A Vernon coffee shop has made a bad situation good after being robbed just weeks ago.

Kunal Chander, owner of Bean to Cup, says he headed to his cafe, after hours, to learn the front door had been smashed through by a thief.  

What he didn't expect to find was that food was the main item missing.

"Sure enough, I come here and the door is wide open and there is crowbar laying down," Chander said. "We discovered that essentially nothing was broken other than our front door."

"They took some things like food items, snacks, granola bars,  countertop stuff. It looked like somebody just needed something to eat."

Expensive appliances fill the coffee shop but everything of value was left untouched.  

That's when Chander realized that the thieves didn't break-in to steal money or items of value, they were actually just hungry.

"I thought I would take it as an opportunity to get some community involvement and gather some food to donate to the Salvation Army Food Bank," he said. "Take it downtown to homeless shelters that could use the help."

"I just viewed it as an opportunity for the people to connect and come together at a local cafe."

Chander is offering free coffee to any customer who brings in a nonperishable food item and drops it in the big red bin.

The positive initiative will run through until the end of summer.