The moment owners discovered their cafe trashed, cash gone after break in

Despite the disappointing set back for the fledgling business the show of community support has shown owners “that there’s lots more good people than there is bad people just by how people have responded to our situation.”

The Dayman General Store was broken into this week.

A few scattered coins was the only money left behind after the Hervey Bay Dayman General Store was broken into on Tuesday night.

Owners Matthew and Claire Straight walked into their Dayman Street cafe at Urangan on Wednesday morning to find “stuff all over the floor”.

The proceeds of their hard work taken from them while they slept.

All the burglar left of the hard-earned funds.

“We saw (the offender) had come through a side window, hopped over a fence which was locked, and then pushed out some louvres and smashed out the flyscreen, then came through the window,” Mr Straight told the Chronicle.

“And then obviously they exited that way because there's a couple of $2 coins left on the floor and footprints which the police managed to get.”

Matt and Claire Straight walked into a mess of their cafe.

After moving to Hervey Bay from Alice Springs last year, the couple’s dream was to have a little cafe on the coast.

And, after about only five months of business, after opening on January 25 this year, they never expected someone to do this.

“I won’t be leaving the till here, but we felt we were quite safe and secure here,” Matt told the Chronicle.

Hervey Bay Dayman General Store owners Claire and Matthew Straight.

Without enough funds for CCTV equipment, Matthew told the Chronicle he was making it priority to invest now.

“I’ve got someone coming to fit them this afternoon,” he said.

After sharing on Facebook they were unable to take cash on Wednesday, due to having no change, the response was more positive than Matt expected.

The cafe is located at 18 Dayman Street in Urangan.

“I was worried it could come off quite negative, and might stop people from coming in,” he said.

“That must be 20 people who have come in today saying: ‘I saw what happened, it's really sh*tty,’ and have supported us by buying a coffee or having breakfast ... it's been very heartwarming, a positive out of a negative.

“We still love the town and there might be a few isolated incidents, but at the end of the day, we love the town and we love the community ... it‘s shown us that there’s lots more good people than there is bad people just by how people have responded to our situation.”

Police are investigating the break in and anyone with any information about the incident is encouraged to contact PoliceLink here or on 131 444.