked harder and I got better at it. There, that wasn't the case. Hard work wasn't enough there. You had to have the knowledge. You had to have the experience, everything like that. And I challenged, that challenged me a lot and I struggled with it at first. And then, so I got through the training program. I was told I did well. I don't know.

I didn't feel like I did. It's kind of like you made it through.

So, and they sent me down to West Palm, West Palm Beach, their location there. And that was a whole new beast. It was like super, super, fancy restaurant, which I was not used to. I'm used to neighborhood pub. It's completely different. Famous people coming in every night. I met Bob Kraft. I met Ricky Fowler. Howard Stern came in one night.

Oh, wow.

Robert James Patterson ate lunch there like 4 times a week.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, it was really cool, but very challenging because with that comes the guest expectations are you have to be on every time. Right. And that was very difficult for me. Again, I don't think I did a very good job, but I learned a lot there and it helped me grow. And then towards this time, I guess February last year, I started, I came home for a week and I worked in the pub and, 'cause I had, I got a week off work.

Mm-hmm.

'Cause I'd been working there nonstop, basically not really taking any days off for almost a year now. So they were like, take a week, go do whatever you want. So I wound up coming home.

So you went to work.

So I came home.

Yeah. And just hung around the pub for a week, worked, whatever.

And I just found I didn't want to go back. And I was like, I just want to stay here. I just want to keep doing this. This is what I love to do. And the whole drive back down to West Palm, I was trying to convince myself not to put in my 2 weeks the next day. And got back, went to bed, woke up the next morning, had to be at work at, I think, 3. And the whole time I just was trying to convince myself not to put in my 2 weeks. Worked that night, hated it.

Put in my 2 weeks next day. I was, I was, I, I had no, I knew that I was checked out and I knew that where I belonged was back here.

And so of course the worst timing in the world, I took over the pub. March 1st, 2020.

Yes. Wow. Yeah.

Wow.

15 days before the shutdown or 17 days before the shutdown.

So yeah, one of my bartenders always jokes, he was joking with me when we got shut down on March 17th, St.

Patty's Day last year. We're all kind of sulking around because we don't know when we're going to be able to work again. And so we're all sat around a table finishing up numbers, whatever. Have a beer. And we're all kind of just looking down, all feeling sorry for ourselves. And one of my bartenders, Brendan, he looks at me and he goes, you know, Jack, the pub's been around 24 years. You run it for 2 weeks and we have to close down.

Nice, Brendan.

And we all just burst out laughing. And it was such just a like, it felt good to laugh. It felt good to smile. It was exactly what we needed in that moment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's funny. And for listeners that don't know, my husband Craig, his son Alex works with Jack. And it's funny because I can't say for Jack, it's just like It's not rolling yet.

I don't even really say people work for me.

I don't think they do. I think we're a team.

I'm just the person that makes the decisions, I guess.

Yeah. Yeah. But it's funny because I have that same complex. I was at— I was— I don't remember where I was, but Olivia, who works for us at Maximize, her friend Kendall saw me out and she's like introducing me to her friend saying, this is Olivia's boss. And I'm like, I'm nobody's boss. Like, that just doesn't— I don't wear that word well. So I think I can totally relate.

I don't like I like that word.

But yeah, so yeah. And then I remember just the struggles of talking to Alex and figuring out what are we going to do and how is every— so talk to us about how you handled being the leader, being new to the job, new to the role, now having to think about your employees in a way that you had never really had the responsibility to think about. What kind of pressures, what kind of feelings were going through your mind when all that happened? You couldn't control it, but you also cared about making sure that they were taken care of, I'm going to assume.

Yeah, it was difficult because it was one of those—

they all knew me because I had been around. It was kind of known that I was going to eventually come back, but having only been their boss for— all right, there's that boss word again.

Yeah, there it is.

