Houston – The managers and 57 employees at the Dessert Gallery Bakery and Cafe in Upper Kirby are desperately hoping their stolen delivery truck is located and returned soon.
It’s a big part of how they do business and stay afloat during the pandemic. After being shut down for several days by this week’s winter storm, finding the vehicle is even more critical.
“We’re looking for our Sweetmobile,” said chief operating officer Nicole Morris.
The Sweetmobile is hard to miss. It’s a purple and white refrigerated box truck with a piece of chocolate cake on the side. It’s used for deliveries, not just to customers, but to a non-profit that feeds the homeless. They also deliver free meals to HPD and area hospitals. The truck was stolen on the first night of this week’s winter storm.
“Just to think that someone should be at home taking care of their family, taking shelter,” Morris said. “They’re out, stealing a cake truck.”
Attention DG Friends & Family! Amid the freezing rain, powerless nights and busted pipes, our beloved Sweet-mobile was...
Posted by Dessert Gallery Bakery & Cafe on Friday, February 19, 2021
The truck was located at the store’s commissary near NRG. Surveillance video shows as the storm moved in so did the culprits. You can see them at the truck as they break in and hotwire the vehicle. Once they got in, they drove away on the snow and ice that was accumulating on the ground. Police say the crooks took and used the truck to break into a nearby cellular company.
Regarding what was taken at the thieves’ second stop, Morris says, “we were told generators, cell phone tower equipment, and tools that were brought in, specifically brought in to help that team help the community with the storm.”
The Dessert Gallery Bakery and Cafe is an all-female owned-and-operated business. The women’s husbands have stepped in to make deliveries for now, but unless they get the Sweetmobile back soon, the shop may be headed for a bitter outcome.
“The process of having to rebuild the truck and the time that it’s going to take to get that truck. That puts us in a position to lose our business and we were already at risk with COVID,” Morris said.
The owners and management say they just want their truck back. They say if anyone has seen it or anyone has it, just call them and no questions asked, they will pick it up.