“It’s a better lifestyle,” Peter says.

“We are home every night, home all weekend.

“There’s better hours, although the hours are just as long.”

For the past four years, Peter and Michelle have owned Thomo’s Truck Stop, a take-away van on Tralee Street that services the industrial area of Hume plus any truckies coming off the Monaro Highway.

Their menu, the same menu used by the original owners who owned the business for 20 years, consists of the usual roadside fare – from salad rolls and sandwiches to beef and gravy rolls and riblet burgers.

A big change from Terrapin’s steak and seafood cuisine – the restaurant that, under Peter’s reign, had won best seafood restaurant in the ACT for three years running.

“The people who owned it were customers at the restaurant and they retired,” he said.

“It’s always been busy here and it’s gotten busier since the new estate has opened up.”

Peter says the biggest difference between running a restaurant to running a take-away van is the variety of food.

“At the restaurant we were always doing something different,” he says. “But with the van it’s the same menu, it can be repetitive.

“Although I do a bit of teaching in commercial cooking at night.”

Peter says they now serve up to 200 people a day thanks to their position in Hume which allows trucks to pull over by the van.

“It’s been around for a while – so people know about us,” he says.

“There’s a few other little food vans that drive around, which I suppose is good.

“Sometimes people don’t have a lot of time to get away from their businesses.

“We are stationary, they know we are here, whereas the ones that drive around can only be at one spot at a time.”

With the business going from strength to strength and Hume continuing to grow, Peter and Michelle won’t be moving on anytime soon.

“I am quite happy with this,” Peter says.