A north-restaurant forced to shut due to the coronavirus pandemic was dealt another blow when thieves stole its food from a doorstep.
The Sitting Room on The Green, Portlethen, shut its restaurant on March 20 and has since been feeding loyal customers with deliveries that have sold out almost every day.
To get their patrons licking their lips on the weekend, bosses planned to whip up a special “date night” meal for couples tonight.
Those plans were going well as all date-night meals had sold out – then criminals stuck.
Suppliers delivered hundreds of pounds worth of ingredients yesterday morning and left them at the back door, only for thieves to grab the lot.
Stock – including a large selection of pies – was so heavy the restaurant’s owners believe the culprits would have found it hard to flee on foot – and they have appealed for help in bringing them to justice.
A spokesman for the firm told the Evening Express: “It saddens us that this has happened.
“We’re waiting to check CCTV in the area.”
He added: “Unfortunately someone has stolen an order from our back door on Thursday morning.
“This order was to help produce our date-night menu.
“At any time this is an awful thing to do.”
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Referencing the high level of support customers have shown to the company in recent weeks with their delivery orders, the spokesman added: “We are seeing the great in people – but unfortunately also the horrible is still there.”
The theft took place yesterday morning in daylight hours and the owners are hoping someone saw suspicious activity.
“To anyone who walked past the Sitting Room between 7.25am and 8am and saw anyone hanging about – please get in touch,” said the spokesman.
He added: “For note, what was taken was 6kg of lamb, 10kg of chicken, a large selection of pies and a selection of cold meats.
“This would have been hard to carry and anyone carrying this amount of stock or someone in a car would have been very noticeable.
“Police have been notified.”
A police spokesman said officers had received a report of theft from the premises.
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