Penny Stockley, owner-operator of Honest Don’s cafe and Dodgy Don’s bar, is proof positive that hard work, determination and ample support from your family and community can help you overcome adversity and ultimately succeed.
In 2014, after moving to Thirroul, Penny and her then husband bought the Bluewater cafe in McCauley Street. They renamed the business in honour of Penny’s late father, “Honest” Don McDowell, who was a used car salesman and keen home cook.
At the time, Thirroul was not awash with good coffee and the couple brought the well-respected Campos coffee from its origins in Newtown to the Illawarra.
The plan: Penny would work as front of house and her husband would be the cook. But, with no cafe experience and two small children to raise, the couple found it very difficult. They separated but, with the cafe doing well, Penny decided to run it on her own, which she has done for more than eight years as a single mum.
Penny says her children have been unwavering positive influences.
“Both my daughters have been so supportive and encouraging to their often-stressed mum.”
Phoebe, Penny's eldest daughter and chief cocktail maker, recently moved to Sydney but passed on her cocktail-making knowledge to her mum before she went. Poppy, Penny's youngest daughter, has just begun working at the establishment though too young yet to serve alcohol.
Penny reckons she's not a businesswoman, but her success at Honest Don’s suggests otherwise. She’s had an eclectic series of jobs, attending art school where she majored in film and video (before digital), becoming a short filmmaker, even receiving an SBS grant for the Eat Carpet short film program. Later, she fell into the music industry, working as the band booker for Sydney live music institution, the Lansdowne Hotel, then running a booking agency for bands and musicians.
“I stopped when I became pregnant and too old and tired to go to gigs!”
For eight years Penny has juggled everything, including Covid curve balls, ongoing staff shortages and the cost-of-living crisis.
Penny says her customers keep her going.
“[Honest Don’s] feels like a happy place. It’s like my lounge room,” she says.
Penny ensures that her staff have the same friendly demeanour that she has.
“We always intended to run a bar at night but while the children were small, the time wasn’t right."
After Covid, Penny decided the time was right to open a bar, but it took 18 months for the Dodgy Don’s liquor licence to be approved and the bar finally opened – in winter.
But due to Penny's drive and tenacity, and the support of her daughters and the Thirroul community, Honest Don’s has been a success and Dodgy Don’s is thriving.