Felt weird again. Having only been their boss for 17 days, I'm trying to earn their respect. I'm trying to prove to them that I'm going to work for them, that And then I've got to lay them all off. And it was just like, I had only been the manager there for 17 days. I had to tell my entire staff that I don't know when you're going to have a job again. And that was really challenging. And then as we're working through the shutdown, trying to just find little odd jobs for each of them to do, just something that we can help them out. But at the same time, trying to save money for the pub because we don't know when we're going to be able to make money again. And throughout that, trying to do to-go was very challenging. So I basically, I started, so we got shut down, we were closed for about a week, and then I started doing, we, I opened up basically as a to-go liquor store. And I thought it was going to go a lot better than it did.

Yeah. Yeah.

It didn't go well at all. I sat out there, I set up a little table out front of Molly's with signs, like pricing, everything like that.

Right.

And I'd get there at noon every day and I'd stay at the til 7. I did that for, I think, 60 straight days. And if I sold $20 worth of stuff in a day, it was a good day. Oh man, it was terrible. In that 60 days, yeah, we only did $2,000 in sales.

Wow. Yeah, it was, it was one of those—

it was, it was terrible. I hated every second of it, but I think I grew a lot just having to sit out there every day. Just like, I don't know, it, it made me so much hungrier for when Then we were able to open back up.

Right.

It was just, I don't care what I have, how many hours I have to do work. It's just, I'm so happy that I can, we can do this again.

Right. Right. So let's talk a little bit too about how creative, I think you got creative at one point in time. I was, I was, you were doing all of the research to figure out when, when the secondary shutdown for bars and nightclubs or whatever came along, figuring out what was going to happen and how you're like, okay, I've done this for 60 days. This is not going to work. We've got to figure something else out. And I, Did you find a loophole or how, who you, you, you weren't going to take it lying down. That's what I watched is just like, okay, I'm going to figure this out. So what did you do when that secondary shutdown came along? And you're like, well, we can qualify based on this, this, this, or this. What were the, how did that happen?

Yeah. So it was, it was one of those things.

I was, I guess, reading the fine print, I guess, is what you had to do. So the order came out.

And I'm reading through it and it basically, the first order had been saying for the longest time, the orders had been saying that you had to do at least 50% food. Mm-hmm. Which for us, we're mainly a bar. There was no way that we would do that and be profitable. Right. Mm-hmm. So we weren't doing that. And then kind of quietly, the governor, the, the governor took away that 50% and did it just If you have food.

Mm-hmm.

So it wasn't really announced anything like that. I was just reading through, I would read through the orders like every day just to see if there was any changes.

Mm-hmm.

And reading through it one day, I saw it said, as long as you have a food license, it didn't even say anything about food. It just said, as long as you have a food license, yeah, you were good to open. So I lost my mind and ran up to the pub and took out our license. We had, luckily we used to serve food back in the day when we first opened. Mm-hmm. We hadn't served food in probably 15 years. But my mom being the smart woman she is, she just kept the license active the whole time.

Whoa.

And it was only, it was only about, I think like $10 or $50, like $50 a year. So she just kept it going.

Yeah.

And I saw that I got, I got that license.

I got goosebumps right now.

It was like that, that, that emotional rollercoaster that day.

I think in that day I had found out we could open and then found out we couldn't like 5 different times.

Mm-hmm.

And by the end of the day I was just like, someone gimme an answer.

Right.

So, Um, yeah, in that I called, calling, um, even the state, like one person would tell me I could open, one person would tell me I couldn't. So I finally just got to a point I was like, someone please. So ultimately found out I could open, um, got in contact with our field agent from the, um, I think it's partner business or something like that, one of state.

DBPR.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's it. Talked to him. I asked him, hey, come out to the pub. Tell me what it is I have to do. And so he came out and he said, I was reading through it. I showed him. I said, it doesn't say anything about food. I've got this license. Can I just open without food? Because I have the license. And he was like, Jack, please just serve food. Serve food. Just make it easy. Like serve food. So then called up our Cisco rep and he was our big shout out to him. Shout out to John. Yeah.

Thanks, John.

If you ever need a guy. Yeah.

So he came up and I was like, we have to build a menu because we hadn't done food in 15 years. I'd never built a menu before.

