NEW ORLEANS — Replacing glass on the front door of Felipe’s restaurant in Uptown New Orleans wasn’t supposed to be on the menu Tuesday morning.
“They got that door and they just snuck right in through it,” restaurant Human Resources Director Lon Nichols said.
Nichols says because thieves decided to bust through the front door, shattered glass was just part of the mess.
“For our team to come in at seven o’clock in the morning, see a smashed in door, registers all over the floor, it’s just not right,” Nichols said.
Security video shows a truck pull in the parking lot and park just before six a.m. Two people then break in.
“Ripped out a couple of our brand-new POS systems that we just bought, tore a TV off the wall, stole some alcohol,” Nichols said.
Video from the inside shows them pulling those empty registers and looking for something in a cabinet.
“They were somewhat covered up, but they clearly are not worried about getting caught,” Nichols said.
Video shows them even try to take the ATM but fail. Within minutes they were back through the smashed door and drove off. About an hour later, the manager showed up.
“She’s by herself and has to walk into that situation, it’s scary,” Nichols said.
Nichols says police responded right away but he’s tired of scary situations happening all over the city.
“Somebody out there knows who these guys are and the only way this is going to get better in our city is if we all work together,” said Nichols.
The break-in happened on National Taco Day, one of the restaurant’s busiest times. It didn’t stop workers from making sure the restaurant opened on time.
“They came in here and they didn’t skip a beat,” said Nichols.
Nichols says it’s already been a hard week as the restaurant tries to help sister restaurants hit by Hurricane Ian.
“We’re all one big team here in New Orleans and Southwest Florida. We have three here, we have three there. We really need to be able to support them now during some trying time and then we walk in a deal with this,” said Nichols.
Thankful no one was hurt; Nichols worries about criminals getting braver.
“It’s out of control what’s going on right now in the city. These guys came in here with no regard for anything. They came in here, took what they wanted and left,” said Nichols.
So far police have not identified those two criminals. The restaurant is still helping workers in Florida. Employees in New Orleans created an Amazon Wishlist list to help.
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