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The Power of Persuasion: Liam Dolan
By Sandra Eagle
February 10, 2012
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 The dulcet tones of Liam Dolan’s Irish brogue are easy to listen to, as many of his customers will probably tell you. And as the proprietor of two successful restaurants in Charlottetown, and the partner in a third, he has ample opportunity to share his favourite stories or listen to guests as they amble in to sample the seafood bounty of PEI. And as a member of the executive for Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association (CRFA), he uses his powers of persuasion to lobby on behalf of his fellow restaurateurs.
Arriving in Canada in 1978 with just $200 in his pocket, Dolan only planned on stopping in PEI for a short while before heading to Toronto or points further west. But he fell in love with the province and put down roots, and in five years had opened up his first restaurant, The Claddagh Room.
“I was young when I got here, and I just refused to fail,” Dolan muses, “even though my friends thought I was a stubborn arse for opening a restaurant on a one-way side street.”
By 1985, his second operation, the Olde Dublin Pub opened upstairs. In 1994 he became a partner in Peake’s Quay, a popular restaurant on the waterfront in Charlottetown. In 2006, he renovated the Claddagh Room and renamed the premises the Claddagh Oyster House. Dolan has never looked back.
This summer, besides hoisting the Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins’ Adam McQuaid (a homegrown PEI boy) in front of Peake’s Quay, he was also smack dab in the middle of another media crush when a certain high-profile couple touched down on the island, none other than HRH Prince William and his new bride.
“Peake’s Quay was the only PEI restaurant that hosted the couple. Their people came over from London and they liked the location and the atmosphere. So we served oysters, chowder, bacon-wrapped scallops and lobster. It wasn’t terribly elaborate; they just wanted to eat what was local in PEI,” says Dolan.
Liam also used some of his trademark Irish charm to impress some American television royalty when Regis and Kelly stopped by to tape their reknowned daytime show. True to form, Liam managed to convert even a confirmed fish-hater like Regis Philbin to savour some Island delicacies, including several of his popular oyster, scallop and clam recipes.
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And the abundance of seafood riches in PEI plays a big part in another of Dolan’s many accomplishments, the founding of what is now called the International Shellfish Festival, a four-day extravaganza of rollicking entertainment, seafood, oysters and a few beers or two.
“I’ve always been interested in food and tourism,” Dolan says, “and there was nothing going on in PEI in the fall. After the Labour Day weekend, they rolled up the sidewalks, it was all over with. So I thought if we could build something, people will come.”
What started out as a two-day oyster festival 17 years ago has morphed into a four-day party for more than 13,000 people from all over North America. Dolan reminisces it took a couple of years for him to convince the numerous levels of government and the people of Charlottetown that shellfish could be such a huge tourism draw and moneymaker.
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And when it comes to lobbying the government on the behalf of restaurateurs, Dolan’s all over that. He was one of the founding members of the Chef’s Association in Charlottetown, and says he’s been a member of the CRFA for as long as he can remember. He’s been on the Board of Directors of the CRFA for nine years, and has spent the last 12 months on the executive.
“When you look across the board at restaurant operators,” he says, “we seem to be a different breed of people. We’re very entrepreneurial, and we put in long hours for the return on our investment. But it is getting harder in our industry, there’s a lot more regulation and it’s getting expensive.”
Dolan recalls that a former PEI politician and once-ambassador to Ireland always said to him, “I was always willing to talk with you, because you’re the one with your hand on the pulse of how people are feeling. You’re out in front meeting with people daily, and you always told me the truth.”
Dolan is modestly proud of his and CRFA’s accomplishments for operators in PEI, such as Sunday openings for licensed establishments, and allowing customers to use credit cards to buy liquor. One onerous task in particular was a sweet victory for him. Dolan bemoaned the hundreds of pages of forms he had to fill out to renew his liquor licenses. Successful lobbying now allows for renewable licenses with much less paperwork.
“I’ve managed to help change a few regulations over the years,” he says. “I think now on the national level, we have to drive home to the politicians in Ottawa how legislation affects the small restaurateurs.”
In keeping with the family legacy of community spirit and volunteerism, Dolan’s wife, Kim, chaired the wildly popular Scotties Tournament of Hearts Curling Championship in Charlottetown last year, and their twins, Marc and Sinead, have followed in their father’s footsteps and are now both working in the restaurant and hospitality business.
And if you happen to walk into the Claddagh Oyster House these days, you just might find Dolan behind the bar opening a few oysters and charming visitors to PEI with his easygoing chat and big smile. Pull up a chair; I’m sure he’ll be willing to share a story or two.
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