Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: November 30, 2003
Article Type: Journal

When Richard Dermer’s kite collection became too large to fit on the walls of his restaurant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, he solved the problem by buying the building next door and expanding. Since the structure he moved into had been a movie theater, his space doubled. Happy happy collector, happy kite collection.

The large, affable, bearded Dermer will concede the story is a little more complex than that but what’s objective truth when a kite passion is involved?

Dermer got into the restaurant business as a student working his way through Oklahoma State University. While an undergraduate, he decided he could run the pizza place that employed him better than the owner was running it and bought it on credit. He was just 20. He added many more toppings to the pizzas and his food costs doubled, Sales tripled, however. He was off and running.

PDF Link: Journal Issue