7 Of The Most Stolen Items From Restaurants

Dining out is getting pricier, and definitely feels like more of a luxury than it used to. This might be why more and more diners seem to have become emboldened to slip out of their booths not just with takeout containers, but with restaurant-owned items — some of which can cost a whole lot more than the meal itself. Of course, restaurant theft is nothing new. For years, people have been stuffing pens and cutlery and wine glasses into their purses on their way out the door. Remember that scene in "Home Alone" where Uncle Frank urges his wife to pocket the champagne glasses when he realizes they're real crystal?

In scenarios like that, it's likely that diners feel they can brazenly steal not because they're hardened criminals, but because it feels much more victimless than say, actually shoplifting from a store. There are no alarms, no security tags, and technically, you're already paying for something. Many restaurants actually factor a certain amount of theft into their budgets, whether it's sugar packets, napkins, or the occasional tumbler. But that accounting doesn't extend to hand-painted artwork, sourced antique plateware, taxidermy foxes, or even stolen patio heaters. 

To get some expert insight, we spoke with Harold Moore, chef and owner of Manhattan's Cafe Commerce; Howard Chang, co-owner of Michelin-starred French-Japanese restaurant l'Abeille in Tribeca; and Susan Decker, CEO of Decker Media representing St. Elmo Steak House and 1933 Lounge in Indianapolis, to find out what items walk out the door most often. The list is more surprising than you'd think.

When you consider items that folks will snag from restaurants, you're probably thinking of pocket-sized stuff that could be concealed in a purse or coat. But even bigger items, like whole lamps, frequently make it out the door. For most diners, a lamp on the table isn't something to think twice about, it's simply part of the ambiance. But for some guests, it's apparently part of the take-home package — even the larger, non-tabletop ones. 

"In a few cases, folks have swiped outdoor lamps on Greenwich Street," says Howard Chang of l'Abeille in Tribeca. These are among the more brazen items to go missing from the restaurant, with people physically removing them from the exterior of the building. It's hard to imagine the logistics of casually walking off with a lamp, but it happens often enough to be worth noting. 

Tabletop lamps, especially the kind with adjustable lighting, are likely a more frequent culprit than the larger outdoor ones. But, outdoor or indoor, lamps cost a pretty penny, and having them stolen from a restaurant is certainly a headache when it comes to overhead.

Napkins and napkin rings might seem like an odd target; they're not exactly glamorous, or particularly hard to come by. But according to Howard Chang of l'Abeille, they go missing from his restaurant with surprising regularity. At a Michelin-starred restaurant like l'Abeille, where every detail of the table setting has been deliberately chosen, the napkin rings aren't just functional, they're part of the aesthetic. The word "l'abeille" translates to "the bee" in French, and this restaurant's napkin holders are adorned with a chic bee charm. This is probably what makes them a target.

Sometimes, the holder itself isn't the target, but the napkins that are inside. Nicer restaurants typically offer more than your everyday white folded-square napkin. High-end linens that make for thick, plush napkins can really elevate a dining experience, and don't restaurateurs know it. They don't come cheap, either, which is why napkin theft can be a real pain point. In 2012, English chef Jamie Oliver reported losing a whopping 30,000 napkins per month from his restaurants (via The Guardian).

Quality and function aside, restaurant theft often relates to the visual appeal of the item. Carefully designed restaurant pieces now extend to everything as far as napkins, pens, and even restaurant menus are becoming more artful than they used to be (and pens and menus are another increasingly stolen item from restaurants). Napkins with pretty prints or brand logos are prime specimens for folks looking for hard-to-find collectibles.

Candles are an easy to understand restaurant steal: They're small, easy to pocket, and always useful to have at home. Restaurants use candles to set a mood, and a nice candle can really enhance the ambiance. This might be what tempts diners to take them home. There are your dime-a-dozen tea candles, fancy wax sculptures, and plenty in between. But when it comes to theft, we're not just talking decorative, unlit candles; one Brooklyn chef recalled customers discarding hot wax from lit candles in a bathroom sink in an effort to make them pocketable (via New York Post).

Theft of luxuriously fragrant restaurant goodies does not stop at candles. Howard Chang of l'Abeille shared a particularly creative variation on this theme: Guests have been known to go so far as to empty the restaurant's bathroom Trudon diffusers and take the coveted fragrance home with them. Trudon is a luxury French fragrance company that makes diffusers that go for over $200. The fragrance, which customers have been known to dump out and take home for themselves, can cost more than $100 on its own. 