Well, with one exception, one day out of the year, you've always done food.

So, so yeah, we had that. So we had that to work off of.

And then, so he came up and we spent a couple hours just going over what, what works, what works. I didn't want to have to pay a kitchen cook to sit back there all day because I didn't know, I didn't know how busy we were going to be. It was still in the height of the pandemic. People were so scared. So we figured out a way where we could do all fried food. So I don't know if you guys ever worked in kitchens, fried food is the easiest thing in the world. You drop it in a fryer, wait for it to float, pull it up.

So, um, it was one of those— Good to know.

I didn't know that. Yeah.

It was one of those that we could, I could do it.

I could have food and I could train all my bartenders on how to cook the food being that easy and not have to pay a cook to be back there and just have the bartenders do it as they work. So we opened up like that and we had our menu consisted of chicken tenders and french fries, fish and chips, and what we call chips and gravy. French fries seasoned with a blackened seasoning and then a Guinness gravy on the side, which if you've ever had Guinness gravy, it's gross.

The Guinness gravy is to die for.

Oh my God. I could drink it. Yeah. Just drink it straight.

It's disgusting to think of, but I've seen a lot of people do it actually. So yeah, open like that.

And again, called the staff in for a staff meeting and kind of explained to them what we were doing, explained to them the changes, going non-smoking because of now we have food, you can't have food and smoking. So this is what we're going to do. And I expected them to all have such pushback. Like, what do you mean, Jack? How are we going to do this? How are we going to do this? How are we going to do this? And there was none of that. It was just every one of them was like, all right, let's do this. Let's go.

Whatever we have to do to get back to work.

Yeah.

There was no, there was no like, well, what about this? What about this? What about this? It was just, yeah, we know there's gonna be kinks. We know there's gonna be weird things along the way, but let's do it.

Wow.

Like, let's have some fun.

So let's, let's talk about that for a minute because I am so familiar with the resistance.

Mm-hmm.

Right. Of, okay, I'm the leader. And I'm not saying that my team necessarily resists, but I'm familiar with, well, what do you, what are we gonna do about this thing? And what, what have you thought about this? And have you thought about that? And the answer is no, you haven't had a chance to think about it. So you're, you're making this decision basically in the minute, right? From one minute to the other. What a great blessing that there wasn't that, like, a whole lot of pushback for you to have to deal with answering all of these other questions that you couldn't answer yet, right? Like—

Exactly. It was, it was actually like, I, it was amazing because it was one of those— I printed up a sheet to hand out. These are all the regulations that we're gonna have to do. Well, people are gonna have to wear masks, 6 feet apart, everything like that. And I was behind the bar. They all sat at the bar stools. I basically just told them all what we're doing. And there was just a— once I got to the bottom of the list, there was just a— I asked if there was any questions. And I think the only question there was, was someone jokingly asked if we had vegan options.

And I was like, no, seriously, no questions. And everyone was just like, let's do it.

Let's go. And yeah, we actually afterwards, we all had a beer and we're just like, all right, this is what we're gonna do. Let's, let's get after it.

Wow. What do you think gave you, because I mean, I can only imagine having to go through those loopholes while things are consistently getting shut down and consistent nos. What do you think kind of gave you that mental toughness to just say, I'm just not gonna give up no matter what, I'm just gonna keep pushing, even if you didn't see?

I think a lot of it was I was just I was so sick of sitting outside not selling anything.

Yeah, yeah. It kind of gave me a hunger to, all right, so anything's got to be better than this. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of it was that, and I don't know, I think, I think we Irish are a stubborn group, so when we're told that we can't do something, we usually want to find a way around it.

