For a Sunday night, Three Monkeys was packed. People kept pouring in.
That is the tell. The Folly Road ice cream parlour opened Aug. 1 and it already has the thing most new places spend two years trying to buy: a room that fills on its own.
Why it works
The layout is the whole idea. Ice cream counter up front, fully stocked bar in back. Families bring the kids for cones, sundaes and kid-size scoops. Parents sit on the couches in back with a cocktail, a beer or a glass of wine.
Nobody has to negotiate.
"The vibe is family friendly," John Teevan told the Post & Courier. "There's ice cream up front and parents can sit down in back and have a cocktail, beer or wine."
Who is behind it
Teevan and his wife Stephanie own and operate it, named for their three monkeys. Their twin 12-year-olds and 9-year-old are staples in the shop.
He has been doing this a long time. He came from Ireland to New York, where he ran the original TGI Friday's on the Upper East Side. He notes it was the restaurant where Tom Cruise filmed Cocktail, before Teevan took ownership.
The family landed on James Island around 2012, where he co-founded Prohibition, transforming the former Mercury Bar. Then came St. James Gate, the Irish pub. They sold it in 2023.
"We sold the pub in 2023 and took a few years off to focus on family," he said.
Stephanie wanted a brick-and-mortar again. The build-out at 915 Folly Road took two years.
The details
The space was a Fit Body Boot Camp before them. "It was just a cement floor and sheetrock," he explained. He had hoped to open earlier in the summer. The ice cream side came together in late July, the pub in back at the start of August.
Flavors rotate and are made locally by Wholly Cow. Current options include Charleston Sea Turtle, which is salted caramel ice cream with caramel ribbon and mini turtle candies, plus butter pecan.
The rest of the sourcing is deliberately local. Foresight Coffee out of Mount Pleasant. Cannon Distillery behind the bar. His neighbors on that stretch of Folly Road, Thai Elephant, Jack Of Cups Saloon and Mondo's Italian Restaurant, promote each other's business.
"Our vision is a simple one: to create a neighborhood gathering place where friends, families and neighbors come together over ice cream, coffee and connections," Stephanie Teevan said.
Go
Noon to 9:15 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Closed Mondays.
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