LAKEWOOD, Colo. — It’s a collection they never wanted, and they hope it stops growing.
The owner of the Kickin Chicken in Lakewood says the restaurant has now been the victim of three acts of recent vandalism, when rocks were thrown through their windows. But instead of lashing out, they decided to take the humorous road, naming those rocks and putting them on display at the restaurant.
“So we adopted the first two rocks. We named them Bob and Oscar,” owner Ivy Pham told Denver7.
The most recent act of vandalism happened earlier this month. That third rock is now being added to the restaurant’s ‘collection.’
“No more pet rocks. This is hopefully it. I'm sick and tired of replacing these windows. I'm tired of making little adoption plaques for these rocks. But we're happy with the three. So that's it,” Pham said with a smile.
The restaurant clearly isn’t happy about the vandalism. Each time they’ve had to replace a window its cost hundreds of dollars, according to Pham. Their most recent Instagram post about the issue started with a curt “Dear A******”. Yet, the humor persists, as that same post ended with a naming competition for the latest rock. Denver7 anchor Jason Gruenauer asked the owner why.
“Whoever did this decided to choose anger, violence. And it just ends here with us, so we don't want to continue to spread that,” Pham said. “It takes more energy, in my opinion, to remain angry, so just kind of taking a kick out of it, remaining positive for the team, and just for the community.”
The restaurant has not started any kind of fundraiser or GoFundMe, instead simply asking the community to come out and support them by ordering some of their chicken (with a Japanese or Hawaiian fusion twist)
“Just come in for the good vibes. We make chicken. We're all happy people here. You know, positivity, make jokes, and it's just, it's a good time here. So just come in, support the neighborhood, support a local business, and that’s something we would really appreciate.”
Kickin Chicken is located on S. Union Street in Lakewood.
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