The time has come, however, for owners Nick and Sarah Hooper to depart the business after nearly two decades at the helm.

The couple took over Novaro's from the colourful Italian, Albert Taurian, after hearing it was on the market while working at Strathlynn for chef Dan Alps.

"It [Novaro's] actually had a really European feel from when we used to work in Greece," Mrs Hooper said.

"When we walked in we were like, wow, okay, this is quite similar to one of the restaurants we worked in'.

"I think when you sort of get to about 30 [years] you want to do something for yourself and that's where we were at," Mr Hooper added.

"We had done the rounds and I think you just build up your confidence and you just want to do it for yourself."

For the first six months, the Hoopers ran Novaro's in Mr Taurian's style, gradually moving towards their vision for the business.

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"We ran it exactly as he [Albert] did for the first six months, all we did was change the table cloths," Mrs Hooper said.

"Nick would put one of his dishes on the menu and something on the bottom would drop off.

"Albert was a bit of a character unto himself, he had his established business - we probably lost the hunting, shooting and fishing clientele but he was such a character that we just took over really."

As the business shifted to Mr Hooper's seafood-focused menu the business' popularity grew with Launceston's changing food scene.

He said people's tastes and expectations began to change when popular cooking show Masterchef first aired.

"It [cooking] initially was a bit of a pain in the bum because people used to think you could do these sorts of dishes en mass," Mr Hooper said.

"Now they're willing to try different dishes and try different things and I think that's been a good thing."

Mrs Hooper echoed her husband's thoughts, adding that Launceston had gone through huge changes food-wise in the past two years especially.

"I'm sure it's a little bit of the Mona-effect," she said.

"We're getting a different clientele where we can get more creative with the food I think."

But all good things come to an end, and the Hoopers decided to move on - to Noosa and a bigger restaurant, La Vida.

"It's our time, everything's fitted together in the last few months and it's time for us to move on," Mrs Hooper said.

"We had tried to do other businesses elsewhere in Launceston but for some reason, the universe wasn't letting us do it.

"When we looked at the one in Noosa we just felt that it was meant to be, it felt good and it felt right to be leaving this [Novaro's].

"Two weeks before we looked at this restaurant in Noosa I would've burst into tears if Nick had said 'let's do something else'."

For Mr Hooper, the yearning to move on had been building for the past two years.

"I hit a creative wall, I couldn't even come in here [Novaro's] really," he said.

"There's a time for everything and you've got to realise that, for us, that time is now."

La Vida is a 70-seat Italian restaurant on Hastings Street, Noosa.

"I love the water, Sarah loves the heat, it ticks all the boxes for us. It just felt homely, we'd lived in similar places," Mr Hooper said.

"Nick's speciality is seafood so when we go up there that's what we'll be doing, and trying to take a bit of Tassie up there too," Mrs Hooper added.

The couple agreed that the move was much healthier than trying to manage Novaro's and another business at the same time which was a possible plan.

"Every other option we were looking at involved doing Novaro's and that [another business]," Mr Hooper said.

"We were trying to force the square peg into the round hole because we were desperate for a change and this just seems right. You can't do two businesses at once."

Now the mantle of Novaro's ownership falls upon Tyller Penney and Kathleen Le-Baldwin, a young couple in similar shoes to those of the Hoopers 17 years ago.

Mr Penney is a chef at Novaro's and Ms Le-Baldwin is in charge of front-of-house.

Mr Penney jokingly said he found out about Mr and Mrs Hooper's plans to leave when he came into work and the couple looked like two guilty children.

After being offered the chance to own Novaro's, the couple thought it over and eventually accepted.

"It's the same as when Sarah and Nick did it... we're both 30, we have looked after other people's businesses before," Ms Le-Baldwin.

"[It's] Not really a hard decision, it's sort of a work-life balance, we have a six-year-old so we needed to make sure we could do this while being parents."

Ms Le-Baldwin added having a good balance was something they learned from watching the Hoopers.

"They've been doing this for 17 years and that's what we want to be able to do for at least the next 10 years," she said.

"We've always grown up knowing of Nick and Sarah, if you were wanting to be in hospitality, they were your inspiration."

Mr Penney said one advantage he and Ms Le-Baldwin have in taking over Novaro's is their pre-existing familiarity with patrons.

"It's great because it's running and is well known and is established - we won't be complete strangers to customers," he said.

"Locals like who they know, it doesn't matter what industry you're in. People come in because they know Nick and Sarah, they want to have a chat with Sarah, they want to wander down to the kitchen and have a laugh with Nick.

"You walk into this restaurant and you feel at home. You could've had the worst day in the world but when you come in here, you're relaxed... when you've been here for two years you feel like you're part of the furniture and part of the family. I feel honoured to take over."