Bob's inspiration

Bob was exposed to business by his father, Charlie,
who owned a mobile-home park. Bob has tried to live
his life as his late father did before he died of
complications from kidney problems.

Charlie had grown up in the South during the Great
Depression and left home when he was 11. He was the
youngest person in Arkansas to have a journeyman's
card for plumbing.

"He was a very, very smart man mechanically," Bob
said. "He worked hard. This guy would work 18 hours."
After buying Pit Stop Pizza in 1989, which not only
served its own customers but also made pizza shells
for four other shops in the area, the dough mixer
broke. About two days later, a truck from a
restaurant-equipment supplier delivered a dough mixer.

"I didn't buy a dough mixer," Bob told them.

"Well," the deliveryman said, looking at the receipt,
"the name on the order is a Charlie Tanner."

At this time, Bob knew that a brand new 60-quart
mixer was $7,000. He went home and asked his mother
what was going on. She said his father knew what it
was like to make do with equipment that is shot.

"He sees your work," she said. "And you're working
hard. So he figured the heck with it, that you might
as well have what you need to do the job."

Bob said his father was the kind of person who'd give
you anything if you worked hard but nothing if you
didn't. Vito Matareese, who was Bob's neighbor when he
lived in Kent eight years ago, said Bob is pretty much
the same way.

"Bob's a hard-working person," Vito said, "He's
good-hearted and a pretty decent person, but he has no
patience for people. He appreciates a lot of people
coming down and spending money, and he's made a lot of
friends. If you're considered one of Bob's friends,
he's the kind of guy who will do anything for you."

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