A string of recent crimes targeting small businesses throughout the country have industry experts on high-alert as owners warn the incidents could result in rising prices. 

Instances of dining-and-dashing – when an individual orders a meal at a restaurant and leaves without paying – have become more high-profile in recent months, with thieves becoming more brazen as they target small businesses across the United States.

Last month, a local California sushi restaurant chain became an unwilling target for a serial dine-and-dasher when a man stole approximately $1,000 worth of meals from multiple locations. 

Dine-and-dash incidents are on the rise, according to president of the Illinois Restaurant Association Sam Toia, risking the bottom lines of business owners throughout the country. (iStock )

Toia is asking communities to come together to protect small businesses and local workers while looking to the government to provide protection for owners who may not have the same amount of financial resources as more prominent chains. 

“Larger chains may be able to absorb some losses, [but] small and independent restaurants often don’t have the financial cushion to recover from the frequent theft,” Toia told Fox News Digital. “A single bad month could put an independent restaurant out of business, shutting them down for good.” 

As a restaurant owner, Musterer insists he is used to experiencing the downfalls of running a business, but the most heartbreaking part was watching how the crimes impacted his employees. 

“Unfortunately, as a small business owner, you’ve got to take your punches,” Musterer told Fox News Digital. “All these little things that happen are the cost of doing business, but when a server feels that, they’re not used to ‘running their own small business’ and having those challenges. So it definitely hurts them quite a bit.”