George Copelin does not miss serving meals from behind a bulletproof cage in Liberty City, Miami, one of the toughest places in America.
His home town is the inspiration for the popular video game Grand Theft Auto — the free-roaming role-player game banned in 50 countries for its “extreme violence”.
“That’s a rough place to grow up in, but it does toughen you up,” 65-year-old Mr Copelin said.
It is in stark contrast to life in Mount Burr, the tiny forestry town on South Australia’s Limestone Coast that Mr Copelin has made home for the past two years.
How did he end up buying a run-down general store in a 360-person town on the other side of the world?
It involves a chance online encounter, a lot of renovation work, and some serious American grillin’.
Miami to Mount Burr
George Copelin met his wife, Rosie, through a mutual friend on Facebook in 2011. They had a lot in common — their shared love of blues music and the UK soap EastEnders for a start.
“Then the texts started, then the phone calls started,” Mr Copelin said.
Four years on, she took the plunge and jetted to the US for a two-week holiday.
“We hit it off,” Mr Copelin said.
Two trips to Australia soon followed, the second involving a proposal with the help of some of her friends in Mount Gambier.
She said yes, and Mr Copelin moved to Mount Gambier.
He had been everything but truly happy in America — an air traffic controller in the US Air Force, a forest ranger, a cook, a corner store manager, a taxi driver.
“I [had] bummed around for a while trying to find my way, find my purpose, I guess you could say,” Mr Copelin said.
Bringing the general store back to life
Buying the general store at Mount Burr was Rosie’s idea.
“Because of my age I really couldn’t get a job [in Mount Gambier]. Nobody wanted to hire older people,” Mr Copelin said.
The allure of working for themselves grew for Mr Copelin, but not without some concerns.
Still, he saw in it the potential for a corner store with an American flair — candy bars, sodas, wings, buffalo sauce, waffles with bacon, more buffalo sauce.
Plus, it was in Mount Burr.
They got to work on the sinking floor, the exhaust vent that hadn’t been cleaned in years, and finding where to get their American stock.
“We can’t really get any of the big distributors to deliver out to us so we have to order in small quantities,” Mr Copelin said.
It is a seven-day-a-week job for both of them.
Putting America on the menu
The American menu was always bound to happen.
“It’s American food made by an American, not American-style food,” Mr Copelin said.
Something that is gaining popularity now but may have raised a few eyebrows early on.
“Man can’t survive on schnitzel and fish and chips alone.”
Come anywhere near a meal time and you are bound to find Mr Copelin in the back of the store behind the grill.
He and Ms Copelin enjoy exposing their new community to something different. Same goes with the music.
“We play mostly RnB, soul music, Sam and Dave, Temptations, Four Tops … some reggae thrown in there with Bob Marley,” Mr Copelin said.
‘A good life’
Despite the long hours, the couple would not have it any other way.
“We know we’re never going to get rich here but overall it’s a good life,” Mr Copelin said.
Sure there are some things he would probably like to change.
“When we go to concerts George thinks everyone’s dead in the concert. In America it’s much more lively and everyone gets into it,” Ms Copelin said.
Like a “morgue” as Mr Copelin explains it. Still, it’s a small price to pay.
And Mount Burr seems to like them.
“When they first came we were really excited because [the store] had been through a really tough time,” one local said.