Erwin (left) and Annette Rath are selling their propane business and liquidating their assets from The Cooking Depot. They will still remain active through The Pecan House and Main Street Kaffee Haus & Deli.
Time for the next chapter
By Robert Proctor
The Cuero Record
Stretching into six different decades, Annette Rath has been in the propane industry since 1979. Now, though, Erwin and Annette Rath have decided it’s time to sell their propane business (Cuero-Yoakum Propane Gas Co.) while also dissolving The Cooking Depot. They will still own Cuero Pecan House and Main Street Kaffee Haus & Deli, but they are both ready for their next chapter in life.
“We needed to start slowing down,” Erwin said.
When the offer came in from two brothers who wanted to keep the propane business family-owned, it made the decision easier for the Raths.
“I feel like that was important for us,” Annette said. “We wanted to make a fit for Cuero. We felt like the two brothers had an interest in a family-owned business. That’s why we felt it was time.”
Dating back to 1979, when Annette started at Cuero-Yoakum Propane, the business has greatly expanded since then. It was once a small office, where they only sold propane.
“Over the last 41 years, the propane business has changed many times,” she said. “I’ve learned and enjoyed every moment of it. It’s been a learning experience. I went in as a young 20-year-old, not knowing anything about propane. Today, I know what propane is and why it is so important.”
Seven years later, in 1986, Wayne Gardner sold the Cuero and Yoakum divisions to her with the third part in Moulton being sold to Tex Butane in Schulenburg.
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