Bedford cafe owners determined to reopen after vandalism that could cost $20K to fix
Ryan Martinez and Stanley Heard planned on ringing in the New Year by expanding their efforts to prepare healthy, inexpensive food for anyone in the community at their small restaurant called the Dapper Cafe.
But thieves had other ideas, striking shortly before Christmas and again on Dec. 30.
Several days before Christmas, thieves cut the wiring from the electrical box, but they discovered what happened and fixed the damage.
But on Dec. 30, the damage was far worse as vandals stole the copper wiring again, cutting it from the electrical box and using a crowbar to break open conduits on the roof.
The theft means that replacing the wiring and installing it properly will cost around $15,000 to $20,000, they said.
They also lost all of the food in the cafe since there was no electricity for the refrigerators and freezers.
“It’s terrible, it’s such a bad thing,” Martinez said, describing the damage. “All we wanted to do was to help people.”
Martinez and Heard said when they reported the theft to the Bedford Police Department, officers told him the thieves would probably get $200 for the copper wiring.
Now, they are working with their landlord to replace the wiring, and they don’t know how long the repairs will take.
The Dapper Cafe, at 209 Bedford Road, opened in May to help support the nonprofit The Awareness Project that Heard and Martinez founded to help the homeless, veterans and others find jobs and learn skills such as money management.
They started out using electric camp stoves to cook their curries, tacos and other foods until they got a restaurant-quality stove donated by St. Michael Catholic Church in Bedford. The welcome donation came right before Thanksgiving, and Martinez and Heard were ready to take the next step with preparing more foods and offering a larger menu designed to help anyone looking for inexpensive, nutritious meals.
Besides the cafe, Martinez and Heard also run a thrift store called Dapper Inc., but retail sales usually slip in January, Heard said. They hope the proceeds from the cafe would help support the nonprofit work at the Awareness Project.
When the Dapper Cafe re-opens, Heard and Martinez said they are prepared to expand their menu with meals costing less than $10 and that are large enough to feed two people. They also want to resume their events that bring the community together like Open Mic Nights, and Taco Tuesdays.
They also want to focus on “food rescue” where they get items from restaurants and grocery stores that otherwise would have been thrown out.
Martinez and Heard said their goal are to help alleviate homelessness and poverty. “The little people are going to make the difference; that’s why we do it,” Martinez said.
This story was originally published January 10, 2020 at 6:00 AM.