ATM stolen from Summit’s Steak-n-Egger restaurant

The front door is boarded up after the Saturday break-in at the Steak-n-Egger in Summit. (Photo by Carol McGowan)

By Carol McGowan

An ATM machine was stolen from a Summit restaurant after a break-in by two men early Saturday morning.

The cash machine was taken from the Steak-n-Egger breakfast, 5611 S. Archer Road, after the front door was smashed open and the business was robbed.

Owner Terry Carr, who is mayor of nearby McCook, said the break-in happened at 5:15 a.m.

Carr said video surveillance showed two people wearing masks breaking in through the front door and leaving with the ATM.

“They had gloves and masks on, and used a crow bar to get in through the door,” Carr said. “It took them one minute to break the bolts loose on the ATM, then put it right through the bottom of the glass door, shattering it.

“I have video from top to bottom, left to right, everything,” he said.

When asked if he knew of any leads, Carr said that he was told Summit detectives would be out on Monday to talk to him.

Carr said he’s never had a break in at the restaurant, which opened several years ago in the village. The chain is based in McCook and has other locations in McCook, Cicero, Chicago and Midlothian.

The restaurant was closed for several weeks last year after a fire in the kitchen.

“We had the fire in March of 2023, this is a second strike,” Carr said. “They say it’s three strikes, hopefully there’s not a third.”

“It is what it is,” he said. “It sucks. Sucks even more that you have high tech cameras and you get, ‘We’ll contact you on Monday’. I gave them everything.

“Dealing with things is part of owning a business.  You pick up the pieces and keep moving on.”

Before the COVID pandemic, the restaurant had been open 24 hours. Since reopening after the fire, the hours had been reduced to 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.

On Monday, Detective Tom Keough with the Summit Police Department said, “We have been in touch this morning with Mr. Carr and are in the preliminary stages of working with him about this case.  When we were notified of the alarm, we went over there and the suspects were already gone.  From what we know, there were two masked men in what appears to be a tan minivan that left the area with the ATM. The investigation is ongoing.”

He said detectives were working with other jurisdictions in regard to these offenders who appear to have committed similar offenses in other municipalities.