ITHACA, N.Y. – Police are investigating the apparent theft of over $800 in catering materials from Bici-Cocina, a custom-made “bicycle food cart” that often operates out of Press Bay Alley, among other locations.
Carolina Osorio Gil said the equipment was stolen from a sidewalk, where she left it momentarily unattended to before an event on May 28. The equipment included a Cambro cooler, which costs of about $250, as well as three chafing sets, hotel pans, lids and other items.
Osorio Gil co-founded the traveling Colombian street food business alongside her partner Sam Bosco.
“I know that it may have been someone who thought it was a “free pile” and so I really wanted to think that someone would get back to us admitting to their honest mistake. But that hasn’t been the case,” Osorio Gil said in a statement. “It’s a bummer, I really wanted to think that someone just made an honest mistake…We believe in community, honesty and hard work!”
Osorio Gil said she filed a police report about the incident, but there do not appear to be any leads on who could have taken the equipment.
Osorio Gil has set up the Bicicocina Stolen Equipment Fund, an online crowdfunding campaign that seeks to raise $800 to repurchase the stolen catering materials. The fundraiser page was started in response from community members wanting to donate money to Bici-Cocina to replace the items.