Name: S.F. restaurant owners say rise in property crime is making dire situation worse
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S.F. restaurant owners say rise in property crime is making dire situation worse

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This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateBeleaguered San Francisco restaurants are struggling with a recent citywide rise in burglaries, including a slew of brazen break-ins at popular restaurants between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It’s a situation many restaurant owners say is exacerbating anSan Francisco Police Department data shows burglaries in the city climbed from The data does not specifically show how many restaurants have been affected, but the rise in burglaries is reflected in the stories being told by business owners in interviews and on social media. It’s a hard reality for local restaurants that have now gone almost 10 months with diminished revenue, forced hibernation periods, and only occasional approval for indoor and outdoor dining service.In mid-December alone, San Francisco’s nostalgic Toy Boat Dessert Cafe about having had its door kicked in during an attempted burglary. Also in the Richmond District, Cassava took to social media to post about losing roughly $3,000 worth of equipment, after a break-in. And Epic Steak and Waterbar on the Embarcadero each lost a similar amount when thieves stole alcohol and damaged property.Owners say the shelter-in-place order provides thieves with opportunities to break into businesses. Streets are empty because people are staying home. The ghost-town effect is increased as a growing number of restaurants and other businesses are either permanently or temporarily closed. The break-ins are all the more painful when restaurants aren’t even bringing in income to cover the cost to repair or replace stolen or damaged items.Pete Sittnick, the managing partner of Epic Steak and Waterbar restaurants, said even before factoring in property crime, each restaurant is losing $50,000 each month while temporarily closed.“Right now, for people that run restaurants you almost don’t even want to have your lights on because you’re paying for electricity without revenue coming in,” he said.In Hayes Valley, Kim Alter has spent tens of on security equipment for her restaurant, Nightbird. Around the Thanksgiving holidays, she said, someone tried to break the lock on one of her doors to get inside of the building. She had the lock replaced. The next week, she said, someone removed a window on her restaurant to get inside. The following day, Alter paid more than $1,000 to get flood-lighting installed.“I don’t even think we’re at the worst we’re going to see it,” she said. “It makes me wonder if people are going to have keep their places boarded up even after we’re allowed to really open again.”More for youRestaurant owners, including Alter and Sittnick, said filing police reports rarely results in an arrest or stolen items being recovered. But the Police Department said it encourages individuals to make reports when crimes occur.“As a department, we are constantly evaluating all crime trends and different ways to combat those trends throughout the city. This includes the redeployment of resources and increased patrols, foot beats and officers on fixed post in crime hot spots. This not only allows us to rapidly respond to crimes in progress but also act as a visual deterrent to would-be criminals,” said police spokesman Sgt. Michael Andraychak.Restaurants have noticed an increase in vandalism and burglary since the beginning of the pandemic, right after the Bay Area shelter-in-place orders called for people to stay home, and restaurants turned to takeout and delivery service only.Azalina Eusope, the owner of Mahila, a Malaysian restaurant in San Francisco’s Noe Valley, said she was mugged outside of her restaurant just before the start of the pandemic in February. Then in June, Eusope that someone broke into her business and stole a laptop, iPads, two handheld point-of-sale systems and a small restaurant safe, among other items. Overall, she said, the losses, including the work to repair damaged windows, totaled around $10,000.“You see this happening at so many restaurants over the last couple of months, people having things stolen or someone breaking into the building,” she said. “It’s at a point now where you kind of feel helpless, like whatever else is going to happen is just going to happen.”Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.Mark Bechelli, who owns the 32-year-old San Francisco restaurant Bechelli’s Flower Market Cafe, has had several instances of vandalism and break-ins throughout the pandemic. A few weeks ago, he said, someone got onto the restaurant property and used a 20-foot ladder to remove one of his outdoor speakers. Replacing damaged property like the speakers, as well as cleaning the building of graffiti, and putting dozens of pieces of plywood over his windows, has cost thousands of dollars, he said.At times, Bechelli said, he thinks that if he had a clean financial slate right now instead of the mounting rent payments and operating costs, he “would just walk away.”Restaurants in San Francisco have lobbied for federal financial aid that could help deal with property crime. The Paycheck Protection Program, which issued semi-forgiveable loans for small businesses under the Cares Act last year, was a small boon. The recent includes a boost to unemployment checks, but it does not include the industry relief promised by the Restaurants Act, which was proposed in June to provideEven while financial help seems far away and crime continues to be an problem, many local business owners say the situation is a reminder of hardships that everyone in the Bay Area is facing, not just restaurants.Sittnick said the hardest part of running a business in the city these days is having to cut staff at various times, especially during the holidays.“It just kind of sucks for everybody right now,” he said. “That’s really the only way to say it.”Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: Twitter:Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigateBeleaguered San Francisco restaurants are struggling with a recent citywide rise in burglaries, including a slew of brazen break-ins at popular restaurants between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. It’s a situation many restaurant owners say is exacerbating anSan Francisco Police Department data shows burglaries in the city climbed from The data does not specifically show how many restaurants have been affected, but the rise in burglaries is reflected in the stories being told by business owners in interviews and on social...

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S.F. restaurant owners say rise in property crime is making dire situation worse

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