Good Stuff Food Carts & Catering, a mobile food service and catering company based in Toledo, suffered a significant blow on Saturday when the business’s storage cargo trailer was stolen.
The theft occurred at 196 Cowlitz Loop in Toledo between 10:45 p.m. and midnight on March 2, according to owner Cara Buswell.
The suspect(s) reportedly cut five locks off of the red 2014 interstate cargo trailer before attaching it to a silver pickup and leaving the scene.
One of Buswell’s friends reportedly saw the truck towing the trailer get onto southbound Interstate 5 around midnight on March 2, but didn’t know at the time the trailer had been stolen, Buswell said.
“I’m feeling very sick about all this. I had it locked up with super expensive fancy locks. I had it chained to the carport with several chains. Whoever stole it had cased the area several times to see how they could effectively steal it in the dark … This makes me very uneasy,” Buswell posted to the business’s Facebook page on Monday.
Buswell used the trailer to store equipment that didn’t fit inside the mobile stand, such as chafing sets, Cambro food storage containers, steam tables, rolling carts and coolers.
“All may not seem much, but every dollar counts when you're paying for everything out of pocket,” Buswell said Monday.
The equipment is valued at a total of $4,000, with the trailer itself valued at about $3,500, according to information posted by Buswell’s friends Lucy Page and Gulliver Kimble on a fundraising site.
“Cara is an exceptional person. She is dedicated to supporting local businesses and despite a global pandemic, several thefts, the loss of two very special family members, she managed to build her business all on her own. Now she needs our help!” Page and Kimble stated on the fundraising site.
The fundraiser aims to raise $20,000 to help Buswell recover the loss of the trailer and the equipment and to relocate her business.
"This is the fourth time she (Buswell) has been stolen from in this location. Due to the lack of safety and security in her current location, she would like to relocate her business. That will also cost several thousand dollars,” Page and Kimble stated.
“If I can cook for hundreds of people out of a tiny building without proper equipment, it's hard to imagine what I could do in an actual functional kitchen. It's hard to imagine how much more fun it would be to cook in a real space and how much more time that would free up to create events that the community would enjoy,” Buswell said in an email to a Chronicle reporter Wednesday morning.
The fundraiser had generated $1,990 as of Wednesday afternoon.
For more information or to donate, visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/cara-buswell.
“Thank you all for the sweet messages, offers to help etc. You are amazing!” Buswell posted to Facebook on Tuesday. “I’m feeling very overwhelmed right now with all the steps to move forward and such, but I’ll do my best to get back (to) everyone and everything as soon as possible. Thank you for being such beautiful humans.”
Buswell opened Good Stuff Food Carts & Catering as a brick-and-mortar stand in 2020 after four years catering events and serving food out of her mobile food truck, according to previous Chronicle reporting.
The theft has been reported to the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, according to Buswell.
The trailer’s license plate is 2947-YI and its VIN number is 4RACS105EN089321.
Anyone with information about the theft, the suspect(s) or the trailer’s current location is encouraged to contact the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office at 360-748-9286.
“I’d really like for the trailer to be found. I worked hard to get it and it was fully equipped and wired. I had plans that once I moved it would be where I would store my grills and catering supplies and haul to weddings, parties and such,” Buswell said.
