Calgary pizzeria looks for help finding stolen patio chair

The West Hills location of Famoso Pizzeria recently lost one of its unique patio chairs following an overnight incident on June 23. (Supplied)

CALGARY -

A popular Calgary eatery is hoping the public might be able to help them track down some of its patio furniture that recently went missing.

Steve White, the managing partner for Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria, tells CTV News that someone broke into the enclosed patio area of the West Hills location and made off with one of their swinging "egg chairs."

He says the situation has just made the difficult times the business has faced over the past 18 months even worse.

"To be targeted for theft at this time, (it) hurts more than usual," he told CTV News in an email.

White says two patio chairs were purchased for the location approximately two months ago to improve the experience for guests at the restaurant.

"It wasn’t easy to make the decision to spend what little we had left on decor such as flowers, lighting and some new furniture, but we hoped that it would be a worthwhile investment with guests taking notice when the returned to dine with us," he said.

"We intended for them to be a focal piece for the patio, hopefully enticing some couples to sit and have a drink and maybe even share their experience on social media. It seemed to be popular and guests had nice things to say."

Unfortunately, when staff returned to the location on Wednesday morning, they noticed that one of the chairs had gone missing.

White says this is the first time he's had any issues with the patio furniture and the area is secured each night with a lock and a glass barrier surrounding it.

"Someone must have broken in through the emergency exit or scaled the exterior and then taken the chair out from there," he said.

White hasn't filed a police report about the theft due to a concern of a lack of evidence. He says there are no security cameras that face that side of the building, so it's likely the thieves got away without being seen following the overnight incident.

However, he is looking to the public for information on who could have taken the chair.

"If being a restaurant these days wasn't tough enough, having situations like these are just making it worse."

CALGARIANS NEED TO SECURE HOMES AND BUSINESSES

The Calgary Police Service says health restrictions, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, ended up reducing incidents of property crime in the city for a variety of reasons.

"People were at home more of the time, reducing opportunities to steal both from homes and from people who are out and about," CPS said in an emailed statement. "While it is never the victim’s fault when property is stolen, there are steps people can take to reduce the opportunities for thieves."

With the change of the seasons, officials say it is very important to secure unattended property and homes. Reporting all instances of theft can also help investigators immensely.

"Reporting allows us to track patterns, link suspects to specific thefts and return recovered property to its rightful owner."