At least four Kansas City food and beverage businesses within a few miles of one another were victims of overnight break-ins early Monday.

Brookside Sushi, 408 E. 63rd St.; French Custard, 5905 Main St.; The Littlest Bake Shop, 5511 Troost Ave.; and Oddly Correct, 4141 Troost Ave.; all reported similar burglary attempts on social media. Thieves smashed their glass front doors and entered the businesses seeking cash and valuables.

“They broke our double-paned glass front door and frantically looked around the shop for high-value stuff, but only managed to snag our cash drawer that only had change in it — we empty it every evening,” Mike Schroeder, co-owner of Oddly Correct, told The Star. He estimated the cost of the door replacement would be around $800 to $1,200.

“It happened sometime around 1 a.m.,” said Alex Wood, co-owner of French Custard. “Luckily, the damage was limited to just the door.”

The owners of Littlest Bake Shop and Brookside Sushi did not respond to requests for comment. On Instagram, Brookside Sushi posted that it was closed Monday due to the break-in but would reopen Tuesday evening. Littlest Bake Shop shared a photo on Instagram of its broken glass door.

Officer Jacob Becchina, a spokesman for the Kansas City Police Department, said Monday police could not yet confirm whether the crimes were connected.

For French Custard, it’s the third break-in since Wood and his wife, Jessica, opened their Brookside shop last year. In one of the incidents, last summer, thieves threw a brick through the front door and made a run for the register.

“But we never have cash in the shop,” Wood said. “I think (thieves) have been targeting small businesses because they expect less security and for there to be cash management practices that are less sophisticated than corporate stores.”

Schroeder said Monday was Oddly Correct’s first break-in since moving to Troost from Westport Road and Main Street in 2021. But thieves stole a $800 bolted-down picnic table from their patio two weeks ago, he said.

“I’m not really sure what the city could do to help combat this,” Schroeder said. “Maybe offer grants for businesses to upgrade their security?”

“I think an increase in collaboration between city officials, the police and small businesses would be a great start,” Wood said. “This is a multi-faceted deal.”