A group of burglars were severely disappointed when they went looking for some cash in a popular hot chicken restaurant in the Heights. They found no cash.
It appears that the burglars were not attentive enough prior to the heist attempt as signs outside the store and on the door clearly inform customers that only cards are accepted as payment.
“Because we’re cashless,” said Christopher Frydenlund, co-owner of Mico’s Hot Chicken on N. Durham. This was a business decision taken by Frydenlund and his wife made at the time when they just owned a food truck.
“We decided back then we were not going to be another food truck getting robbed,” Frydenlund said, adding: “So, ever since then, we’ve been cashless and it’s been great.”
Surveillance video shows the thieves rummaging through the entire office for cash – but found none. They seemed visibly frustrated and instead of money decamped with a laptop, an iPad, and 15 cases of lemonade.
“We know our lemonade is very popular, but we were surprised to see that was the target,” Frydenlund said. According to his estimates, the loss in the burglary amounted to a couple of thousand dollars.
The burglars had potentially overlooked the sign of ‘cards only’ at the main door of the store because they broke into the store through a window, as can be seen in the surveillance video.
Even though the monetary loss from the store might not appear to be huge, Frydenlund said that the crooks have made it harder to run a small business like his. He was, however, confident of the support from his customers.
“We had our most busy night ever. So, we felt the community is supporting us and we’re really thankful for that,” Frydenlund added.
