AUSTIN (KXAN) — The owner of Austin chocolate maker KESSHŌ told KXAN Thursday that a group broke into her business’ warehouse and stole $5,000 worth of items early Tuesday morning.
“Six people broke in through our garage and stole many of our generators, backup tools, and some cables. That’s worth a lot for us, and in total above $5,000,” said Liang Wang, who owns KESSHŌ with her partner, Mark Huetsch.
She called 911 after the break-in, but was told by a dispatcher to call 311 instead. When she did, they told her it would be five business days before an Austin Police detective could make a report.
“I fully understand how busy the police department is,” Wang said. “However, I also feel like I’m seeing those people coming back, but I could not do anything or I could not stop them in any legal way quickly enough to stop them from stealing from other people.”
KXAN is in contact with APD about the robbery and will provide updates as they become available.
It’s the fifth time that her business has been hit by thieves, she said. The thefts hit hard for Wang and Huetsch, who founded the business with their revenue from a prior business.
“Mentally, it made me feel devastated. We just celebrated our second year anniversary in Austin,” she said. “We work really hard; our team works really, really hard. I just feel it’s unfair that we work so hard, that we don’t make a lot of money, but they can easily take it away.”
Wang said that she’s talked with other local small business owners about the thefts and heard similar stories from them.
“We have been exchanging ways to enhance our locks, or what kind of alarm system we should add, or how to prevent them from breaking the alarm system or the cameras,” she said. “I feel like we should spend more time together discussing how to build better products or how to do more collaborations, rather than just sitting together and discussing how to prevent some future losses.”
The financial loss won’t prevent KESSHŌ from operating. But the loss means that if something else breaks, they have no replacements. For KESSHŌ, making back the money to replace the parts won’t come quickly, Wang said.
Still, she’s encouraged by her customers’ and the community’s reaction to her Instagram post about the robbery.
“Last night, I really couldn’t sleep, so I posted on Instagram about the incident. I was actually nervous because I’m afraid … they would come after us because they know where we are and we posted it,” Wang said.
Some have asked if they could set up a fundraising drive to help the business replace the stolen tools. Wang said she’s turned down that support.
“I don’t feel like I should receive that money for free and I wish maybe we could spend this money to in some way that can help the city or help the police department have … a faster response system,” she said.
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