A Michelin-starred TV chef has been left distraught after thieves stole 2,500 pies he had lovingly prepared for sale at a Christmas market.
Saturday Kitchen star Tommy Banks, who owns two restaurants and a pub, urged the crooks to “do the right thing” and drop the £25,000 worth of grub at a community centre for people in need to enjoy.
But instead the crooks crashed the van before leaving it abandoned to be found by police jam-packed with unrefrigerated pies which have all had to be dumped in a skip.
The tasty haul – weighing almost a tonne, was taken from the back of his van on Monday morning ahead of being taken to a pop-up stall at the renowned York Christmas Market for sale to thousands of revellers.
Banks, 35, revealed that the stock included steak and ale, turkey and butternut squash pies, as well as lashing of gravy and custard
But realising the goods may longer be sellable he urged the thieves to drop the pies somewhere they could be of benefit to people in need.
He said: “I know you’re a criminal, but maybe just do something nice because it’s Christmas and maybe we can feed a few thousand people with these pies that you’ve stolen, do the right thing”.
The chef also asked anyone who is offered pies from someone who is not him to report them to the police.
The pies were nabbed after the refrigerated van was driven away from Barker Business Park in Melmerby, near Ripon, on Sunday night.
But police yesterday found the badly damaged van abandoned near to the Hemlington area of Middlesbrough sporting fake plates.
Banks wrote online: The van has been found with fake plates on it by police but is badly damaged and will almost certainly have to be written off. The pies are on the van but have been damaged and not refrigerated so are also unwritten off unfortunately. Not the ending to this story I was hoping for.”
Banks had earlier told of his heartbreak at the theft saying his kitchen team were “gutted because it’s days and days of work gone”, adding: “Vans get replaced on insurance but all that work and all those ingredients, just nicked.
“The thing that I'm gutted about especially is, what are they going to do with them, are they going to dump them somewhere?
“I’m guessing the thieves didn’t realise they were stealing 2,500 pies along with the van! The pies are all in boxes with my name on so not very easy to sell.
“We talk about zero waste and when you’ve got just short of a tonne of food that’s probably been ditched, it would be good if it could find its way to people who need it.”
Banks owns the Michelin-starred The Black Swan at Oldstead, Roots in York, The Abbey Inn at Byland and the premium food box business Made In Oldstead – named after the North Yorkshire village where he was born.
The chef added: “The guys are absolutely scrambling but I think we have enough to get through the immediate days and we're just working like crazy to make more.
“Hopefully we'll be able to stock ourselves back up again.”
The chef said they are planning to create a chicken pie this week and one of his team came up with the name “bandit butter chicken pie”, as he said the situation was “all a bit Home Alone – at Christmas with the pie bandit stealing our pies”.
Banks has put out a video message on social media appealing for the thieves to make the donation rather then let thousands of meals go to waste.
He added: “I know they've gone now and we obviously aren't going to recover them to sell them.
“I just think that’s 2,500 people we could feed and there’s a lot of people who could do with a hot meal right now. If we can find them, they can have them.”
In 2016, Banks reached the final of the Great British Menu, winning the fish course with a dish entitled 'Preserving The Future'. He also appeared in the programme in 2017 and again won with his fish course of turbot with strawberries and cream.
Banks was co-host of The Big Family Cooking Showdown with Angellica Bell in 2018. He regularly appears on Saturday Kitchen and Sunday Brunch as a guest chef. Since 2019, Banks has been a veteran guest judge for Great British Menu. In 2019 he judged the Northern Ireland heats which was won by Chris McClurg, and in 2020 he judged the London and South East heats, won by Kerth Gumbs.
In 2020, Tommy participated in the Great British Menu Christmas special, winning the petit four-course titled 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.'
