SAN DIEGO — Just days after the grand opening event, a man broke into the Beeside Balcony La Jolla early Saturday morning and stole the restaurant’s cash register.
Beeside Balcony chef and owner, Christophe Cevasco, first started serving his specialties at the Del Mar location with La Jolla next in line. After years of hard work, he was excited for the opening of his La Jolla location last Thursday, June 1.
But, that excitement quickly turned to frustration just two days later when someone was caught on security camera around 6 a.m. Saturday, stealing the cash register from behind the restaurant’s bar after breaking in through the delivery entrance.
“He walked right in, grabbed the register, pulled the whole set up, ripped everything off the wall,” Cevasco told FOX 5.
According to the owner, the suspect was in and out of the restaurant within a minute, taking with him about $500 that was inside the register. Cevasco said, “He was on a mission … he was in and out.”
As a newly opened restaurant, Cevasco explained that this theft is quite a set back for his business, given that it will cost a few thousand dollars to replace the locks and stolen computer register at the location.
“It’s a costly crime,” he said. “It’s not the couple hundred dollars that were in the register — it’s the new computer, it’s the new register, it’s new locks and it’s the sense of feeling violated.”
After the incident, Cevasco filed a report with the San Diego Police Department and also posted the security camera footage to social media in an attempt to identify the suspect. “I feel like we need to come together as merchants and find this guy,” he said.
The post prompted many other local business owners to show up on Sunday to support Beeside Balcony.
“It’s heartbreaking, people put so much into making a business,” said one of the business owners at the restaurant, Devon Craddock.
It is unknown at this time if SDPD has identified a suspect in the burglary. Anyone with information regarding the incident is encouraged to contact the department or, to remain anonymous, Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.