Mack’s Snacks owner Diane Coates hanging up the apron after more than 40 years

When Diane Coates first walked through the doors of Mack’s Snacks as a teenager in the 80s, she never imagined she would one day own one of Warrnambool's best-known cafes.

Saying goodbye: After four decades working at the Liebig Street institution, first as a waitress, then a chef and finally owner, Coates is hanging up her apron as she hands the business to a new custodian and prepares for retirement.

A brief history: Coates began working at the cafe straight out of school. After starting a family, she later returned part-time, completed her chef's apprenticeship under then-owner Paul McLeod, grandson of the original owner Aubrey, and eventually bought the business in 2010.

Stepping up to the challenge: Coates told the Brolga becoming an owner was never part of the plan until mentor Graham McLeod encouraged her to take the leap.

“He was the best mentor, he was so good to me, he sort of helped talk me into it, and told me that I would be okay, because I was very, very worried. I’d never even considered having a business,” Coates said.

• She said it was the people that convinced her to stay.

“I like the Mack’s Snacks family, with customers who become our friends. It’s like a little community, really. It’s just so nice. You don’t get that anywhere else, and I thought, ‘I don’t want to work for anyone else, I don’t want to do anything else’.”

A local institution: Coates said those relationships had been the key to the cafe’s longevity, having operated in Warrnambool's Liebig Street since 1948.

🗣️“We know all about their families, we’ve seen them bring their children in, and then their children bring their children in,” she said.

🗣️"It could be someone’s first date, it could be a marriage proposal, who knows what goes on in those booths.”

Highlights: Coates said Mack’s Snacks had also welcomed plenty of famous faces over the years, including Guy Sebastian, while the cast and crew of the 2015 film Oddball regularly visited during filming.

🗣️“They did some of the filming through the front of our cafe; the day they were doing it was [the scene where] the dog catcher jumps up from the table and runs, and we spent ages cutting cakes so that they all were exactly the same for each take that they did,” she said.

Looking ahead: As she prepares to retire, Coates said she was looking forward to travelling and spending more time with her grandchildren after years of running the business.

• She said she hoped customers would give new owner Randall Scott the same support they had shown her.

🗣️“I hope that our little tribe, or community, welcomes him the same way they welcomed me.”