Baked In Baltimore Ransacked The Week Before Thanksgiving
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baked In Baltimore was burglarized early Tuesday morning, the Reistertown-based bakery said.
The incident comes during the busiest time of year as the business was working overtime to fulfill orders before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Now, the employees at the manufacturing facility are left to clean up a mess of demolished baked goods, broken glass and ripped-out registers.
In a video uploaded to Facebook, owner April Richardson detailed the damage caused by the burglary.
"Usually y'all know that we have baked goods that are... filling the case, but we have to throw all of our inventory because they actually broke and shattered our bakery case," Richardson said. "So that means that we have shards of glass that's everywhere inside of our retail space. And because of that, we can't sell the product."
To make things worse, a key piece of equipment was damaged in the break-in, a major setback. Richardson estimated the bakery has fallen 10,000 order behind.
"If it was in June, it would be an easier hit for us to take," Richardson said. "But directly in the middle of the busiest holiday season is detrimental to our business. These are the things that cause small businesses to fail."
Baked in Baltimore, known for their iconic DC Sweet Potato Cake, has been part of the community for more than three years.
To help get things back on track, Richardson is appealing to that same community, asking for volunteers to come in and help them catch up.
"If we allow this one incident to shut us down, and we have a community that's willing and able to help us, then we lost an opportunity to get things done and to get things done the right way," she said.
