Since this article has been written, another local restaurant, City Barrel Pizza + Patio, has been broken into.
The latest trend in KC’s restaurant scene is an unfortunate one. Over the past couple of months, many small local businesses have taken to social media to post pictures of shattered glass or other evidence of a break-in or attempted robbery. Mildred’s downtown location (908 Baltimore Ave.) is the latest restaurant to post about a break-in via a shattered front door on Instagram.
Around midnight on Sept. 1, Mildred’s co-owner Evan Ashby’s phone notified him of a break-in at his breakfast and lunch spot’s downtown location. He watched as two thieves rummaged through his restaurant in real time. Ashby says both he and his security company had trouble contacting police, and that he wasn’t able to file a police report until the next morning.
While he doesn’t know the reason for the crime spree hitting small local businesses, Ashby does know the devastating impact it has – with effects that often go unacknowledged.
“As it pertains to the small business community, it affects people in ways that many don’t understand,” Ashby says. “That five to six hundred dollars [spent fixing a door] could be the amount that it takes to make payroll that week. It’s really heartbreaking.”
Ashby was privy to the heightened amount of break-ins happening across the city. Only a month ago, over a handful of small businesses had been broken into overnight – Buffalo State Pizza, Anchor Island Coffee, Ruby Jean’s Juicery, Teocali Mexican Restaurant, Torn Label Brewing Co., to name a few.
Feeling like it was only a matter of time before Mildred’s Crossroads (1901 Wyandotte) or downtown location fell to the same fate, he had glass break detection and motion detection sensors installed in both spaces. Unfortunately, his hunch was correct and the break-in happened just a couple of weeks later.
The burglars were in and out in less than two minutes, most likely scared off by the alarm, and didn’t steal anything.
Ashby says break-ins used to really upset him, but unfortunately, he’s gotten used to it.
“The shock factor isn’t there for me anymore,” says Ashby. “It’s happened so many times at this point, it’s just normal now and that’s sad.”
Trying to maintain a positive attitude, Ashby asked an artist employee to draw something “cheeky” on the boarded door. The result is a masked sandwich with the caption “Burglars get knuckle sandwiches!”
The downtown location is up and running.
Mildred’s announced the opening of a third location last month. The South Plaza space (5060 Main St.) will open this fall.
