Grease Is The Word For Thieves

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ehind the back of just about any restaurant is a large, extremely foul-smelling can filled with grease. It’s the refuse from cooking, all the oil, butter, and lard that doesn’t end up on your food. It can’t be put down the drain because it solidifies at low temperature and clogs drains. In the past restaurants had to pay to have the stuff disposed of, but lately it’s become such a hot commodity that many eateries are finding their surplus grease has been taken by thieves. 

With the poor economy and the increased use of biodiesal, used cooking oil (or “yellow grease” as it’s sometimes called) is now highly sought, and can fetch close to two dollars a gallon on the streets.

Restaurants in Massachusets, Illinois, Nebraska, Florida, New York, and elsewhere have fallen victim to grease thieves in the past year. In 2011 Cindy Harris and Jesse Moore became the Bonny and Clyde of grease thieves, stealing over four thousand pounds of yellow grease on their two-state crime spree before being butsted by a cop who noticed that their tanker truck “reeked of stale french fries.”

According to a New York Times article chronicling grease thefts, restaurants that do a lot of frying, fried-chicken joints in particular, are popular targets because their grease is especially pure.

Many restaurants now sell their used grease to companies that produce biodiesel, so what used to be the trash they had to pay to have hauled off is now a source of income. Except when it gets stolen out from under them.