So yeah, it was, it was one of those, it was, I felt like I, I had to do it, it was my responsibility to the staff, it was my responsibility to the bar. To find a way for us to open, for us, because at the time, like, there was one point where, like, who knows if a lot of businesses got to this and you don't know if, are we ever going to be able to open again? Are we, is the money going to run out and we're gonna have to shut down? Like, it was one of those, and I kind of take it as a responsibility to my family, to my dad, to everyone, to the staff, to, I took it as that to keep the place going, and this was the way I was going to be able to do it, and that we were going to be able to do it. So it was— I was gonna exhaust every option until I found a way to do it. And yeah, it was— we opened up then, I think July 10th, I think I want to say was when we opened back up. And just, it was weird and it was different, but again, it was just roll with it, just make it up as we go, right? And It turned out good.

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So that, that was something I had to learn was because you see it, especially in Lakeland, I think we have so many great business leaders there and you look at them and you think like, God, that person, just gets it. Like, they have everything, they have everything, like, figured out everything. They've got it all figured out. There's— they've got it.

Yeah.

I thought that about my dad. There's so many other business leaders in Lakeland that I think that about. But then as I started doing it and started running the bar and everything like that, I realized nobody has any clue what's going on, right? And it's just, you take it day by day, and just as, as issues arise or as opportunities arise, you just jump at it. And it was one of those that in my whole life I had thought like, God, the decisions, like, like these hard decisions, I don't— I didn't think I had the ability to make the decision on them. I didn't think I had the confidence to. And then I was kind of forced into it throughout the shutdown, and I did make them, and I was able to. And it was kind of one of those I had to step back like, all right, you are ready for this.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah, I, I just think I'm just holding up the mirror for you for a second. You're talking about these business leaders and you're one of them.

I know I don't really look at myself as that yet, but I think I've got a long way to go.

You don't have to look at yourself that way. I'm telling you, I see it and I'm, I'm here in the business community and I'm looking at you and I'm seeing you leading. And it's just, it's a breath of fresh air, not because we needed a breath of fresh air, but just because there were so many opportunities for you to go, Okay, I'm tapping out. I'm done. I can't do this. I wasn't ready, whatever, you know, and there would have been a perfect excuse. You know, it's the middle of a pandemic.

Yeah.

You know, nobody would have blamed you. Nobody would have said, oh, you know, you know, he just didn't have it. No, it was a pandemic. Right. So you have persevered and that stubborn Irish blood that you have has allowed that. But I also think that there's this character that you are that I hope that by me saying this, it might mean something, but even if it doesn't, I really appreciate it. It really is time for you to kind of step into that space and say, I am a business leader. I am there. Now, obviously we all know as business leaders, one to another, that we never stop learning. So that doesn't, by saying I'm a business leader or that I have arrived, if you will, that doesn't mean the journey is over. That means really just means the journey has just begun and the responsibility just gets a lot greater as you go.

Yeah.

And I'm with Chrissanne, you know, this is my first interaction with you, man, but just hearing you speak, I mean, what a story, dude.

Thank you. Thank you.

This is especially in a time when there was so much chaos and uncertainty and is this going to happen? Is this going to happen? And just to, to even if it's like a little glimmer of light, you're just like, I'm going to go towards that.

That's huge, man. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that.

Yeah, man.

It's always great to hear stuff like that being said. So thank you guys. I really appreciate that.

Well, and you know, because of Alex working there, I have a little bit more, you know, I, I follow along more closely than probably I would have. And so I'm just Hopefully he doesn't complain about me too much. No, he hasn't complained at all. I mean, he, he, if I'm speaking for him, but I think he admires what you're doing and he's happy to be led by, you know, by, by somebody that, that's leading in the way you're leading.

We're lucky to have him.

So yeah.

I'm glad.

Yeah. So let's, let's kind of move. I'm, I'm, I'm excited about what's coming up for you actually today as we launch this podcast today, St. Patrick's Day. So you have a tradition in downtown.

Yeah.

So if you're listening to the podcast right now and it's before, you know, the evening, you should make plans to attend and get out there and be a part of the celebration.

A lot of great Irish music, great food.

Julie Phillips, she cooks for us each year and she is an insane talent. I mean, it's what that woman could do in a kitchen is just insane. She's cooking the corned beef right now. And it's amazing. It's, I think it's, she outdid herself, but each year she just gets better and better at it. And you think like there's no way she'd get better next year. And then she does.

