Ottawa restaurant targeted by thieves four times in four weeks
A Centretown restaurant that has been targeted by thieves four times in the past few weeks is challenging big businesses to support "the little guys" during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The owner of Grounded Kitchen, Coffee & Bar on Gloucester Street says the business has been broken into four times since just before Christmas. The first break-in happened on Dec. 22, and there have been three other break-ins since.
Grounded Kitchen says each time, the suspect smashed doors and/or windows to enter and steal alcohol.
In an interview on CTV Morning Live, owner Amir Rahim said the community has shown "what heroes they are" by supporting small businesses, and now it's time for big businesses to step up.
"My challenge out there is to big business, is to people who can spend two, three, four, five-thousand dollars on orders and pay small businesses rent for a month," Rahim said Friday morning.
"They can order stuff, not just from us but Brown Loaf Bakery, from other small businesses and take that order and get something for a shelter, get something for the at-risk community. The person who broke into here had no support."
Rahim says while he has access to support from family members and governments during the pandemic, "this person had nothing close to that. They were desperate; they broke in a few different times."
"The Centretown area is so quiet right now, it's so dead. I think if we could help the churches, the shelters, places like that by feeding some of the people, by giving them warmth and by having big businesses step up to the plate I'd like to see that."
Rahim noted the community has also supported the owner Brown Loaf Bakery on Elgin Street after the bakery was robbed twice last week.
The break-ins at Grounded Kitchen, Coffee & Bar comes as Ontario is in a modified Stage 2, closing dining rooms for indoor dining due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We're doing OK all in all. Lots of support from a lot of great customers. We've been here for 12 years now, we have a super loyal following," Rahim said.
He admits to feeling a "little defeated" after the break and enters.
"There's just been so many things going on so this was really just this Big Mac layer of things that was happening. I think there was enough things to feel defeated and when this kind of happened it was just that, 'Wow, what's happening kind of thing.'"
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Explosion at train station leads to discovery of stolen car on Montreal's South Shore: police
Police are investigating after a BMW exploded in the St-Lambert Exo train station parking lot on Montreal's South Shore.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
A candidate for Germany's key party was beaten up while campaigning for European elections
A candidate for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left party in next month's election for the European Parliament was beaten up and seriously injured while campaigning in an eastern city, the party said Saturday.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.