While fighting back tears, Chef Harvey Claybrook was determined to serve customers from his Steel City Café food truck at Walter’s Brewery on Tuesday, just two days after thieves stole a $3,000 inverter generator that was powering the small business.

He was an hour late setting up shop and the menu was abbreviated, but he wasn't going to give up.

Fellow food truck owners Wes and Bre Latka of Stoke Pizza lost a $28,000 trailer to theft in September. It was one of three trailers they use to keep their business going.

“There are a bunch of thieves who will steal anything that is not torqued down,” said Sgt. Franklyn Ortega of the Pueblo Police Department. “It’s anything.”

Construction workers lost an entire trailer full of power tools. There was no lock on the hitch, so the thieves drove up, hitched the trailer to their truck and took off.

“We found the trailer, but it was empty,” Ortega said.

For Claybrook, it is the second time he has lost a generator that powers his food truck.

“On Aug. 27 they set the generators on fire and I replaced them with a $3,000-plus inverter that was bigger and quiet so we can do weddings,” Claybrook said. “What hurts me the most is I am not able to be where I am supposed to be to take care of our customers, and we really can’t incur this kind of extra cost.”

That extra cost includes not only a new generator, but the cage he is having custom built to protect it.

“We are kind of susceptible to thieves because our stuff is outside,” he said.

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The Latkas not only lost a $28,000 trailer, but the revenue that trailer helped their business generate.

“It was really unfortunate. We had leads — people saw it all over the place — and someone saw it for sale on Craigslist in Pittsburg,” Wes Latka said.

Claybrook and his partner, Kathy Defrese, started the Steel City Café food truck in Pueblo in November 2019 after retiring from the hustle of the Las Vegas food scene where Claybrook was a chef for 28 years. As they near their 70s they take great pride in working five to six days each week, elevating food truck fare to a new level with four-course steak and fish meals.

They also have worked hard to give back to the community. They recently helped raise $860 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“I am not going to let them (thieves) win. We are back up and running and we are still having fun,” Claybrook said.

Steel City Café is open Monday through Wednesday and every other Thursday at Walter’s Brewery, 126 Oneida St., plus every Friday in front of the Analogue Bar in the 200 block of North Main Street. On Saturday, the food truck will be at the United Methodist Church parking lot at Ninth and Main in Cañon City for the blossom festival.

“Let’s work as a community to put eyes in the neighborhoods and look out for our neighbors,” Claybrook said.

Three tips for thwarting thieves

Pueblo PD's Ortega has three tips to thwart thieves. They include locking things up, keeping an eye out in the neighborhood and maintaining records of serial numbers.

“We have to harden the target, lock things up and put things away,” Ortega said, pointing out that thieves don’t want to make an extra effort to steal. “Securing items seems to be enough of a deterrent.”

“Everybody needs to watch out for each other, so ask your neighbors to be on the lookout,” Ortega said.

Finally, maintaining serial numbers can be a huge help to police in connecting stolen items to their owners.

“We have a bunch of stuff in property we know is stolen, but if you don’t have the serial numbers you don’t have proof of who the owner is,” Ortega said.

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Chieftain reporter Tracy Harmon covers business news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain.com or via Twitter at twitter.com/tracywumps.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Three tips to thwart thieves as Pueblo food trucks are trailers targeted