Owner selling restaurant to help employee with brain tumor
The owner of a German restaurant in Texas is hoping to make a good amount of money off the sale of his restaurant, and for a good cause: He’s trying to help a 19-year-old employee who needs surgery to remove a brain tumor.
Michael De Beyer owns the Kaiserhof Restaurant and Wunderbar in Montgomery, Texas, northwest of Houston. He decided to sell his 17-year-old business to help Brittany Mathis, a waitress who has no insurance and is being buried under medical bills from treating her tumor.
“I just can’t be standing by and doing nothing,” De Beyer told KHOU. “I have to try something because it’s not right.”
De Beyer is hoping to sell the restaurant for at least $2 million and has already turned down a $1.3 million offer. He said Mathis and her family have been through a lot, but never ask for handouts.
Brittany’s mother and older sister also work at the restaurant. Her father died of a brain tumor in 2000.
“I guess sort of the same thing Brittany is going through,” said Barbara Mathis, Brittany’s mom. “I just want her to get help.”
Brittany’s tumor was discovered in late December when she went to the hospital due to a rash on her leg that ended up being a blood clot.
She saw a specialist, who she said told her he couldn’t help her. She believes it was because she doesn’t have health insurance.
It was when she told De Beyer what had happened that he decided he had to help.
“I couldn’t live with myself; I would never be happy just earning money from my restaurant knowing that she needs help,” he told The Courier.
De Beyer said he had already listed the restaurant, but will now auction it off with a minimum bid of half its value and give anything raised above that to Brittany.
Contact Stephanie Grimes at sgrimes@reviewjournal.com. Find her on Twitter: @steph_grimes
