Into the present and future

Pat & Tina’s were awarded both State and National Awards for BP Buying Group Compliance for a single site reseller. The biggest honour for a single operated site under the BP brand and a tribute to the service Pat & Tina’s provides. Also in 2011, Pat & Tina’s, and Joe in particular, was recognised for his longstanding support and contribution to Joe’s beloved Melbourne Football Club. As any of Joe’s customers would know, Joe is passionate about his Demons which is a constant source of banter among family and friends and particularly Tina, who is a diehard Geelong supporter.

Pat & Tina’s Service Station reaches its 40th anniversary and in the same year, the business was inducted into the Shepparton Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Hall of Fame.

Joe’s eldest son Pat turned 15, making him old enough to help around the service station. Since, his other children Michael and Anthony have followed suit helping out around the business as needed.

Joe and Angela welcome two more grandchildren, with Pat and Emily bringing Lydia into the world, and Michael and wife Johanna welcoming their second child Luca.

This year Pat & Tina’s bp Service Station celebrates 50 years of incredible work in business. Joe is immensely proud of his family’s journey and the legacy his parents created. Joe’s sons have joined the business and Michael works at the service station full time.

Joe said, “Two of my boys are doing carpentry at the moment. Michael has now come back and he started time at the service station with us. So you never know, he might end up taking over the business later. Who knows? We don’t know what the future brings yet. We’ll just see what happens.” One thing that is certain, is that the tried-and-true business model that has been successful over 50 years is not going away any time soon, even if they are one of the few remaining full-service stations in Australia.

“It’s what my customers locally expect from us, because of what we started in 1973. And if we drop the service, I reckon we’d end up closing, because we’re unique and passer-by’s that have come through Shepp before, they know we’re still here. Because we provide the service, they come back to us.”

“Now there’s a lot of service stations in Shepparton now. It’s mainly because of what Dad started that we’re still here, and I’d like to continue doing what my Dad has done,” said Joe.

The Covid pandemic brings new challenges to operating local businesses. Petrol prices skyrocket, with prices in excess of $2.03.9 at the pump, which was in line with Melbourne petrol prices, but was around 16 cents more than larger competitors in Shepparton. Pat & Tina’s, as well as competing petrol stations, were all running at a loss. This was exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine. As fuel prices increased, average spending on other items decreased and Joe said they were forced to throw out food items like $2,500 worth of flavoured milk when it went out of date.

Joe said, “During the pandemic, we just weren’t getting volume of people anymore, so we were buying stock and it was just going out of date because no one was buying like they were previously.”

“We need local people to support local businesses. Not just us, but all the local businesses in town. We need support to help us survive.”

2020 was not all entirely punctuated with troubles though. Pat & Tina’s BP Service Station’s full-service business model received praise from the community who were more conscious than ever of touching public items.

“There was a lot of customers that posted on Facebook to come to us because you don’t have to get out of the car, we would wipe their cards for them, and we’d wear gloves to minimise contact.”

“We looked after it because there was a lot of Covid getting picked up by petrol nozzles.”

2020 was also the year Angela and Joe welcomed their first grandchild, Lorenzo, the son of middle-child Michael and wife Johanna.