Rhinelander’s R&T’s Dinky Diner rises from the ashes

After a devastating fire in 2023, R&T's Dinky Diner reopened two years later with an investment from the WEDC

Around 6 p.m. on a Tuesday evening in March 2023, Rick Covin and his wife Terrie Bowan got a call from the fire department. Their restaurant, R&T's Dinky Diner, was in flames, the result of poor electrical wiring.

The phone call left Covin numb and his wife in tears.

"The building basically burned to the ground," Covin said. "We had to knock the building down, so we lost everything in that fire. There was almost nothing that we could salvage."

Fortunately, with the support of a $250,000 Community Development Investment Grant from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), Covin and Bowman reopened R&T's Dinky Diner at a new location. Now, over a year later, the diner serves more customers than ever before

Sam Rikkers, deputy secretary and chief operating officer of WEDC, the state's leading economic development organization, visited the Dinky Diner Friday and saw the diner's success firsthand.

"It's clear to me that R&T's Dinky Diner is a favorite among locals and tourists here in Rhinelander," Rikkers said. "WEDC is proud to have played a small part in helping the diner reopen in spite of hardship and continue to thrive for years to come."

Established in 2008 as a small add-on to the local gas station, the Dinky Diner has served breakfast and lunch fare for years. Covin and Bowman took over the diner in 2016 and renamed it "R&T's Dinky Diner." where they were located until the fire.

A retired ophthalmologist, Covin never imagined running a diner in his 60s, but for Bowman, this was her dream, which is what made the electrical fire all the more devastating.

"It was her dream to have her own restaurant, and there it was, all going up in smoke," Covin said.

After the fire, Covin and Bowman reopened the diner in a former home-kitchen retail store. They thought it only needed a few interior renovations, but ended up gutting the entire building, including tearing out the electrical, plumbing, and duct work.

To save money, Covin did the demolition work himself. It took eight months and more dumpsters than he can remember, but he said it was all worth it.

"There were times when I was alone in the building for months doing demolition when I thought, 'Oh my God, what have we gotten ourselves into,'" Covin said. "But they were brief thoughts. We were just enjoying getting it going."

Throughout the rebuilding process, the city of Rhinelander rallied around Covin and Bowman. Shortly after the fire, the community organized a fundraiser to support the diner. Despite eight inches of snow that day, the fundraiser was packed.

"From the day the building burned to the day we opened up, we had tons of support from the community," Covin said. "It was nice."

R&T's Dinky Diner reopened at its new downtown location in March 2025, two years after the fire. On the day of their soft opening, the diner was flooded with community support. Some customers, excited to see the diner open for business again, even took pictures of Covin turning on the "open" sign for the first time.

"We got crushed the first day," Covin said. "We were just packed. Our waiting list was an hour and a half long. It was wonderful, fun, exhausting, overwhelming, and scary. It was very amazing."

Now in its new location, R&T's Dinky Diner isn't so dinky anymore.

At 12,000 square feet, the restaurant has doubled its seating capacity from 50 to 100 and has several rooms to accommodate large parties. For Covin, the highlight of the diner is its new, 1,100-square-foot kitchen, including a 6-foot grill and a huge walk-in freezer.

"We went from a little restaurant in a gas station that sat very few people to a very large, well-equipped commercial restaurant," Covin said.

R&T's Dinky Diner may look different inside, but their motto, "where good friends gather," remains the same. Every day, Covin and Bowman welcomes high schoolers, families, tourists, and regulars with dad jokes and a smile.

"We are very family friendly," Covin said. "We like to ask people how they're doing, and not just, 'Hi, can I get you a seat? Do you want anything to drink? Here's your meal. Goodbye.' That's what sets us apart. When you come into our restaurant, you're family."

Now, more than a decade since Covin and Bowman took over the Dinky Diner, they're still going strong with no plans to close anytime soon.

"We're doing it because we like it, we enjoy it, and it's fun," Covin said. "We get up at four in the morning every day, and as long as we're having a good time, we'll keep doing it."