For weeks, frustrated staff at El Sazon Cocina & Tragos had watched surveillance footage of what appears to be a well-dressed woman tiptoeing around the restaurant’s patio at Lyndale Avenue S. to pilfer posies in the dead of night.
A Minneapolis restaurant was working hard to beautify the neighborhood with flowers. A flower thief was working harder.
Good thing El Sazon Cocina has good neighbors who are good florists.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
June 28, 2024 at 7:07PM
Again and again, cameras captured her heading to the same corner, to the same planter, to carry off one of the six attractive flower arrangements that ring the outdoor seating area. Later, the cameras caught her carrying off the replacement flowers. And the replacement flower replacements.
“I don’t mean to laugh, because it’s kind of upsetting, but it’s also ridiculous,” said Karen de Leon, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband, Cristian. “A flower is not going to break us, but it’s annoying.”
Eventually, the restaurant posted an appeal for help on social media before El Sazon’s plant replacement budget starts cutting into its delicious taco budget.
“Any ideas on how to stop her???” they asked.
El Sazon’s many fans had many ideas. Stakeouts. Booby traps. Burying AirTags in the pots to track them down later. Instead of garden gnomes, someone suggested the restaurant could place photos of the woman from the surveillance tapes in the flower beds.
In the end, the best suggestion came from their friendly neighborhood florists. Bachman’s on Lyndale dropped off a gift card to help cover the cost of a replacement for the replacement for the replacement flowers — along with a suggestion: Next time, “maybe try a cactus planter.”
“They do such a beautiful job of beautifying the neighborhood,” said Karen Bachman Thull, the company’s director of marketing and communication. “From one family business to another family business, we just thought it would be nice to support them and continue to support them to beautify the neighborhood.”
With any luck, El Sazon’s flowers will bloom where they were planted from now on. The mystery figure, in her heels and distinctive denim jacket, has not reappeared on the security cameras since news of the thefts broke. El Sazon’s patio is in full bloom.
“Now,” de Leon said, “we’re just hoping for good weather.”
Correction: A quote in a previous version of this story was attributed to the wrong person. Karen Bachman Thull was speaking on behalf of the company.
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