MUSKEGON, Mich. — On Wednesday, employees at the Mr. Quick restaurant on Apple Avenue showed up for the morning shift and found the drive-thru windows shattered.
District Manager Lynda Taylor said as soon as she got the call, she told the employees to get out of there.
"They were a little scared, you know, nervous that maybe somebody was in the building," said Taylor. She instructed the employees to wait outside, in locked cars, until police arrived.
Police checked out the Muskegon restaurant, securing the premises and ensuring that it was ready to open. Then, police stopped by two other businesses on Apple Avenue— which Taylor says had also been hit that same night.
Security cameras showed a person walking through the Mr. Quick parking lot with a rock in hand. The person then smashed the front and back cash windows of the business, before fishing through the empty cash register.
Taylor says the custom windows will have to be replaced. It's a setback for the local business, which had just opened its doors on Apple Avenue.
"It's sad, because coming out of COVID, you know, I mean, small businesses were hit hard. This is a hometown, homegrown business. Same with the restaurant next door to us. And, you know, they're still working on building back up after 2020 and 2021," she said.
Taylor says the restaurant is still open, and so is the drive-through, though the windows are boarded up. She says the restaurant will be upping its security measures, but otherwise, it's business as usual.
"It's like, two steps forward and one step back," she says. "But you know, our team is strong there."
So is what Taylor calls "camaraderie" between the damaged businesses on Apple Avenue. They've helped each other out after Wednesday's events, sharing a contractor to help patch up what was broken.
Even so, if she could talk to the person behind it, she'd ask one question.
"Why? Why would you try to destroy someone's property? There's so many outlets out there to help people who need money or anything. They can go to local organizations, you know, instead of destroying other people's property," she says.
If anyone knows anything about the incident, Taylor encourages them to speak up.
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