Thieves steal at least 20 whole briskets worth thousands of dollars from famous Texas barbecue restaurant

• Thieves stole briskets worth thousands of dollars from a famous Austin restaurant, KVUE reported.
• La Barbecue said the thief was filmed jumping a fence before loading the meat into an SUV.

Thieves broke into a famous Texas barbecue restaurant and stole thousands of dollars' worth of beef briskets, according to local reports.

Austin's KVUE reported that a thief broke into la Barbecue at 4am Thursday local time, jumping over the side fence, cutting off the barbecue pit locks and loading more than 20 whole briskets into an SUV before driving off.

Each brisket was worth $180, according to reports, meaning at least $3,500 worth of brisket appears to have been stolen.

On its Instagram page, the restaurant wrote: "It happened again!!! This time this guy took 20 briskets that were prepped and cold smoking on our pits overnight. I am so sick of this!! Does anyone recognize this guy or car?"

This was the fifth break-in at its Austin site since opening a decade ago, the restaurant told KVUE. It is appealing to anyone with information to call local police.

According to a report by MySA, brisket is more expensive than ever amid rising production costs and soaring demand among amateur pitmasters across the US. High price rises appear to have made the delicacy more attractive to thieves.

Indeed, one of the ramifications of rising inflation is likely to be more crime, with a criminologist telling Insider that Americans could expect more theft, burglaries, and even homicide as a result of soaring prices.

La Barbecue was founded in 2012 in Austin by Leann Mueller after parting ways with legendary pitmaster John after a spat, according to Texas Monthly. The joint regularly appears on lists of essential barbecue restaurants in the city published by the likes of Conde Nast Traveler and Eater.