For instance, the height of the proprietor. Current owner Alice Moseby and new owner Vicki Bridgstock are both petite women who don’t quite stretch as far as five feet tall.

The business name will be retained because it’s so well known after 15 years of use, but the Italian translation ‘Piccola Cucina Rossa’ will be appended.

Familiar faces will still be waiting on tables, as casuals Nat, John and Maddie are staying.

And of course it will keep on serving pizza, along with pastas and other Italian dishes and deserts.

Vicki has taught international cookery at TAFE colleges in Brisbane and Ipswich and had her own catering business in Brisbane and also locally after moving to Fernmount two years ago.

She was able to have a trial run at Little Red Kitchen, taking over the restaurant with Lebanese, Mexican and Indonesian share platters on Wednesdays for six weeks.

“They were very popular,” Vicki said, “and people seemed to like the food so I bought the restaurant!”

However, she won’t be doing the share plates straight away, as she wants to focus on the new Italian dishes.

“I want to establish it as an Italian restaurant first, then maybe later on an off-night bring in Share, and do the international share platters again,” she said.

Italian is her favourite cuisine to cook and she’s particularly enthused about what she’ll be offering in winter: hearty, warming dishes such as ragouts, polentas and soups to entice people away from their firesides.

Alice plans to work on the garden she’s neglected for the last five years and maybe do some casual primary school teaching.

She said she might also reinstate Jam Theatre, the youth-focused classes she and Graham previously ran for children and teenagers.

Random Verandas will provide the music for their final Saturday night on March 24.

The restaurant in its current form will close Monday March 26 and reopen as Little Red Kitchen – Piccola Cucina Rossa on Thursday March 29, with complimentary food and drinks from 6pm.

“Yhan Leal will be playing, and it will be a free night for everybody to come along, have a little bit of food, have a glass of wine or a beer, and meet us all,” Vicki said.