When Phil and Tina first met, he was a Barca, she was a Loverso.

They were both hairdressers.

Now, almost three decades later, after flipping a couple of career wild cards, they’re successful restaurateurs with a new eatery set to open next week in Shepparton.

“Phil’s said almost from when we first met, ‘one day I’m going to have my own little restaurant’,” Tina said.

“He’s always enjoyed cooking; he’s always cooked at home.”

Around eight years ago, he had moved on from hairdressing and was working as a sales representative.

“When he’d had enough of repping, he said, ‘Why don’t we have a look at this restaurant idea?’,” Tina recalled.

“I said, yep, let’s have a crack, what’s the worst that can happen? Go back to work, make some more money. We don’t know unless we try, so let’s just jump in and do it.”

Dropping the last three letters of her maiden name, the husband and wife created a portmanteau of their surnames and Barca.Love was born; their first restaurant, styled to give an old Havana vibe and serving American smoked barbecue dishes, filled an open niche in Shepparton’s food offerings.

“We knew it had to be different, something Shepp didn’t have at the time,” Tina said.

“I don’t like doing things that other people are doing,” Phil said.

“I don’t mind if someone copies me, but I don’t want to copy someone else.”

After many years of building a loyal customer base, thriving during the pandemic and garnering a reputation for dishing up some of the best food in Shepparton, the pair put their Cuban-style restaurant on the market, considering a seachange.

However, they canned the sale and closed it down instead, with a fresh plan blooming in their business brains.

“We thought maybe if we move to a new location, but change it up a bit — you know, a change is as good as a holiday — but bring the kids in, so that takes a bit of pressure off us having to be here all the time as well,” Phil said.

The Barcas, with their children Alex and Evie, will open B Love Burgers & BBQ Diner in Fryers St, along Shepparton’s golden mile of dining on Tuesday, July 8.

While they will serve similar food to their former restaurant, that, and their friendly faces, are where the similarities end.

“It’s not Barca.Love, it is a different business and it might take a bit of getting used to,” Tina said.

When the space at 51 Fryers St first came available, Tina thought it was too small, but she said when she and Phil walked inside, the building spoke to them.

They have been on the same page since, bringing their new vision to life, again considering what Shepparton doesn’t have and what they could do to make things easier for the customer.

B Love Burgers & BBQ is a 1950s-style diner, where no bookings are required, nor taken.

It seats about 20 at tables and booths lining its walls, where customers can order from the table or at the counter, or from their homes for delivery or before picking up their meals.

The large kitchen means more food can be pumped out, and being in a high-foot traffic area, the Barcas will extend their sit-down menu with some grab-and-go options for brunch, quick lunches and iced coffees, to name a few.

Along with their burgers and fries, there will also be some healthier options and gluten-free dishes to choose from.

Their food is not fast food in the traditional sense of the phrase; rather, good food, delivered fast.

Phil not only slow cooks the succulent meat used in his dishes, but he makes all his own sauces, pickles, and cuts and marinates all the chicken.

“It’s a lot of work, but tastes so much better,” Tina said.

“You’ve gotta have a balance of quality and flow, good quality stuff, but it also has to flow,” Phil said.

“Once you start overcomplicating stuff, the balance isn’t quite right.”

Of course, watching customers nod at each other in appreciation as they’re eating or having them regularly report to the staff that it’s the best burger or food they’ve ever eaten confirms the former hairdressers know a thing or two about winning formulas.

Above all else, though, they believe the best recipe for success is having each other’s support as they venture into new territory, despite the pressures that come with it.

“Working with your partner is so damn hard, and I swore I’d never do it again, but here we are,” Tina laughed.

“We’re just moving the argument from there to here,” Phil retorted, also laughing.

B Love Burgers & BBQ Diner opens on Tuesday, July 8 at 51 Fryers St. It will trade from 10am to 8pm, five days a week (Tuesday to Saturday).

Check it out on Facebook.

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Wednesday, 12th February 2025

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