Although Penny and Aaron Gough are this month celebrating the business being in the family for 50 years, they are unsure how long it has actually been operating.
The couple took over from Mrs Gough’s parents, Erin and Peter Bradley, about 15 years ago. They had bought it in 1972.
"I’ve got a paper article from 1962; we’re just not sure exactly how old it is," she said.
Initially the business was a lot smaller and only covered the area where the bus counter was, and while it had grown over time, the refusal to change much else meant it now offered a point of difference to customers.
"When they bought it, it was just good old-fashioned Kiwi food, and we’ve just carried it on really," Mrs Gough said.
"I mean, it’s not broken, so don’t fix it, sort of thing. Probably because we’re a bit different to everyone else, everyone’s gone to the cafe style ... this still works, especially with children and travellers.
"I mean, we’ve tried to change things over the years, and it just doesn’t work."
Taking over the family business was not in Mrs Gough’s life plan growing up. She was an early-childhood teacher and Mr Gough was farming deer in Canterbury when the opportunity arose.
"Dad passed away, and then my brother took it over for a few years, and then when his wife wanted out, he rang me and asked if we wanted to come in partnership with them. Then I did, and then he wanted out a couple of years later, and we ended up buying the whole lot.
"I think it was more the thing of, if we don’t do it, it won’t be around again."
When the first Covid-19 lockdown hit in 2020, the Goughs did not quite know what to do with themselves. While they "sort of" welcomed the break, they were "so worried".
"Because we had bills, but we had no money coming in. What do we do? What do we go back to?"
The couple did enjoy the rare time they got to spend at home with daughters Addison and Mia, now 11 and 10, Mrs Gough said.
What they most enjoyed about the business was the people, Mr Gough said, and it was what they missed most during the lockdown.
"You have so many people come in, they’ll be say, 50, and they’ll be like, ‘oh my God, I remember coming in as a child with my grandmother’, they’ve got the memory of back in the day too. There’s quite a bit of that."
They also made sure they looked after the bus drivers who had been stopping off with InterCity for about 35 years, and the retired ones would come back through and call in.
The couple wanted to thank their customers and "wonderful staff".
They are having a month of birthday celebrations, and are giving away 100 coffees, 100 teas, 100 milkshakes, 100 ice creams and 10 lunches, as well as movie tickets and spot prizes. There is also a colouring competition with a scooter as a prize.
