Thieves Are Swiping a Dozen Butter Plates from Macon Bistro Each Month

The staff at Macon Bistro and Larder are getting depressingly used to the idea that restaurant-goers will steal just about anything.

The biggest problem for the restaurant this year: the constant loss of the vintage bread and butter plates they place out on each table. Owner Tony Brown has found the vintage items at flea markets and stores, but they’re disappearing from the restaurant quickly — and he’s heard tales of staffers spotting diners dropping them into their purses. It’s at the point where they’re losing about 10-12 of the plates each month.

"We’ve sort of taken it in stride up to this point," said Brown. "I don’t know if it’s for sport or what, but things disappear remarkably quickly."

Because of the theft, the restaurant has stopped using the plates on the back patio, where it’s tougher to keep an eye on them, but still plans to use them in the restaurant for now.

It’s not the only item that’s been stolen from the restaurant. Macon Bistro and Larder is constantly losing the water bottles used to serve filtered water (items that would not easily fit into a customer's purse), as well as several large planters from the restaurant’s patio. They’ve seen at least a case of the water bottles disappear over the past six months or so. "It’s a part of being in a community, but it’s still a funny thing," he said. "It’s a cost of doing business, but I hate that it is."