And I know she, she has some incredible talents that she's been throughout the city. Like she was worked in a lot of different places. So I just love that she gets to do that for you every year.

Yeah. She's good. Yeah. She's worked a lot of different places. She's currently at 1961. So Marcos was nice enough to loan her to us for the week.

So I really appreciate that.

That's good.

That's good. So let's talk about the story behind the celebration. Obviously it's St. Patrick's Day. It's an Irish tradition. But how has that tradition been a part of your life, you know, even as a child? And then the downtown, the streets get closed, you know, how long has that been going on?

Yeah. So growing up, I went to small Catholic school, actually just right across the road here at St. Joe's. And so small school, small class sizes, all the teachers knew, all the administration knew, Paddy's Day, the McHughes aren't coming.

The McHughes are at work.

So we'd usually get checked out around noon and we'd walk over to the pub. It was only about a half-mile walk and we were working all day. And like I said, teachers all knew it was never a thing that never really even had to have a note.

It was just, all right, bye McHughes, go to work. So yeah, I grew up doing that.

So then But just as a street party, as we've kind of gone along, I think it's gotten bigger and bigger and the reputation has kind of gotten bigger as well, which is obviously great. And it's just a lot of fun. I mean, it's a lot of work, but it's so much fun. It's my favorite day of the year. I usually wind up working about 24 hours straight.

Wow.

But it doesn't feel like work. It's so much fun. I can't say enough about it. It's great.

Yeah. You get caught up in it and specifically myself. Craig and I have been caught up in it a couple of years. So it's usually spring training is happening around the same time as the St. Patrick's Day event. And I remember we weren't at this particular office location. I think we were at the other one, but we went for lunch because it's like, okay, it's St. Patrick's Day. Molly's has food, so let's go. Let's go get some awesome food. And I'm embarrassed but proud at the same time to admit that we didn't leave this one. This one, St. Patrick's Day, we got there for lunch and then eventually Craig was like, I think it's time for you to go, Chrissanne Long. And I'm like, yeah, you're probably right.

It's one of those, it's a fun day just because it's one of those that a lot of even obviously our locals that we have now, um, come in, but even a lot of the old guard that are say married and have kids now and can't go out as much as they used to, all of them come and it's just a great time. It's, I don't know, it's, it feels like it's just a celebration of everything that we do all year and everything that we've done for the last 25 years each year, that just feels like a celebration of that. And I think that's, it's a beautiful thing. It's so much fun for us.

Have you ever been to the St. Paddy's Day celebration?

I have not, but I'm definitely interested.

There you go.

What are you doing in a couple of hours?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

First beers on me.

So let's, okay, so you've got this awesome celebration, then you're going to take a break. Obviously you're going to hopefully go to sleep and have a day off. After St. Patrick's Day is over. But what are you most looking forward to as, as your tenure as a leader starts to grow and develop? What are you most excited about with Molly's? Any ideas in the pipelines? Any things that you're wanting to do long-term going forward?

I think with Molly's, a lot of the kind of what makes it so special is that we've stayed true to what we do for our whole existence, 25 years now. So Nate, I don't know if you've come to the pub, but we don't have any TVs, no jukeboxes, anything like that. It's really, when Dad opened it up, he tried to make it as much like the pubs back home. And the pubs back in Ireland are, it's the center of the community basically is the pub. If funerals, you go to the pub, weddings, you go to the pub, events, you go to the pub. It's just what people do. And it's where people go to socialize. So That's kind of what we want for the pub. We want the pub to be somewhere where people come and just meet people and talk to people and build relationships with people. And I think that is festered by not having TVs, because I don't know about you guys, but if I walk into a bar and I'm by myself and there's a TV, I'll just sit there and watch TV. I don't have to talk to anyone. I'm watching the game, whatever.

Right.

