Two restaurants robbed in Houston
Two Houston restaurant owners are cleaning up and assessing their losses after separate robberies just days apart, and both crimes were captured on surveillance video. FOX 26’s Leslie DelasBour has the latest.
HOUSTON – Two Houston restaurant owners are cleaning up and assessing their losses after separate robberies just days apart, and both crimes were captured on surveillance video.
Houston restaurants clean up after robberies days apart
What we know:
fashion dumpling
Trendy Dumpling owner Ling Wang said her alarm woke her up around 1 a.m. Monday. He checked his security cameras, but said it was too dark to initially know what was happening.
Wang went to the restaurant but said he waited outside until police arrived before going inside.
“I didn’t want to go in until the police arrived, so I was waiting outside for the police to arrive,” Wang said.
Once inside, Wang said he discovered that the restaurant had lost money and that iPads were being used for its point-of-sale system. Video from the restaurant also shows broken glass and damage left behind.
Wang said the theft comes at an already difficult time for the restaurant industry. Trendy Dumpling had recently posted on social media about slow business during Houston Restaurant Weeks.
“A lot of our small restaurants are struggling and fighting the off-season, and this happens and it’s not good,” Wang said.
The owner said the restaurant now has to pay to repair broken glass, clean up damage and replace or recover stolen equipment.
The deck at Fountainview
A day earlier, another Houston restaurant was dealing with a similar situation.
The Deck at Fountainview Sports Bar and Grill, located in the Galleria area, says it was stolen around 4:42 a.m. Sunday.
Owner Toby Holt said the business is already struggling financially and the impact of the theft extends beyond him. He said 15 employees depend on the restaurant for a living.
Holt said thieves entered his office and took a safe that was about five feet tall.
“They came into my office and our safe is about 5 feet, so it’s a big safe, and they took it out the back door,” Holt said.
Holt said the thieves also stole approximately $5,200 worth of liquor, using large trash cans to carry it out.
“They took three big trash cans, filled them up and took them to their truck or whatever,” Holt said.
In addition to what was stolen, Holt said several parts of the restaurant were damaged, including the doors leading to his office and the liquor room.
The owners previously estimated that the theft caused more than $10,000 in property damage and resulted in more than $7,000 in stolen inventory, leaving the small business facing a loss of more than $17,000.
The Deck has shared surveillance footage of the burglars in hopes that someone in the community will recognize them and help investigators identify those responsible.
For Holt, the theft also prompted him to make changes in the future.
“I’m just going to improve my security.”
What’s next?
Both restaurants continue to operate as they deal with the fallout from the thefts.
Houston police are investigating. It is not yet clear whether investigators believe the two restaurant robberies are related.
The source: Ling Wang (owner of Trendy Dumpling) and Toby Holt (owner of The Deck at Fountainview Sports Bar and Grill)