Nearly 20 years ago they built an Irish pub. Today they are building a brand.
The Culhane sisters have two pubs, a wine and a vodka brand. There is more to come.
The original pub opened in 2005 at 967 Atlantic Blvd. in Atlantic Beach. The second opened six years ago at 9720 Deer Lake Court in Tinseltown.
Lynda Culhane-Merritt, Michelle Culhane-Kearney, Mary Jane Culhane Crowley and Áine Culhane McClung are from Bale County in Keary, Ireland.
They had a rural upbringing. There was no television. They worked the farm and entertained themselves. There are six Culhane siblings in all, including a brother, Patrick, and the youngest sister, Sarah.
In 1993, Michelle immigrated to St. Paul, Minnesota, where she had lined up a job. Leaving was easy. At that time job prospects were bleak in Ireland.
“I mean, there was really nothing happening. We all had some form of third-level education. There was no opportunity,” Michelle said
“We’ve always had the ambition. Seeing how our parents performed and operated their businesses, which was the family farm. We were always surrounded by entrepreneurship. Everybody around us owned either land or worked the land. And then, of course, our uncles, our aunts, they all own businesses.”
One by one Lynda, Mary Jane and finally Áine joined Michelle. At the time obtaining a green card was comparatively easy. During the Clinton administration, 50,000 visas were made available to the Irish.
It was Mary Jane who prompted her sisters to move to Jacksonville. She came here on a business trip and spent time in Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach. She knew this was where she wanted to live.
“It was in January, and I just fell in love with the community. At the corner I was in my element. I was walking around in my flip-flops in January,” Mary Jane said.
“I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I could live here.’ There’s the ocean. I went to the Sun Dog (Diner). I went to Ragtime (Tavern). I did a little bar hop with all my business friends.”
None had any real restaurant experience. In 2003, the sisters bounced around an idea of a true Irish pub. They rented the space that had been 6 Burners in 2005 and opened on May 19 of that year.
They also took advantage of a Guinness marketing promotion that detailed how to best open an Irish pub.
They pooled life savings. Sold belongings. Banks were not receptive to their attempt to get a mortgage.
“We went to every bank. We had a business plan. Everybody turned us down and started laughing at us, saying, ‘You want to open a restaurant? Good luck,’” Michelle said.
They relied not only on their memories but took advantage of Lynda’s and Michelle’s interior design school education.
Instead of importing items from Ireland, they hired local craftsmen to turn the interior of an Atlantic Beach strip mall into an authentic-looking Irish pub.
Culhane’s became a worldwide brand when Guy Fieri of the Food Network featured the restaurant on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” in 2010 and again in 2023. The episodes continue to be aired to this day.
“Back in 2016, I was at a boutique in Limerick, shopping for my son’s first Holy Communion, and this lady comes up to me. She goes, ‘You’re one of the Culhane sisters.’ I thought to myself, and how does she know that? She goes, ‘You are on the air all the time,’” Lynda said.
The restaurant has been a steady earner. The pandemic presented a setback. Just before the outbreak, they introduced their first spin-off venture – 5 Sisters Spirit Vodka.
They brought in the youngest sister, Sarah, as a way to involve her.
Family ties continue. On the back of the label, there is a picture of their mother taken when she was a young woman.
The stereotype might have expected them to sell a whiskey, but that is an involved process that needs large warehouse facilities to store the aging barrels. Vodka is a faster process and can be sold soon after being bottled.
Also, if they were to distribute in Ireland, there are few Irish vodka brands.
They had a part in the development of the spirit. Their vodka is infused with vaporized kelp and Irish seaweed. It pays homage to the importance of the Irish coast and adds the slightest hint of the ocean.
Besides being sold in its pub it is available at liquor stores and area bars and restaurants.
That led to the introduction of their private label wine. They have partnered with the Whitman Hill Winery in Zillah, Washington. Culhane’s Private Reserve Cabernet Franc is specially blended for the sisters’ label.
“Michelle and I lived in Italy,” Lynda said.
“We were exposed to so many amazing wines – Portuguese wine, Italian wine, being here in America, we’ve been to Napa Valley a couple of times. I feel like wine to me is food. People say, do you want dessert? And I always say, ‘This is my dessert.’”
As the Culhane’s brand expands, they realize that it will spread them thin. Part of their success is that there is rarely a time when one of them is not in one of the restaurants. They personally greet guests and chat a bit. Their Irish accents haven’t been replaced by Southern drawls.
All four came here as single women. They all married American men and now have families.
They are searching for business partners and investors who can expand their family of brands as a genuine Irish hospitality company. It will allow the women the time to focus on and nurture new projects. It will also make time for more trips home and visits abroad.
“Our mother was great in that aspect. She definitely encouraged us to travel, you know, to make something of ourselves, not to just remain at home,” Mary Jane said.
“That’s fine for some people, you know, but I think her dream for us really was to get out there and see the world and develop our own lives.”