If you walk into a bar and you're by yourself, you're kind of— and there's no TVs, you're kind of forced to talk to somebody, whether it be the bartender, the person next to you, whatever. And I think that's how I've seen it myself. That's how you build relationships. That's how you build friendships. I see it every day. Like someone will come in and like, whether it be they've, they're coming here to drink their sorrows or whatever, and they're sad. They'll come in and have a couple beers and get talking to people and they'll, there's their new best friend. Right. And it's, it's amazing. I mean, I think just Monday night actually, a gentleman was in, he said he was an EMT and he was He said you could tell he had just had the roughest day and he was like, every call of the day was just terrible. I'd never seen him before. And, um, so he came in and he basically told me he was coming in to drink his sorrows out.

Oh boy. Yeah.

So then 10, 15 minutes goes by, he's drinking his beer. He gets talking to the person next to him. They go play pool. They meet a couple more people. And at, by the end of the night, the guy came in and he was like, this is exactly what I needed. This is just like, I don't want to be sad anymore. Like, this is just what I needed. And I think that's the beautiful thing of having a neighborhood pub, is just being able to uplift people and people come in and meet people. And I, I just think it's beautiful. So with that, I don't want to change anything about that. That's, that's just, that's what we do. That's, that's the vision that's always been. That's kind of the direction that I always see the pub being in.

What, what's your, uh, hope for Lakeland then? As far as growth within the next 5 to 10 years around what you guys are doing?

Yeah, I mean, growth is always good. The more people that come to Lakeland, the more people that live in downtown, work in downtown, the better for us. Yeah. Um, I think having that entertainment district down there is, is great. So I think there's so many bars that do different things and they all do it well, and everyone down there is so smart, and we all kind of— each person has their niche and it should be turned out as that. So When, for instance, like me, when I see other bars come to Lakeland, a lot of people, they'll come to me and they'll say like, Jack, there's more competition, right? How do you feel about this? But it's not, because the more of a draw that downtown Lakeland has, people are going to bounce around. People are gonna— like, for me, if someone comes down to go to a certain bar, they're gonna stop by Molly's. I know they are. So it's one of those things that I, I welcome it, like, and I think it only adds to what we offer. So with that, I'd love to see Lakeland grow even more. I think it's grown so much in the 25 years we've been around. It's crazy to see. Yeah. And I'd love to see that continue.

Well, and that's another testament to the wisdom that I talked about that you have seeing competition as a good thing for the betterment of all, right? So if we have saturation, we have more people coming downtown, there is, people feel comfortable in places that aren't crowded, right? So if you only had one bar and there's 150 people in it, nobody's gonna wanna hang out there. You know, you probably couldn't have that many people, but you know what I mean? But now you have places for them to kind of go from one place to the other, to the other, to the other. And that's just good for everybody.

Yeah. And I, I wanna see success of the downtown as a whole of all the businesses down there. Like obviously I want us to be successful, but I don't want us to be successful our neighbors to do poorly, like, or the people across the street do poorly, right?

Right.

That's just— I want us to do well, you guys to do— I want all of us to do well. Of course, I hope we do a little bit better, but I want all of us to do well, you know?

Yeah, yeah. But I want all of us to do well. If we're all doing well, then that's just gonna—

if you're doing well, then that's gonna help me do better, right?

So iron sharpens iron. Yeah, 100%.

But as far as the pub's concerned with development, I think We've kind of been stubborn and staying so true to ourselves that we haven't really came as far as like social media and like, um, what you guys do, like marketing and stuff like that. We're not very good at that.

Um, we—

I'm trying to get better at it.

So we've always kind of—

we were— we grew up on the values as kids and stuff as like, work hard, work hard, work hard. So for us, it was always just like, put your head down and work. And like learn the pub, learn how to deal with people. That's always been what we've been good at is the face-to-face. But as far as online and things like Instagram, Facebook, all that, we always, we haven't really been good at it. And I haven't been good at it. I think I was telling Chrissanne Long before I came in here, I may be 23, but as far as like tech and social media and all that, I may as well be a 70-year-old man.

I'm just, I'm not good at it.

So I'm trying to teach myself how to be better at it and slowly getting better. I just learned how to use the portrait mode on your iPhone.

