Herman fostered the entrepreneurial spirit early with, “Mike’s Lawn Service”
MIke on mowing tractor
eater, loved the kabobs. In twenty minutes I could have a great meal prepared for him – a kabob served over rice and with a nice Chinese duck sauce. He was crazy about it. Herman was a one man show. He hustled from morning to night to succeed in this business. He would show his products in the finest places, they even made it to the White House. He traveled every- where, often to New York, to demonstrate his prod- ucts. It wasn’t easy because he also had to have ice available to keep the products fresh and presentable. But no matter how hard he worked it was a struggle. Herman opened beautiful offices not far away on Route 70. The offices were decorated by Al DiMartini who was also a very talented artist and decorator. He took colorful fabric, stretched it on wooden frames, and hung the result over desks and on the walls. It really looked terrific and enhanced the offices. Dora, on the other hand, wasn’t impressed. I think she felt the offices were simply an extravagance. ONE BUSINESS LITERALLY TAKES OFF My friend and neighbor Selma Denenberg and I were shopping at the food market near our house when I asked her if she would like to go into busi- ness with me. She said she would enjoy that. Here was our plan: We would go to New York and buy pretty accessories for the home and resell them. Simple enough, right? Well, what happened
INSPIRATION I had a sit-down ironing device in my huge master bedroom called a mangle – you see them in dry clean- ers these days but they once were used in homes as well. I was very efficient and methodical about ironing shirts for Herman and the boys. I would sit at my mangle and complete one shirt every six minutes thirty shirts in a day. They looked just as nice as if you had them done at a Chinese laundry. While I was ironing I watched televi- sion in the reflection of a large mirror. One day I was iron- ing and watching a cooking show on television and saw a demonstration of a new technique for serving meats and vegetables called a kabob. It is actually a very old method in the Middle East but was new to America at the time. Essentially it is a variety of small cuts of chicken inter- spersed with vegetables on a wooden stick, grilled and served on the skewer. I was so hungry watching the prepa- ration, it was so colorful and attractive. When Herman came home shortly after the program I told him about it. I should tell you now that you have to be careful tell- ing Herman about a new idea. He is not, and has never been, a man to let a good idea sit around and do noth- ing. Before I knew it we were in the kabob business and Herman was soon the largest importer of bamboo skewers in the country. Herman’s kabobs consisted of pieces of chicken inter- spersed with pineapples, green peppers, onions, and cher- ries. Later he would have the same arrangement with shrimp instead of chicken. Stephen, who was not a good
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