A new Mission Bay coffee shop suffered two break-ins within 24 hours — before it even opens for business.
The break-ins occurred Sunday and early Monday at Fourth and Townsend streets, where Silicon Valley Coffee began renovations to open a cafe just three weeks ago.
Police responded to reports of trespassers shortly before 3:15 p.m. Sunday and found two people using heroin inside an empty condo at the rear of the property, which was formerly home to the cafe The Creamery.
Matt Baker, co-founder of Silicon Valley Coffee, said it took police around two hours to arrive. He was flabbergasted to see cops arrest the suspects, only to cut them loose.
“Then I was just so bummed out when they took the handcuffs off, and they walked away. Literally still in our parking lot, and I could not understand what was happening,” Baker said.
Baker said officers discovered text messages detailing plans to break into the property but still released the suspects. The Standard has reviewed the messages. The San Francisco Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“It says exactly what they were doing and how,” Baker said. “Luckily we were here, or we would have lost our copper pipes the next day.”
Then, shortly before 11:30 a.m. Monday, Baker discovered that around $4,000 worth of equipment had been stolen, primarily security gear and cameras awaiting installation.
“The whole experience left me rattled,” he wrote in a Reddit post Tuesday. “I barely slept that night, knowing our space had been violated. But I tried to shake it off and get back to work the next morning, only to discover that we’d been robbed.”
Baker said he has been overwhelmed with community support since making the Reddit post.
“The commentary, the feedback, the encouragement has left me in a much more positive state than I could have imagined right now,” he said.
The property developer has implemented 24-hour security and an on-site guard dog. The stolen equipment has been replaced with a full surveillance setup.
Baker remains optimistic about opening the cafe by March, viewing it as part of the neighborhood’s revitalization.
“I think everybody is waiting for change,” he said. “We’re going to clean up this block.”
Baker and his business partner operate a coffee roastery in San Carlos and a coffee lab in Menlo Park. The new location is their first venture in San Francisco.