SAN ANTONIO – Local barbecue restaurants are keeping their guard up after several were hit by what many are now calling the "brisket bandit."
Smoke Shack BBQ was one of the first barbecue restaurants hit.
"This is our back-up pit," said Chris Conger, with Smoke Shack BBQ. "We didn't have any brisket in it that night. We threw our pork butts in here. The guy came in through a screened-in area and grabbed all the pork out of our pit."
Conger said they didn't have any surveillance cameras out then, but they do now and they lock up their pit.
"Other restaurants got a lot more stolen," said Conger. "Brisket, beef is so high right now. We got lucky it wasn't brisket. I think it's more than double."
That pricey brisket has been stolen from three other local barbecue restaurants within the last few weeks.
The latest hit was at B&B Smokehouse.
Their owners were able to capture video with their surveillance cameras and in this case, the bandit also headed straight for the pit.
Conger said it appears that whoever is doing this, knows what he's doing.
"This guy that came in here, he knew how to work this thing," said Conger. "He must have had a cooler with him to throw all the pork butts in."