Brown Sugar Bakery Hit by Second Smash-and-Grab in a Month on South Side

Four men in all black smashed through the front window of Brown Sugar Bakery on the 300 block of East 75th Street early Tuesday morning, made off with the shop's cash register, and fled in a gray Hyundai Elantra — the second time in 30 days that burglars have targeted the beloved Grand Crossing institution. Arriving Chicago police officers scared off the fleeing suspects, according to Chicago police, and no injuries were reported from the overnight break-in.

Owner Stephanie Hart told WGN-TV that the rash of break-ins hitting South Side businesses is concerning, and she noted that the stolen register contained no cash at the time of the burglary. As reported by CBS News Chicago, Hart described heartbreak over the second break-in in a month, even as repair crews arrived within hours and neighbors offered immediate support.

A Corridor Already on Edge

Police say the burglary may be related to two other smash-and-grabs that happened within minutes of each other around 3:10 a.m. on the 1400 block of East Hyde Park Boulevard, according to police. Investigators have not confirmed a direct link, but the timing and method — masked crews, fast getaways, empty tills — echo a pattern that has rattled commercial corridors across the South Side this summer.

This was not Hart's first brush with this kind of trouble. Following a late-July break-in that hit Brown Sugar Bakery alongside neighboring businesses on East 75th Street, Hart remarked in a local broadcast interview reported by ABC7 Chicago, “It was my turn,” reflecting on how commercial burglaries had already been sweeping through surrounding South Side storefronts before her shop was struck a second time.

A Bakery With National Reach, Rooted Locally

Brown Sugar Bakery is not just a neighborhood storefront. Hart founded the shop in 2004 after two decades in the technology sector, building recipes passed down from her grandmother, and was later named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Baker in 2019, according to WTTW Chicago. In April 2021, the bakery drew national attention when then-Vice President Kamala Harris visited the East 75th Street shop to buy its signature German dark chocolate cake and cupcakes, per the Associated Press.

The bakery anchors a stretch of East 75th Street that the Southern Foodways Alliance describes as a historic corridor of Black-owned culinary businesses, home to longtime staples like Lem's Bar-B-Q and Soul Veg City. It is also not the shop's first strange run-in with burglars: in December 2015, thieves smashed the bakery's front window and stole only 48 caramel cakes, cupcakes, and brownies while leaving cash and other baked goods untouched, according to DNAinfo, with merchants at the time reporting the stolen cakes were being resold less than a block away.

Part of a Broader South Side Pattern

The Grand Crossing burglary lands amid what Hoodline has documented as a summer crash-and-grab wave across Woodlawn, Chatham, and Roseland, where crews have used stolen vehicles to rip ATMs and cash registers out of businesses overnight. Area One detectives have been investigating potential connections among multiple two-vehicle smash-and-grab incidents across those neighborhoods.

Chicago police have advised South Side merchants in official business alerts to preserve surveillance video, avoid disturbing crime scenes, and refrain from chasing fleeing burglary suspects. Those alerts followed a string of overnight commercial break-ins targeting cash registers and ATMs across South Side commercial districts earlier this year.

The pattern stands in some contrast to citywide numbers. Chicago Police Department data reported by CBS News Chicago in July showed burglaries, robberies, and carjackings citywide had decreased during the first half of 2026 compared to prior years, with overall property crime and homicides nearing 60-year lows in 2025. Even so, the Greater Grand Crossing community area, served by CPD's 3rd District, recorded 2,364 total reported crimes in 2025, a 13% decline from the year before, according to Chicago Police Department community crime statistics.

Chicago police are asking anyone with information to call 911 or contact CPD Area One detectives at 312-747-8380. Tips can also be submitted anonymously at CPDTip.com.