Star Wars, Burger Chef, Mike Kott and Me
Recently while cruising alone the virtual highway known as the internet I came across these three Star Wars posters. They were available in the early 1980’s at Burger Chef when you purchased one of their meals. I know this not because I read it in the poster descriptions but because I worked at Burger Chef in that same time period.
While the posters were popular, when the promotion ended we were left with several boxes of unsold posters. My boss was at a loss. He couldn’t send them back. He didn’t want to throw them away. He sure wasn’t going to give them away.
I had a friend named Mike Kott. Mike and I played poker on a regular basis and shared a mutual interest in comic books, comic art, movies and the like. Mike ran (and still runs The Intergalactic Trading Company). I knew Mike would buy the posters if he could make a profit on them.
So I told my boss that I knew a guy who’d buy the posters if the price was right. My boss figured that if he sold them at cost he’d be ahead of the game. He told me the amount which was pennies per poster.
I contacted Mike and the deal was done. My boss was happy and Mike was thrilled. He even tossed me $100 for making the deal! (Remember this was the early 80’s, I was working my way through college and working part time at Burger Chef. 100 bucks was big money… at least for me.)
Mike told me that he’d sell the posters for a few bucks a piece and though it may take him a while, he’d do more than alright on the deal. I just checked and he still has a few of those posters available if you’re interested.
I know Mike said it might take him a while to sell all those posters, but I wonder if he thought that over 30 years later, he’d still have some in his inventory.
I have more Mike Kott stories that I’ll share… in the near future I’ll tell you about Mike Kott and the Burger King Star Wars posters.
