SEATTLE — Nancy and Hannah Phan are sisters born in Vietnam and now, they both live in Seattle. They say it has always been their dream to work together.
The sisters own Mina Bake Shop and have been working to soon open their first brick-and-mortar location in Fremont.
"We started as a pop up in 2022 with a desire to do something with our hands and to work together," Nancy said.
Last Thursday morning, thieves set the bakery back — even before its opening day.
"It's the worst feeling possible," Nancy said. "Last Thursday, I got a call in the morning from my general contractor and he said, 'Hey, where is the espresso machine?' There was a sinking feeling in my stomach."
The sisters rushed to the store to find almost everything of value was gone.
"They took about $30,000 worth of equipment and because we haven't opened yet, all of it was brand new," Nancy said.
The thieves took a list of items including a white Synesso S200 espresso machine (serial number 904230016), a white Mahlkonig E80S espresso grinder, a 20-quart Globe SP20 stand mixer, and three six-quart KitchenAid stand mixers.
They also took cameras and a speaker system. The suspected thieves were caught on camera breaking in the back door and presumably unlocking the front door to then steal all the equipment.
"It hurt a lot. we felt very devastated by the news and in disbelief when I got the call and when I came here, and even seeing the equipment missing was hard to believe," Nancy said.
The sisters said they hope they get their equipment back and the thieves are caught.
"It's devastating and for a small business like ours, it's doubly so," Nancy said. "I wish that we weren't dealing with this, but we'll survive and we'll open and figure things out."
Seattle police told KING 5 that the department is investigating.