An armed robber stole money from Cosi for the third time this year on Saturday afternoon while the restaurant was open and filled with customers.
Police refused to say how much was taken this weekend, citing a new policy under which dollar amounts stolen from retail outlets will not be released.
Sums of $3,521 and $2,850 were stolen from the coffee house and restaurant -- located at 36th and Walnut streets -- on March 13 and Jan. 10, respectively.
The new police policy aims to prevent would-be robbers from knowing how much money is readily available in stores, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said.
According to police reports, the robbery occurred while a recently hired employee was in the upstairs public seating area of the restaurant, counting receipts out of the cash register, which the employee had carried upstairs.
The employee reported that he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see a male attacker, who demanded that the employee hand over all of the money in the cash register.
The attacker allegedly revealed a silver-colored semiautomatic handgun with black grips in his waistband but did not remove the weapon.
After the employee complied, the attacker reportedly exited through a back door upstairs that leads to a service area shared by all of the retail stores on the block.
The robber is described as a black male with a light complexion who is between 5-foot-8 and 5-10. He has a thin build and weighs between 140 to 150 pounds. He also has a mustache, a goatee and short curly black hair. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a dark blue jacket, blue jeans and faded brown bicycle gloves.
Shortly after the incident, the employee reported the robbery to the manager.
Rush said that the robbery rate at Cosi is "unexplainable" and that police are taking several steps to address it.
In addition to the investigation that detectives will conduct, Rush said she is planning to contact local Cosi management.
"We are concerned about the business practices as it relates to the processing of cash receipts," Rush said. "What we want to find out is [whether] there is something that they are doing that is making them a target because we are not having these issues with any other retail store on the entire campus."
"We want to work with them because we think that it is detrimental to them as a business brand and it is very detrimental to have reports of robbery on our campus," she added.
Cosi officials would not comment on the incident.
