Business owner Somba Lim said deep fryers would be switched back on in early July, after the shop was shut for six weeks to allow for renovations.

"We are still getting people calling us constantly, asking whether are closed permanently or not or changing ownership," Mr Lim said.

"We're just trying to make the best out of the situation."

Mr Lim said ever since he purchased the shop nine years ago he thought about giving it a makeover, but never found the right time.

He said the COVID-19 downturn prompted him to seek the help of Tas City Building and architect Felix Blackman, to get the renovations done.

"I only gave them two weeks notice and they put all this together," Mr Lim said.

"We want to create an environment where customers can come in, sit down, buy food and have that comfort of not looking at dirty ceilings or a run-down place."

When chips and gravy lovers walk through the shop's doors again, Mr Lim expects they'll be happy with what they will see.

"The whole dining area, restaurant and service area became quite worn down over time," he said.

"It will look a lot a lot fresher than what it used to be. We'll have new display cabinets and a hot bay that will look quite good.

"We don't really have a health conscious menu at the moment so that's what we're looking at investing in a little bit."

While there would be new additions to the shop, Mr Lim said the food would stay the same.

"We didn't have a grab-and-go display unit before, but now we'll have that for people in a hurry," he said.

"We now have a better entry and exit system and two seperate doors which will help us if there is any pandemic in the future and social distancing is required. We are also building a disabled ramp and making it easier for people with disabilities to access our shop.

"There's no change of recipes, menus or anything, the only thing we are doing is introducing new menu items to see what works and what doesn't."

Mr Lim was humbled by the support the community has given his business.

"We get a lot of customers that are locals who move interstate and every time they come in from interstate we're their first stop and when they leave it's their last stop," he said.

"Over the years it's kind of developed into a taste of home for a lot of people."

Life as a successful businessman in Launceston is a far cry from where Mr Lim started out as a Cambodian refugee 30 years ago.

"We migrated to New Zealand without a single dollar in our pocket," he said.

"We've been through the tough times. My mum and dad put in the effort to get us a start and I'm just continuing their legacy."

Tas City Building director Steven Simeoni said it was a pleasure to work with Mr Lim.

"We'd lost 50 per cent of our future jobs as soon as COVID-19 happened, so it's great to get jobs like this, we need more of them," he said.