How did Pinchers start?

Starting over in Florida

Before Pinchers, the Phelans ran Irish-themed restaurants in Texas. When oil prices collapsed in the mid-1980s, the Texas economy went with them, and so did the family’s restaurants. In August 1989 Tony, Kathleen and their boys drove to Southwest Florida in two cars pulling a trailer, with very little left.

Tony took a job waiting tables at The Dock at Crayton Cove in Naples. Grant, about 12 at the time, later bagged groceries at Publix to help out. Tony has said more than once that losing everything in Texas turned out to be the best thing that happened to them.

“The greatest thing that ever happened was closing the restaurants in Texas and moving to Florida and starting over.”

Tony Phelan, Cape Coral Breeze, 2019

A small room in Bonita Springs

A few years after the move, Tony was diagnosed with cancer and told he might have two years. He decided to open a restaurant of his own anyway. He signed the lease before he told the family, and put the last of their savings into a 1,500-square-foot space in a Bonita Springs shopping center, near U.S. 41 and Bonita Beach Road.

The idea was simple: the best of the Gulf, from local fishermen in local waters, served in a room where nobody had to dress up. Kathleen named it Pinchers Crab Shack, after the blue crabs they planned to serve. The story behind the name has a few twists of its own.

Built by hand for about $17,000

There was no money for a designer, so the family built the restaurant themselves for about $17,000. Tony made tables from discarded shipping pallets, cut light fixtures out of 55-gallon barrels with a torch and painted the sign on a piece of salvaged teak. Plenty of the furniture and equipment came secondhand.

Grant took a semester off from Cornell’s hotel school to help. He waited tables at night and put his tips toward building supplies. Many of those handmade details are still part of how Pinchers looks today.

Opening day, October 15, 1997

The doors were set to open at 11:30 a.m. The first guests walked in at 11:31. There were six people on staff, Tony and Grant included. Grant ran the kitchen as the first chef and Tony worked the floor, every day.

“I cooked every day, and my dad worked on the floor each day.”

Grant Phelan, Business Observer, 2025

The early months were lean. Grant remembers that a big day back then meant about $600 in sales. What kept the doors open was the same thing that keeps them open now: regulars who came back and brought friends. An early favorable review in the Naples Daily News brought in people who might never have found the place, and the small bar became the birthplace of the Pinchers Shuffle.

Seafood from the family’s own source

Grant built a working relationship with Island Crab Company, a fish house in St. James City on Pine Island, and the Phelans later became co-owners with the Haugland family. Owning the source means the family controls freshness and supply, and it is why Pinchers can serve fresh stone crab on the first day of the season. Today the family’s fleet works about 10,000 stone crab traps. You can read more in how stone crabs are caught.

“Since we own Island Crab, we’re able to serve claws on the 15th when many other restaurants can’t.”

Grant Phelan, 2011

From one room to ten restaurants

Pinchers grew one restaurant at a time: Fort Myers Beach on San Carlos Boulevard in 2005, Gulf Coast Town Center in 2010, Lakewood Ranch in 2012, Tarpon Point in Cape Coral in 2013, the Marina at Edison Ford and The Shops at Wiregrass in 2014, Marco Island in 2016 and Venice in 2017. When Hurricane Ian hit in 2022, Pinchers Tin City was the first business in Tin City to reopen.

Today there are ten Pinchers on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and the Lakewood Ranch restaurant is moving to St. Armands Circle in Sarasota. The family also runs other restaurants under Phelan Family Brands, but Pinchers is where it started. Tony still has a hand in how every restaurant looks and feels, and the idea behind the first one has not changed: feed people well, make them feel welcome, and don’t take yourself too seriously.

Common questions

Who founded Pinchers?

Tony Phelan founded Pinchers in 1997. His son Grant opened it with him as the first chef, and his wife Kathleen named the restaurant. The three of them own the family business today.

When did the first Pinchers open?

The first Pinchers opened on October 15, 1997, the opening day of Florida’s stone crab season.

Where was the first Pinchers?

In Bonita Springs, Florida, in a 1,500-square-foot space at The Center of Bonita Springs, near U.S. 41 and Bonita Beach Road. Pinchers Bonita Springs is now at 28580 Bonita Crossing Blvd.

What was Pinchers originally called?

Pinchers Crab Shack.

Is Pinchers still family owned?

Yes. Pinchers is owned and run by the Phelan family through Phelan Family Brands. It is not a chain or a franchise.