Safety concerns prompt technological shift that may catch some local restaurant customers off guard

Susan Robbins and her husband are accustomed to dining at several popular vegan restaurants in Palm Springs, including Native Foods in Smoke Tree Village. It’s usually business as usual. But when it recently came time to pay for meals at the establishment, and one other in the city, Robbins said the couple was surprised that neither was accepting cash. 

It’s a change accelerated during the pandemic, but so-called “contactless” payment via smartphones or cards was happening long before then. In the case of Native Foods, however, the switch was made for safety reasons.

After enduring two burglaries a few months apart last year, totaling about $15,000 in damages and lost cash, the restaurant’s owners decided it was too risky to keep accepting large amounts of paper money.

“Someone broke in through the backdoor last year,” said Misti Rausch, a longtime employee who, along with another longtime employee, Sean Reynolds, took over the business last year. “He used a blowtorch, burned our safe, and took all our money.”

Rausch said the man was caught on camera, and she recognized him when the restaurant was burglarized again a few months later.

Palm Springs Police confirmed there was a call for service in May of last year, but the case was closed, and the suspect was never apprehended. 

“[T]he safety and well-being of the residents in Palm Springs are of utmost importance to us,” said Tamara Wadkins, a PSPD spokesperson. “We remain committed to working diligently to ensure a secure environment for everyone.”

Rausch said she thinks the police are “at their wit’s end” with burglaries and understands it’s not always possible to find out who committed the break-in.  

After the second break-in last year, Native Foods’ owners decided to put the cashless payment system in place to lower their risk.

“We’re just not going to have anything for him to steal in the future,” said Rausch, who estimated there have been eight or nine burglaries since 2020. 

Native Foods isn’t alone. Nearby businesses, including Giuseppe’s Pizzeria and the AIM Mail Center, have also been broken into in the last few years.

Since the second burglary last summer, Rausch said things have calmed down, and there hasn’t been another burglary. 

Over the years, with several break-ins, the burglars didn’t make off with cash every time. But each time the restaurant was burglarized, there was some damage, including shattered windows and doors, and those costs added up.

“This is more than just a job or a way to make money,” said Reynolds. 

The two worked at the location for more than a decade and recently had the opportunity to purchase the restaurant, making it proudly worker-owned.

“We are both vegan and care very much about the plant-based movement and we know how much this restaurant means to the community here,” he said.

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