Shuck and Awe How brothers Tommy and John Mollica give Hilton Head Island what it didn’t know it always needed. BY BARRY KAUFMAN
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Hilton Head Island was not the first stop for Tommy and John Mollica. Starting out in their dad’s Philadelphia restaurant, the brothers developed a flair for hospitality that took them around the country. On their own, they honed their skills in the front and back of the house. As a duo, they did everything from opening up Toledo’s Hollywood Casino together to running a blues bar in Fort Lauderdale. The island wasn’t their first stop, but they’re here for the duration. “When my brother said, ‘Let’s open a bar,’ I just responded, ‘Well I’m retired,’” said John. 16
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“but I’m not dead yet.” The brothers were getting the band back together, but the question still remained where they would choose for the magnum opus of their hospitality careers. “We looked everywhere,” said Tommy. “I knew I didn’t want to go back to the Florida Keys. We were looking everywhere from Clearwater up to Charleston. It was my brother who found this place.” “I spent months looking with realtors,” said John. “Charleston was on the list for a while, but everywhere you looked it was
bar, restaurant, bar, restaurant… If we did this there it would be a six-month flash in the pan. That’s not what we were looking to do.”
