Now, after picking thousands of apples on Shepparton orchards, and with the pandemic mostly in the rear vision mirror, Mr Bech Howley and his partner Chia-Hua Lee have opened a café in Kialla.
The two are the co-owners and co-managers of Milestone Café and Bistro, the newest tenant of Emerald Bank.
Mr Bech Howley is a chef by trade, while Mr Lee is a long-time barista, and their friends often told them the combination was perfect for opening a café.
All it took was a little pandemic to push them into action.
Originally from Perth, they spent two years in Melbourne before coronavirus lockdowns pushed Mr Bech Howley out of work and onto farm work, which turned into a job cooking pizzas at Cheeky Grog Co.
“I have a newfound respect for an apple. I won't throw one away ever again,” he said, laughing.
Mr Lee found a job at Provender and Co, the café which existed in the same space Milestone now occupies.
“Lee worked here when it was the Provender before so we got to know the owners and landlords and it all fell into place - they said ‘we want to re-do it, how about something new?’," Mr Bech Howley said.
“We talked about it and went for it. The timing was right, it was a good opportunity, great location.”
Milestone was a name which worked on several levels, being the duo's first establishment as well as referencing old stones by the side of the road.
They opened the week before Mother's Day. Four weeks on, there are two words to describe how the opening months have been: "crazy" and "hectic".
“People tell you and you expect it to be crazy but you don't really expect it to be this level of lack of sleep and crazy days,” Mr Bech Howley said.
They wouldn't have it any other way, though.
“We've done some research, Shepparton is lacking a lot of Melbourne-style brunch places, that's what we're aiming for,” Mr Lee said.
“It's been busier and busier every day.”
They said they'd found a lot of "eggs on toast" eateries, which they didn't want to emulate.
“We want to get people excited by food,” Mr Bech Howley said.
It hasn't been the smoothest of sailing just yet, with Milestone struggling to find staff, similar to many businesses around the Goulburn Valley.
A lack of foreign workers has hit the hospitality industry especially hard.
“A lot of that type of skilled labour relied on student visas or people coming in for work visas who wanted to do kitchen work, but I feel a lot of people these days don't really want to or have been steered away from it,” Mr Bech Howley said.
However, a lack of workers or fears about more potential outbreaks (or lockdowns) wasn't going to dent Mr Bech Howley or Mr Lee's plans.
“I'm sure it's going to happen over and over again,” Mr Lee said.
“I don't think you can let something like this stop you from doing what you need to do,” Mr Bech Howley said.
“This our first venture, it's exciting. It's a COVID success story, if you like."
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