Ooh. Yeah, yeah.

Get ready for it. Nice, nice.

Here it comes.

Nice.

Yeah.

No, so that's kind of a testament to how bad at it I am. It's funny.

Yeah.

But I think it's important to obviously realize where you can get better.

And I think that's the main area that I could get better. And I guess If anyone's out there that could help me with that.

Well, you know, we can help you with that. So we, we definitely need to talk. I think Craig had mentioned, um, somebody had talked to him about some stuff. So we'll, we'll get— we'll take care of that. But I want to tell a story, um, because I helped Alex with some of the Facebook stuff early on before you had come over. And so I'm an admin on the Facebook page, and so I'm telling the audience a story of this young person who Facebook messaged the Molly's page and said, my name is Molly McHugh from— I don't know where that person was.

New York, I think.

New York, right? So she sends this message and I, I don't respond. I just see this message come through and then I, I suddenly I see her reply going, oh my God, that is so awesome, thank you so much. And basically Jack was like, I'm sending you a t-shirt, like I need to know what size you want to have. So she wanted to have a Molly McHugh's t-shirt And I just, I just, you are naturally going to get it. It's just the technical steps that you're going to need to learn. But also don't forget that part of being a leader is delegating and not necessarily you having to learn it all, but knowing that you have the people in the right places to do the right things based on the goals and the metrics that you're expecting. So you being taught excellence at your internships and your previous jobs, now it's your turn to start to say, hey, I expect excellence, but I'm not going to be the one doing it. I'm going to be the one. Yeah.

Asking somebody else to do it.

I think that's the challenging part is being able to kind of step back. And as we grow, I'm going to need to.

Yeah.

So that's somewhere I'll get better at eventually.

So let's talk, I think before we started recording, you said something about the way that you're going to be doing beer going forward. I think what's really cool about, and you're saying staying true, but I think you've kind of dove into, or have you guys ever done anything with craft beers? At all.

So we got, we, we do stuff with craft beers. We still have craft beers. Um, but when I took over at Molly's, we had 5 different IPAs on tap, which, like, we're an Irish pub, like, that's, that's, that's a bit much, right? Um, so one of, one of the things I've really tried to get back to is getting back to your traditional Irish pub beers. Um, so people walk into Irish pub, you gotta have a Guinness, you gotta have, but beyond You gotta have Smithwick's, you gotta have Harp, you gotta have Killians, you gotta have Kilkenny, like all these old traditional Irish beers that when we first opened, that was why we were so successful was because it was something different. People were so sick of Budweiser or Bud Light, which I'm not throwing any shade, those are great beers, but it was what everyone in Polk County, that's what they had been drinking for their whole lives. They had never tried anything else. So I think getting back to these traditional Irish pub beers is something that I've worked towards and we still keep craft around. So we have a couple, we have 2 taps, I think now that I mix it up with craft beers. So it still meets that, meets that, I guess demographic, but we're not, I in no way want us to be a craft beer bar.

So you're balancing that customer service. Like if I come in and I like Mick Ultra or I like Bud Light, you're going to, you're going to provide that to me in a bottle, probably not on a tap. Correct. But you also are realizing you're staying on brand, and I love that. This is your brand, you know, this is who we are. We're not deviating from that. We're staying the course. We're not gonna, you know, and I think a lot of times businesses try to be all things to all people.

Yeah.

And this is a lesson of how to stay on brand, and I just, I commend you on getting back to that initial, initial vision.

I don't know where I heard it, but someone told me once, and it's it's very true. It's a great saying that you can't be all things to all people. You have to be everything to some people. Yeah.

Everything to some people. Yeah. I love that.

So I don't know.

Yeah.

I, again, I want to, I want us to cater to everyone. I think every, there's something for everyone at the pub. I don't think that any, we have a full liquor selection. I don't think anyone can walk to the bar and not find something that they want.

Right.

Yeah.

So, but just staying true to what we do is very important to me and I think that's what's helped us. We haven't, we're not big on the gimmicks. We just kind of, I look at it as we do things simple, but we do the simple stuff well. And if you do all the simple stuff well, then it's going to usually turn out well.

