Brisket Burglar Steals Insane Amount Of Meat From Popular Restaurant
A brisket burglar made off with an insane amount of meat worth thousands from a popular Barbecue restaurant in Texas.
Popular Texas restaurant, La Barbecue has been serving up exclusive barbecue meals for years. Owner LeAnn Mueller hates the sweet stuff, so the eatery offers guests a special blend of salty and savory rubs, absolutely no sugar in their coleslaw, and throwback dishes honoring her German heritage. The food is so good that the outlet has been robbed several times this year. The latest incident occurred last week when an unidentified perpetrator, dubbed the Brisket Burglar, made off with 20 whole briskets to the value of $3,000.
According to Food & Wine, the Brisket Burglar struck just after 4 am on Thursday. Security cameras caught the suspect climbing over the restaurant’s fence, cutting off the locks to the barbecue pits, and stacking all 20 briskets in the back of an SUV before making a getaway. Speaking about the robbery, La Barbecue’s General Manager Alison Clem told FOX 7 Austin, they think he’s been watching the restaurant. The staff also suspects that the culprit may be a former employee. “We haven’t had turnover in our house since we’ve been here, so it wouldn’t be current.”
Based on how quickly the Brisket Burglar approached the smoker and made off with all that meat, the manager also thinks he must’ve planned the heist. “I can only speculate that he possibly works for a food truck or a restaurant. I don’t know, even throwing a party,” she told the publication. “I have no idea.” Addressing the financial side of the crime, Clem said seasoning and labor costs bring her estimated loss to around $3,000. But that’s just for raw materials, not retail. The La Barbecue website lists brisket for $20 a pound or $10 for a brisket sandwich.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time thieves have targeted the eatery. However, it is the first time meat was stolen by a Brisket Burglar. A 32-year-old man was arrested in May after allegedly smashing a window, climbing inside, and taking a few bottles of alcohol. And back in January, an unknown perpetrator broke the gate surrounding the restaurant and stole two empty kegs that were being used to hold down a tarp. Despite being caught on camera, the suspect has yet to be identified or apprehended.
Adding insult to injury, La Barbecue had been burgled two weeks before that. And last November, another person tried to steal their entire safe. They couldn’t get that off the premises, but they did take a handmade knife, several iPhones, and $400 in cash. “We have like 15 cameras, we have an alarm, we’re constantly looking, our neighbors are very good about watching and they still break in,” told KXAN in February. “What else can we do?” Anyone who has information about the Brisket Burglar (or any of the other robberies) is encouraged to contact the Austin Police Department.
Like the badass bosses they are, LeAnn and her wife Ali run La Barbecue in East Austin. When they’re not being victimized by the Brisket Burglar, the couple splits their time between the Live Music Capital of the World and L.A. with their pups Lilly, Mr. Pickles, Louie, and Zoe, the eatery website says.
