Popular Columbus food truck temporarily closed after catalytic converter stolen

A well-known Columbus food truck is the latest victim in the city’s string of catalytic converter thefts.

According to owner Traci Lukemire, the Donna’s Delicious Dozen food truck–a well-known spot for donuts and other baked goods–had its catalytic converter stolen between 11 a.m. last Friday and 8 a.m. on Saturday.

“As bad as small businesses have had it over the last couple of years, now the cost of everything is rising, so definitely not as many customers, and someone goes and does this. Very disheartening,” Lukemire said.

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She said the truck was forced to close while it undergoes repairs. Lukemire believes she’ll have a more precise timeline later today. It’s currently her goal to reopen by Thursday (Donna’s has a pair of locations tentatively scheduled for Thursday morning and evening), but she said at the moment, nothing is definite.

In the meantime, Donna’s Delicious Dozen’s brick and mortar shop at 5322 N. Hamilton Rd. will operate under normal business hours.

While the theft has presented hurdles for her business, Lukemire said she’s striving to remain positive. In an attempt to “use their bad to fuel our good,” Donna’s gave away six free donuts to the first 15 different people who mentioned a social media post she made about the incident.

And instead of creating a GoFundMe page, Lukemire is asking those who would have donated to make an effort to patronize local small businesses.

“We are all going through it, one way or another. Places who have been very successful for years are closing. Rising costs, customers without the extra to spend is hurting all of us significantly,” she said. “There was such a push for small business during the height of the pandemic, but that has seemed to have died down quite a bit. But we need it desperately. We need everyone to be intentional on where they spend their money.”

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