About us

Ruth Cummings was the bookkeeper for the downtown Mullane’s Parkside Cafe before and during David Tape’s tenure as proprietor there. A decades-long resident of Oakley, Ruth had a kind heart, a quick smile, an eclectic collection of bulldog knick knacks, and a sharp eye for numbers. After her death in 2007, she bequeathed Tape the money that would become part of the initial funding for her namesake business-Ruth’s Parkside Cafe, now located in the American Can Building in Northside.

Relationships at Mullane's-originally founded by Kim Cole in 1986-inspired that kind of loyalty. Mary Kroner, a longtime friend of Tape and manager at Mullane's, is collaborating with him again in opening Ruth's.

"David and I are both very community-oriented," said Kroner, who spent her post-Mullane's years raising her own family and working in her family's dry-cleaning business. "A business in a neighborhood is a perfect conduit to work in a community and to give. I do feel like that is our bottom line." Certainly, Ruth would agree and heartily approve.