Thieves Break Into Bakery, Take Only What Is Most Valuable – Recipes For Hot Products

Thieves broke into a bakery to steal only recipes. They left everything else untouched.

Thieves seem to be realizing what is truly valuable in the long run. Sticking to the ideology, thieves broke into Mr. Holmes Bakehouse and stole only what is the most valuable thing – the recipes. Owned and operated by Ry Stephen, a 28-year-old pastry chef, the bakery is quite famous for its savory products that are always in huge demand and almost always get bought within a few minutes of coming out of the oven. Stephen spoke fondly about his creations.

“It takes three days to make a cruffin, a muffin-croissant hybrid. We have been open for just three months and have already inspired a wild following, with customers lining up early to buy the ice-cream-cone-shaped cruffins, which reliably sell out before the line is gone.”

Priced at $4.50 the cruffins are relatively affordable and owing to their distinct taste have become a cult item of sorts. Interestingly, the store owes its success to these cruffins as well as Instagram, as they are quite picturesque, too. Hundreds of customers regularly upload the photos of the bakery products, whose fillings include caramel, strawberry milkshake, or Fluffernutter cream (among other flavors).

However, with loyal customers, the bakery products have attracted competition as well as the criminal minds. Overnight last week, a thief stole the recipe for cruffins, and Mr. Stephen’s 230 other recipes from binders in the bakery’s kitchen. The crime is noteworthy because nothing else in the store was touched – not money, valuable baking equipment, an iPad, or other computers. The thief went straight for the binders, extracted the pages and left.

While Mr. Stephen has copies of the recipes on his office computer, and the store opened almost on time the next morning, he is understandably upset, “It sickens me a bit,” he said.

In the digitally and socially interconnected world, an exclusive array of products can certainly be a ticket to fame and business. Hence when people heard of the precision robbery, they started flocking to the bakery, including restaurant manager Ashley Edwards, who had to wait in line just like everyone else.

“If someone stole it, it’s got to be good.”

Despite the theft, the baker isn’t concerned about his prized recipes being replicated by rival bakeries.

“I don’t think anyone wants to pull the recipes out in America. And with the power of social media, it is risky for anyone to replicate my bakery anywhere in the world.”

[Image Credit | Jim Wilson/The New York Times]