Restaurants in San Francisco NoPa hit by burglars overnight

SAN FRANCISCO – Small businesses in San Francisco NoPa neighborhood are frustrated by a number of break-ins in the last two weeks. 

The damage has become a familiar sight for Kung Food restaurant on McAllister Street.

This is the ninth time in four years burglars hit the family-owned restaurant.

Surveillance video from early Monday morning shows the front glass door shattering, and a thief riffling through the register, which didn’t have much cash. 

The cost to fix the storefront each time sets Kung Food back $1,500.

“We used to feel helplessness, but nowadays, it’s just hopelessness, because we don’t know when this doom loop is going to end. A lot of people feel that we don’t love San Francisco,” said owner Andy Yang.

Yang said he’s committed to the city. He has run the restaurant for nearly 10 years, and his family first moved to the area three decades ago. 

“A lot of people often say why don’t you just pack it up and move out of the city, if you are sick and tired of dealing with the crime,” he said. “We have over 10 employees under our family business and everybody gotta eat. It’s not as easy as you think,” Yang said. 

A block away on Divisadero and Fulton streets, the owner of Eddie’s Cafe said several burglars broke in in late July, and took off with the ATM and the cash register.

The family-run business told KTVU that thieves made off with about $3,000.

“I’m just an insignificant small business owner, who is trying to survive and provide for his family, simple as that,” Yang said. “Just a law abiding, tax paying San Francisco resident who is hoping that something is going to change.”

In December of last year, Yang aired his frustrations in a rap song that called out Mayor London Breed. After receiving backlash led by the San Francisco NAACP and community activists, Yang apologized.

“Mayor Breed and I, we are in good terms right now, after the song went viral and we had a good reconciliation,” he said.

Nearby Che Fico co-owner and chef David Nayfeld said luckily the Italian restaurant hasn’t been targeted, helped in part by its security gates.

“It’s a failure of the city, and it’s a failure of the state to protect these hardworking people who are trying to create jobs, they’re trying to create tax revenue, and I don’t point my finger at one particular person, but it is a systematic failure,” Nayfeld said. 

Yang said his insurance has gone up three times in four years, so at this point, he does not report these kinds of thefts at the risk of it going up even higher. 

“We are scrapping pennies, because you don’t get enough foot traffic,” he said. “$1,500 means a whole lot to us, we really have to work our butt off just to get that loss covered.”

He added that he would like to add security gates, but they are costly. He doesn’t have the estimated $14,000 to invest in that security measure.