Butter thefts rising, police think it's not just a local issue

An unusual kind of crime is hitting grocery stores in Guelph and Brantford, as large quantities of butter are stolen off shelves.

“Since December of last year, so about 11 months or so, we've had nine separate incidents where large amounts of butter were stolen from local grocery stores,” Scott Tracey, a spokesperson with the Guelph Police Service said.

Brantford Police said about $1,200 worth of butter was stolen from a grocery store in that city about a week ago. Police described the suspects as two men in black clothing and baseball hats who took off in a white van.

In Guelph, police said hundreds to thousands of dollars in butter has been stolen in separate cases since last year. Tracey said police don’t known exactly why the thefts are happening.

“There must be a market for it somewhere on the black market. I know if you go on some of the online marketplaces, for example, you can actually find butter for sale. So that would be likely. They're not stealing it in quantities that would be personal use,” Tracey said.

Suspects have only been arrested in one case from almost a year ago, but those suspect appear to have slipped away.

“Unfortunately, [the suspects] are all now wanted for failing to appear for subsequent court dates,” Tracey said.

Tracey couldn’t confirm if the suspects in the photos from Brantford Police match the descriptions of the three males arrested in December.

But Tracey doesn’t think the thefts are just a local problem

“There's nothing about Guelph or Brantford that makes it particularly appealing to butter thefts. I think this is probably going on just about everywhere,” Tracey said.

Staff at one store in Kitchener told CTV News off camera that they stopped someone trying to take a lot of butter just a few days ago.

Businesses that use butter every day say the price of it was already an issue before the COVID-19 pandemic. They said this is just another thing that's going to hurt them.

The Cake Box in Kitchener uses around 80 pounds of butter per week, and they hunt for whatever deals are available every seven days.

“A lot of our customers that don't know about, we call it ‘Buttergate’, they come in, they're like, 'Why are you charging so much more?’ But our prices have to reflect what we're paying out. So unfortunately, if there's now another thing on top of that that is causing the prices to increase, it's just going to be more difficult for our business and our customers, too,” Jessica Harrison, owner of The Cake Box said. “We used to be able to sometimes get butter for $2.50, especially at places like Costco and wholesale places. Now, a deal is $5.99 for one pound of butter.”

Guelph Police said while putting less butter on shelves could help stores, it's up to businesses to decide how to combat the costly crimes.