At least 3 break-ins reported within five minutes on Chicago's West Side
At least three restaurants were broken into within five minutes in Chicago's West Town neighborhood early Tuesday morning.
One restaurant owner said the burglars did thousands of dollars in damage just to get away with $10. The owner of that restaurant, the Fry the Coop location at 1529 W. Chicago Ave., said it is time for change in Chicago.
Fry the Coop was the last of three restaurants burglarized in the spree. It was targeted at 3:08 a.m.
A brick thrown through the door, and a member of the burglary crew was seen jumping over the bar. A second camera angle shows the thieves grab the cash register and run off.
"And it just really hurts small businesses," said Fry the Coop owner Joe Fontana. "There was probably about $9 and change total in the register."
Specializing in Nashville hot chicken, Fontana founded Fry the Coop in 2017. He was happy to be able to open for business as usual at the West Town location Tuesday, albeit with boards up.
But he said this was not the first time Fry the Coop has dealt with such crime.
"One of them, it was $4,700 in damage, and the gentleman was in and out in five minutes," said Fontana.
There are nine Fry the Coop locations in all. The other locations are in Chicago's Lincoln Park and Portage Park neighborhoods and in six suburbs — Bolingbrook, Darien, Elmhurst, Oak Lawn, Prospect Heights, and Tinley Park.
Fontana said Fry the Coop is opening another in Joliet — and he is focusing on the suburbs now for a reason.
"Unless the mayor makes it safe for us, we're not opening any Fry the Coops anytime soon in the city of Chicago," he said.
Also targeted early Tuesday morning were Bareoli's Pizza at 658 N. Ashland Ave. at 3:03 a.m., and another restaurant in the 1500 block of West Chicago Avenue besides Fry the Coop at 3:06 a.m.
Money was taken from the register at Bareoli's Pizza, police said.
CBS News Chicago has reported on how restaurants and bars in Chicago have been beaten up by burglaries over the years. Those numbers hit an all-time high last year with 759 burglaries.
This year, data show there have been 162 restaurant burglary cases through March 17 — more than were seen in the same timeframe last year.
"Leave the cash drawers open at the end of the night," Fontana advised. "There's not any money in there anyways, so if the drawer is open and somebody comes to rob your place, they look in the drawer, they can see there's no money in there."
Chicago Police tell me they are still investigating these burglaries, but they would not say if the burglaries are believed to be connected to others CBS News Chicago has tracked in the past few weeks.
Police said in a statement, "The incidents listed are all still under investigation. If detectives determine a link or establish a pattern, they will create a Community Alert, which our office will disseminate at that time."
