Popular Southsea chef who runs Natty's Jerk left 'broken' after break-in at food shack before relaunch
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A BELOVED chef was left ‘broken’ after his new food shack was ransacked on relaunch day.
Nathaniel ‘Natty’ Crutchfield, owner of Natty’s Jerk, was preparing for a soft relaunch of his Jamaican street food business.
Mr Crutchfield had been building a new food shack since September, and was working until the early hours of Saturday morning to get the premises ready for the ‘massive’ event.
But just hours before opening, thieves raided the new shack, in Commercial Road – stealing a generator, a BOSE sound system, and several tools, all stolen.
Mr Crutchfield said even though the shack opened for a few hours that day, thanks to the support of Portsmouth residents, the business still accrued thousands of pounds in estimated losses.
He told The News: ‘I was broken when it happened.
‘We have worked so hard, and haven’t sold any food since September.
‘Me and my friend Luke have built that shack with our bare hands and even had bomb scares on site from what we thought were unexploded Second World War bombs.
‘It’s taken so much, and after I saw what happened, I just thought I can’t do this anymore.’
Mr Crutchfield drove up to the shack with his son at 9am on Saturday morning, only to see the shipping container housing the venue had been pried open with a shovel, spade, and broom.
The 42-year-old had only left the site at 2.30am.
Him and his son found kitchen knives and broken glass strewn across the floor, as thieves had smashed crates of bottled water.
The chef reported what happened to the police shortly afterwards.
The heartbroken businessman estimates to have lost £3,500 to £4,000 due to the burglary. But despite the blow, he is trying to remain positive.
‘I can’t think about what I didn’t get, because it didn’t happen,’ he said. ‘Yes, I’ve definitely lost the generator and physical things, but anything could have happened to stop us from opening.
‘We lost what we lost, and we now need to make that back.’
After sharing the news on Facebook, Portsmouth residents rushed to help the stricken business.
Natty said he couldn’t believe the social media response he got, as customers he’d never met were offering to crowdfund for lost equipment – with one woman even calling several shops to try and source a generator.
The chef announced at 5pm that afternoon they were going to open, as he managed to lend a new generator from elsewhere.
Natty said there was a long queue of people waiting, and said the ‘amazing’ support meant he had to open.
He said: ‘We could only do two and a half hours, but it was constant.
‘Portsmouth is full of community and great people, but a few of them are spoiling it.
‘The support that came from everybody was amazing.
‘That drove us to open for a couple of hours in the evening.
‘I needed to show back the love that people had shown me, and that helped us open on Sunday as well.’
Natty said the family business would have been ‘written off’ had it not been for the help they’ve had since the burglary.
Bella Italia have leant them a new generator, and Natty’s Jerk Chicken plan to be open next weekend.
Natty is confident his business will recover, and has his ’fingers crossed’ that the thieves get caught.
He said: ‘I’ve mentally recovered because of the support we’ve had.
‘Business wise, we’ve had more setbacks than this in our time.
‘It’s not going to shut us down, we’re going to keep going and keep smiling.’
Officers are currently investigating what happened.
A spokeswoman from Hampshire police said: ‘Officers are investigating following a burglary in Portsmouth.
‘During the early hours of Saturday, February 5, unknown offender/s entered Natty’s Jerk Food Shack on Commercial Road.
‘Once inside they caused extensive damage to the interior and equipment, and a large generator was also stolen.
‘Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting 44220049758.’