They are known for their catfish, but team members who workat Sudie's in Pasadena say it's like a family. So when one of their employees' son's was murdered in gang violence in El Salvador, they decided to help.
"We were collecting money to help with the funeral expenses and also for a couple of their family members who are still there," Sudie's employee Bonnie Williams said.
Employees held car washes and bake sales and they had a donation jar at the checkout that had grown due to the generosity of customers.
But on Wednesday afternoon, a man can be see from the restaurant cameras coming through the doors. He approaches the counter then seems to wander around for a couple of minutes. He makes a phone call and then he makes his move, grabbing not only the donation jar, but the tip jar at the counter too.
It was right then Bonnie Williams walked out from her lunch break.
"I see him reaching for the donation jar and I'm like, 'Hey what are you doing?'" she said.
Williams followed him out the front door, just in time to see him get into a getaway car in the parking lot. She says the passenger door was wide open.
"It's really sad that somebody would do that," Williams said.
Employees believe the thief got away with a few hundred dollars.
"It was getting pretty full and it was great that people were showing their support and for someone to just come and get it, it's gross, it's sick," Sudie's waitress Jodi Blair said.
And while they may have to start over, they aren't giving up.
"I just hope that somebody out there maybe recognizes this person and identify him because this is a sad situation for this family," Williams said.
Williams says the thief and his driver were in an older model two door red Honda.
If you have any information, call Pasadena police.
