Ranch House reopens after copper wiring theft shuts down two south-side restaurants

Jun. 17—The Ranch House, a south-side Santa Fe barbecue restaurant, reopened for lunch service late Monday morning after a two-day closure caused by a case of theft that took managers by surprise.

Thieves who struck both The Ranch House and its sister restaurant on Camino Entrada, Rustica Fresh Italian Kitchen, stole copper wiring sometime late Friday or early Saturday, leaving the businesses without power.

Costs have mounted for owners Josh Baum and Ann Gordon as the restaurants work to recover from the incident, which forced their closure on what was expected to be a busy Father's Day weekend.

"I never would have known this would be an issue," Ranch House general manager Jacinta Sauve said Monday.

Copper wiring was cut at each restaurant's transformer and again at electrical boxes on each building, Sauve said. While only about 2 feet of wiring was taken from The Ranch House, about 50 feet was stolen from Rustica.

Santa Fe police did not return phone calls seeking more information on the thefts at the local restaurants and comment on whether there is a recent trend in copper thefts in the city.

Public Service Company of New Mexico spokesman Kai Porter said copper theft wiring has been an "ongoing problem for a while and continues to be."

A crew worked Monday to restore wiring at Rustica, awaiting a shipment of copper wire from Albuquerque. The Italian restaurant was hoping to reopen by Wednesday, Sauve said.

She estimated the hit to both restaurants would be in the tens of thousands of dollars for repairs.

The Ranch House also missed out on at least $10,000 in potential revenue over Father's Day weekend, which is the restaurant's busiest weekend of the year next to Mother's Day, she added.

Thousands of dollars worth of food was lost in the restaurant's smokers and warmers, she said, and the wait staff likely missed out on several thousands of dollars in wages during the two-day closure.

On top of everything else, hiring an electrician for weekend repairs meant paying a higher rate.

The theft's economic toll at Rustica was still running up Monday and was guaranteed to be higher than that at The Ranch House.

"Now we have to figure out how to protect ourselves from having this happen again," Sauve said.

She filed a report with Santa Fe police, but she wasn't optimistic officers would catch whoever had caused so much loss at the local restaurants. Both have surveillance cameras, she said, but none captured footage of any of the thefts.

Suave recalled a break-in at one of the restaurants about five years ago, but said neither The Ranch House nor Rustica had experienced any crimes since then.

Porter said PNM offers tips for businesses — which are the most common victims of the crime.

The utility suggests businesses consider installing permanent equipment reinforced by concrete barricades at the doors of transformers and electrical meters.

Sauve said she would consider installing a more secure device on the restaurant's electrical equipment because the padlocks she had used on the transformers were easily cut with bolt cutters.

Porter said losses from copper wire theft typically run in the thousands of the dollars.

"Every case varies," Porter said. "Depending on the extent of the damage and the extent of repairs, it can get costly once you factor in the lost time to make the repairs."

Despite the setback, Suave was reassured by an "outpouring of support" on social media. People in the city wrote comments promising to support the restaurants after they were back up and running.

"We appreciate the shoutout," Sauve said.