However, Chang doesn't let that take away from his focus of providing a fantastic dining experience. "Operationally, it can be annoying because we don't keep a lot of spares of these items plus the lead times to replace them can sometimes be long," he told us. "Financially, though, it's not devastating. You learn to accept that the occasional item will walk out the door and factor that into the realities of running the business. The bigger headache for us is having to replace something unexpectedly and making sure it doesn't disrupt the guest's experience."

While experts suggest you use different wine glasses for different types of wine, we wouldn't consider wine glasses to be exactly coveted. They're not hard to find, can be affordable, and often last a while — and wine glasses can even be repurposed. Even so, they are some of the top choices for diners with an itch to steal.

Chef Harold Moore, owner of Manhattan's Cafe Commerce, shares just how brazen guests can be when it comes to something that feels as everyday as wine glasses "People kinda just walk away with their wine, get up from the table and go," he said. He notes that other times, guests may "go to great lengths to get them in their purse out the door." It's an item of theft that straddles the line between potentially innocent absentmindedness and full-on premeditation.

Fun cocktail glasses get stolen, too, and the more unique in shape, the more likely they're walking. Restaurants that invest in eye-catching, photogenic glassware may well be betting that the Instagrammable clout might outweigh the chance of theft. However, theft of any kind is costly. Some restaurateurs have been forced to resort to boosting the prices of their drinks to offset the cost of theft.

The steak knives in your cutlery block are probably nowhere near as high-quality as the ones you'll find in a restaurant (and that's just one reason why you should never buy a knife set). Plus, the restaurant ones often look better. Whether it's a wooden handle, logo-embossed blade, or the heavier weight that a high-end knife has in your hand, steak knives are some of the most commonly stolen items from restaurants, because they truly feel like something worth keeping.

The surprising history of the steak knife includes the fact that high quality blades take extra effort to make and, thus, are more expensive. Durable, long-lasting, and sturdy steak knives are some of the most coveted kitchen tools that most everyday home cooks just don't have access to.

Chef Harold Moore has seen it firsthand over years working in popular New York restaurants. He considers steak knives among the most common items to disappear from a restaurant table not just because they're easy to slip in your purse, but because they're among the "things that are hardest to come by in everyday life." A smooth, easy cut with a good steak knife can make you realize that your knives at home, well, aren't cutting it. Add a unique design or restaurant logo to the knife, and you've got a true collectible. Some restaurant owners have even decided to stop printing logos on their knives to avoid the theft altogether. "The restaurant intentionally doesn't put the St. Elmo Steak House logo on anything that isn't nailed down because they know it would make people that much more likely to walk off with it," Susan Decker told us.

Some things are stolen for their utility, and a quality steak knife is a great example. Other items are stolen because they're just too cute not to take home — espresso spoons check both boxes. Miniature, pinky-sized little spoons that can effectively stir up your espresso-and-sambuca without sloshing the liquid everywhere? You're coming home with me.

Harold Moore, owner of Cafe Commerce in New York, shares that these little guys frequently go missing after espresso is served. His best guess is that it comes down to accessibility — they're simply not the kind of thing you come across in everyday life. Even when shopping for silverware sets, a proper demitasse spoon (the fancy name for those small espresso cup-sized spoons) is rarely part of the package. Finding a quality one on its own requires more effort than most people might bother with. 

The result is that a restaurant espresso spoon is often seen as a fancy little surprise, and then it becomes a hard thing to put back down. At a nicer restaurant, these spoons might be silver-plated, engraved, or otherwise designed to match a carefully curated table setting, which only makes them more desirable. Small enough to slip into a jacket pocket without a second thought, and pretty enough to actually want on your own kitchen counter, the espresso spoon is the rare stolen item that requires almost no effort.

Every restaurant has cutlery, every restaurant has wine glasses, but not every restaurant has hand-painted cocktail tumblers, commissioned artwork, or a taxidermy fox with a name. Unique novelty items like these are some of the most valuable things in a restaurant — and unfortunately, among the most stolen.

Susan Decker, representing St. Elmo Steak House and 1933 Lounge in Indianapolis, shared perhaps the most memorable example: In 2018, Winston A. Fox (the taxidermy fox mounted at 1933 Lounge) was stolen right off the wall. The restaurant offered a $250 gift card for information leading to his return and promised a round of drinks on the house. "Not long after, Winston was returned anonymously and unharmed," Decker told us. "Someone actually sent him back to the restaurant in an Uber."

The restaurant intentionally avoids putting the St. Elmo logo on most items, printed drinkware being one obvious example of what would vanish if they did. Theft of hand-made, commissioned artwork, carefully sourced antique drinkware, and more items that aren't just valuable, but sentimental, have also been reportedly stolen from popular restaurants.