When is Pinchers’ birthday?

Why October 15

Florida’s stone crab season opens on October 15 every year. When Tony Phelan opened the first Pinchers that same day in 1997, he tied the restaurant to stone crab from the start. Today the season runs until May 1. It ran to May 15 until a 2020 rule change, which also raised the minimum claw size slightly.

For a lot of Florida families the date is already on the calendar. It means the first claws of the year, a bowl of mustard sauce and a table where nobody worries about clean hands.

Getting claws to every Pinchers on opening day

The price of stone crab isn’t set until the crabbers come in on opening day, so menus say market price. Once the boats are in, people from across the company, marketing and IT included, meet at Island Crab Company on Pine Island, divide the claws and drive them out so each restaurant has them that evening. Owning part of the fish house is what makes that possible.

“Our goal is to have as many restaurants with stone crabs in them as we can on October 15.”

Grant Phelan, Naples Illustrated

If you want to know what happens before the claws reach the truck, read how stone crabs are caught.

The Stone Crab Festival in Naples

A week or so after opening day, Pinchers hosts the Stone Crab Festival in Naples. It is free, it spreads across Tin City and the Old Naples Waterfront, and it opens on Friday evening with the ceremonial cracking of the first claw at Pinchers Tin City. Local press has put the crowds at around 25,000 people in recent years.

The 16th festival ran October 23 to 25, 2026, and Tony and Grant celebrated Pinchers’ 29th birthday there. For Tony it is a chance to thank the community that kept a small restaurant going in its first lean years. Grant was there for those years too, cooking in the first kitchen.

Birthdays that were harder than others

Not every birthday has been easy. The 25th came in October 2022, two weeks after Hurricane Ian, with several restaurants still closed. Pinchers Tin City was the first business in Tin City to reopen, on October 26, and the San Carlos restaurant at Fort Myers Beach came back in January 2023 after more than 100 days.

That is part of why the family takes the date seriously. October 15 marks the start of the season, but it also marks how long Pinchers has been part of these towns, and how many people helped it get there.

Common questions

When is Pinchers’ birthday?

October 15. The first Pinchers opened in Bonita Springs on October 15, 1997.

How old is Pinchers?

Pinchers turned 29 on October 15, 2026. October 15, 2027, will mark 30 years.

When is Florida stone crab season?

October 15 to May 1. Before the 2020 rule change the season ran to May 15.

Does Pinchers have stone crab on opening day?

That is the goal every year. Claws come in through Island Crab Company on Pine Island, which the family co-owns, and the team drives them to the restaurants so they are ready on opening night. Claws are priced at market.

Where is the Stone Crab Festival?

In Naples, at Tin City and along the Old Naples Waterfront, with free admission. Pinchers hosts it, and it opens with the cracking of the first claw at Pinchers Tin City.