New life for country roadhouse

The Miling Roadhouse was a popular rest stop for truckies, thundering down the road and rattling the windows on their way in.

But in June last year, the business ground to a halt.

It was previously operated by one person who scaled it back, making it more manageable after the bypass reduced business.

Ultimately the rundown building became unviable and it closed.

Mixed farmers Peta Thorniley and Tony White have watched the roadhouse sit in a state of unrealised potential for years, but swore they would never take it on themselves.

"We always said the potential was amazing, but we'd never take it on because it was too much hard work with all the hours you'd have to be there," Ms Thorniley said.

"And then we had kids and we weren't ever going to think about it."

When the closure was announced, Ms Thorniley felt as though she and the town couldn't afford to let the roadhouse go under.

"We couldn't find a buyer, no one was interested," Ms Thorniley said.

"If it shut, it'll be harder to sell, harder to get the business back.

"We thought about all those ideas that we've had for so long and said 'let's just get in and do it'."

Ms Thorniley approached the Miling Co-op with an emergency rescue plan, putting her hand up to make the roadhouse operational and viable enough to float on its own.

"It does need to have a certain size before it's viable, as it needs to be able to support staff," she said.

The roadhouse is now run by a full-time employee and a couple of part-time employees, Katie, Milo and Katie's mum Jewels, but with kids in the picture, the women need work flexibility.

"We don't have a big pool nearby of people to get part-timers," Ms Thorniley said.

"We could get some more full-timers, but then you've got to find accommodation out here, and there's nowhere for them to stay."

The process of fixing up the roadhouse happened quickly at first, all while being open to the public.

It's a large space, which has had a fresh coat of paint, a new layout and a revitalised feel.

The roadhouse offers hot and cold food, coffee, a supermarket, an op shop, a bottle shop, a dining area with a television, and a children's play area.

The couple's two children, 11-year-old Xavier and Mitchell, 9, are true farm kids, but naturally spend a lot of time at the roadhouse.

Ms Thorniley has worked to make the premises as welcoming as possible - a clean and comfortable place to rest.

She has loved meeting all different people who come in for a coffee and a chat.

The roadhouse uses reusable bags and secondhand furniture, and aims to minimise waste where possible, upholding a "reduce, reuse, repair, recycle" philosophy, as well as competitive fuel prices.

Going beyond the stereotypical greasy roadhouse food, the business offers fresh sandwiches, wraps and salads, and can cater to gluten free and vegetarian diets, but a good bacon and egg toastie is still a staple on the menu.

"We've changed the menu, improved the food, we do specials and home cooked meals to cater for locals on Fridays," Ms Thorniley said.

They also cater for school lunches - brown paper lunch bags are included for a touch of nostalgia.

It's the first time Ms Thorniley has ever worked in a commercial kitchen, but with a few employees on the farm along with her own family, she's used to cooking in numbers.

"It's been fun, I'm quite good on the griddle now," she said.

Due to its size, it takes a lot of stock to make the roadhouse look full.

It's one of the challenges Ms Thorniley has had to deal with in developing the supermarket side of the business.

She said the range of products available was far more limited when buying through a wholesaler, and it is much more expensive, even before transport costs are added on.

Ms Thorniley wanted to be priced competitively with bigger nearby towns, so locals didn't have to travel so far to get their groceries, but buying from a wholesaler made this challenging.

Instead the team regularly travels to Perth to buy stock from major supermarkets.

This means the roadhouse can provide better prices and varieties.

"Our philosophy is 'think local where possible'," Ms Thorniley said.

The roadhouse brings in fresh bread from a bakery in Moora, as well as local honey and jam - and they even manage to have some unique items.

"I've had some people come to me and say 'we've never had gorgonzola cheese stocked at the roadhouse before'..." she said.

Given the price of lamb, it's also been much more cost effective for Ms Thorniley and Mr White to sell their own cuts of lamb at the supermarket.

Their Manuka Lamb brand is produced close to Miling.

The couple run a mixed sheep, broadacre cropping and contracting business, run 2000 mating ewes and crop about 3000 hectares, producing wheat, barley, lupins and hay for export.

However Ms Thorniley wasn't always a farmer.

Fifteen years ago, she moved to Miling almost directly from London, where she was working in executive level business and marketing for the most part of her career.

"I like to turn my life upside down every 10 years or so...I think taking on the roadhouse is turning my life upside down again," Ms Thorniley said laughing.

"(Moving to Miling) was challenging at first, there's a lot of extreme things out in the country you've got to get used to," she said.

Now Ms Thorniley is well-equipped to handle a variety of challenges, and plenty of them come through the doors of the roadhouse, such as car trouble, navigation problems or rescuing a drone 10 metres up a tree.

"It's kind of fun, when someone comes in with an issue, you think 'OK, who can I find in town to help?'."

Located conveniently between Dalwallinu, Moora, New Norcia and Pithara, Miling makes a great stop, but after the highway was diverted, traffic into the town was reduced.

The new plan is to build up the roadhouse to offer something for everyone and bring people in off the highway, especially during tourism peak times, such as wildflower season and harvest.

Ms Thorniley's goal is to eventually sell the roadhouse to a buyer who can keep running it at full capacity.

In over seven months, Ms Thorniley, Mr White and their employees have made exceptional progress into bringing the roadhouse into functional glory, making it easier for when the next owner comes along.