Thieves steal $100K trailer from Chamblee Taiwanese restaurant

ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) - Java Saga, a top-rated restaurant in Chamblee known for its Taiwanese fried chicken, caught unwanted attention from criminals who stole an expensive food trailer from the business.

Restaurant owner Alvin Sun said surveillance video from Monday night shows two men in a U-Haul pull up to the trailer in the restaurant’s parking lot. Within three minutes, the men cut off locks and wheel blocks, attached the trailer to the truck, and drove away.

The trailer and specialty equipment inside totals roughly $100,000, but Sun said the value is much greater to the family.

“It’s like a part of me is missing now,” said Sun. “A lot of experiences in that truck. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears.”

Sun started the business out of the trailer in 2016 before adding a brick-and-mortar location two years ago. Some of the most memorable days – for better and for worse – were made in the trailer.

The trailer is typically locked up in a gated area but sat in a commercial parking lot on the side of the restaurant Monday evening after off-site events.

“I brought it out here for the convenience of loading it up and out and my procrastination got the best of me,” explained Sun. “I was tired. Had two different events that day and said we’ll just do it tomorrow morning. And by the time I got here, it was gone.”

The trailer was equipped with three fryers, two commercial refrigerators, an espresso machine, a coffee maker and grinder, and a new snow cone machine.

While the equipment is expensive to replace and Sun would love to see everything returned, he said the trailer itself is the most important because of what it symbolizes.

“That’s how we started our origin story,” said Sun. “They can have whatever’s inside, but if they could just return it.”

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