Right. And I think that's why you had such a hard time going out and being in the street when you had to try and sell during the shutdown, you know, that felt gimmicky to you, you know, that wasn't, it wasn't authentic. It wasn't who you are. And so it felt like it was forced and you were like, I can't do this.

It felt, yeah. It felt very like disingenuous to just feel like, like, all right, here you go. Because just the way it worked, we had to sell things more expensive than a liquor store because we don't buy in the bulk that they did and everything like that. So it felt like disingenuous to just be like, all right, yeah, I'm gonna charge you $5 more than the liquor store. Here's your bottle. I'm not even— I can't even sit here and talk to you while you drink it, right?

Have a nice day. But I think at that time everyone was really looking for ways to support the businesses that they, they could, you know. And so it was, it was almost like that came out of us as consumers that we wanted to go find a way to support our businesses. And so you weren't necessarily asking them to pay more. We were, we were wanting to pay more.

It was, it was, that was, that was the cool part is a lot of people were that same way.

And that, that was just so touching to us that people would come by and like, I don't care that I have to do this. I just, I want to see you guys, you guys make it. And that, that felt so good that like people cared that much about us the way they thought to do that. It really, it was very touching.

Yeah, yeah. And, and we're gonna have to bring you over to the house and let you see what Alex was able to help his dad build when there wasn't— you see pictures. We'll have to have you over. So yeah, during the shutdown, Alex came over and worked with Craig and built our back deck back up.

Yeah.

And so, and we— it really looks nice. Like, it is, it's very, very cool.

And, and so some of the good things that came out of the pandemic too, as far as consumer, I've found that so many people now are so much more focused on local.

Yeah.

So everybody, everybody wants to shop local. Everyone wants to eat local. I think that's awesome.

Yes.

Because I mean, it's just, it's so great to see that people want what's best for the people that live in Lakeland. I think people, it helped people understand that these people that own these local businesses are also part of this community. And if we want this community to do well, then these local businesses need to do well. And I think that that realization that everyone had was just awesome. And I think it's continued as we've reopened and as everywhere's reopened. I think so many, you talk to so many people and they're okay paying a dollar more for their food. They're okay paying $10 more for a shirt because they know that they're helping someone who lives in their community, someone who their kids go to school together. They go to the same Publix, like they just understand that. That they're helping someone who lives here. And I think, I think that's awesome.

Yeah, I think a part of it too is that the authenticity of what you guys are bringing to the table. I feel like because of COVID it heightened that. People wanted— they knew what was fake and they knew what was real.

Yeah, and I think that's huge. Yeah, it's awesome to walk into a restaurant and know the person that cooked your food is the owner of that restaurant. Yeah, it's a cool feeling.

Yeah, the relationship is, is so much more magnified by the true connection that you have to the people, that to the, you know, the relationship you have to the location, to the place. I love being able to say hello to the owner when I go into some, when I go in someplace. And that comes from my childhood when my dad owned the Hallmark store in Winter Haven, you know, everybody knew him and he was part of, he was not a, you know, working on the business. He was always working in the business, being a part of the day-to-day. And, you know, I just, I love that. I love it when people come in, is Mr. Long here? And they just wanted to say hello, you know? So, well, this has been fun. I hope you enjoyed. Is there anything you want the audience to know? Any calls to action, any invitations?

Come see us down at the pub.

If you've never been to Molly's, please come see us.

I'd love to talk to you. I'd love to meet all you guys. So yeah, just come down to the pub and let's have a great time.

And let's see you down at St. Patrick's Day tonight.

Yeah, I'll see you guys then.

All right, everybody, thanks for listening. And remember, we have a new episode each week, so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Podcasts or wherever you listen, and remember to leave us a review. We promise to read every one. You can always find all of our episodes at Elevate Polk, and if there's something you want to hear or a story about an entrepreneur in Polk County that you'd like us to interview, um, on an upcoming episode, reach out to us on Facebook at Elevate Polk.