click to enlarge

Facebook / Cheesy Jane’s

Cheesy Jane’s food truck was stolen and stripped before being abandoned.

The Cheesy Jane food truck was stolen earlier this week near Broadway and Hildebrand Avenue. Although the truck was later recovered, the thieves had stolen important equipment from the vehicle, according to the burger shop’s owner.

“It’s a punch in the gut,” said Cheesy JaneOwner Tirso Sigg told the Current.

Sigg said he noticed the truck was missing Tuesday morning when his general manager called him and asked if he had taken it anywhere. Later, a former employee called and said she had spotted the mobile kitchen outside her South Side apartment building and wondered why it was there.

When authorities recovered the truck, they found it was completely burned out, Sigg said. All of the kitchen equipment was missing, including flat-top grills, refrigerator-freezers, a water system, a three-compartment sink and the air conditioning. Rearview mirrors, a roof-mounted exhaust fan, a battery and a generator were also stolen.

“It was completely reduced to the essentials,” Sigg told the Current. “They basically left me a shell.”

click to enlarge

Photo courtesy of Cheesy Jane’s

Owner Tirso Sigg poses in front of the food truck in 2020.

Sigg suspects the truck was stolen sometime on Monday, when Cheesy Jane’s was closed, or perhaps even on Sunday. Whoever committed the crime would have needed “at least a day” to remove all the equipment that was bolted down, he said.

Sigg is asking the community to support the restaurant at 4200 Broadway as it recovers from economic losses. A third of its revenue comes from the food truck, he added, and he doesn’t yet know if, and to what extent, repairs will be covered by insurance.

In addition, Sigg asked those with the means to support other local businesses instead of spending their money at large chains.

“Please go out and support small business owners,” Sigg said. “I’m not the only one struggling with the current economic situation.”