McCreary’s Irish Pub opened in June 2002. I was in college when the McCreary family asked me to help run their newest business venture, an Irish Pub. The McCreary’s had given me my first job when I was fifteen years old, so they have always been like family to me, and I worked for them at the pub for eight years. When I was about to graduate with my journalism degree, the McCreary’s decided to sell the business to pursue other things professionally. Although I loved to creatively write, I realized I was much better at running a business than I was at keeping up with grammar and politics. I finished my degree but made the transition from employee to employer in March 2009. 

 

I’ve worked for the last thirteen years, expanding on the original McCreary’s recipes and ideas, to make them my own. If it’s not broken no need to fix it but, as a business owner, you know there is always room to grow - and that is my contribution to the McCreary’s name. In the past thirteen years, I have since gotten married and have two fun, wild, little boys. I was able to keep the business momentum going with the help of my sister and brother-in-law, who joined my management team. We have since expanded the business to include a full breakfast menu on the weekends and an array of Irish-inspired cocktails. We recently even opened our second, and much larger location, in downtown Columbia this past February. 

 

In the past twenty years of being a woman-owned business, I have seen a shift in what used to be a typical male-dominated business. While the concept of a woman-owned business is not new - the idea of a woman owning a pub was a surprise to many. It used to be common that a patron would refer to the owner as a “he” and get a startled surprise when a woman would come out to shake their hand. However, the times are changing, and women are now doing everything from owning pubs, sports bars to becoming distillers of whiskey and craft brews themselves. 

 

Somedays, I think I’m barely surviving motherhood and still had to come out swinging just to make the business survive post Covid… But here we are and still learning and growing! Thriving under pressure is literally what women were made to do, so it only makes sense we do business so well. It was an honor to be one of the few in 2009, and it is now a privilege to be one of many here in 2023. Learn more and order at mccrearyspub.com.