Coles boss warns stolen meat is ending up in restaurants
Coles chief executive Leah Weckert has raised concerns that organised crime gangs are targeting supermarket meat aisles, with stolen trays of steak and other cuts making their way into restaurant kitchens.
“The opportunity to buy hot meat at a cheap price is becoming increasingly popular and profitable for restaurants willing to purchase stolen property,” Weckert told The Australian.
According to Weckert, Coles’ work with police has revealed a supply chain where meat pinched from stores ends up on menus, while health and beauty products are funnelled into pop-up shops.
“It can be a group of individuals that are coming in to try and take a large amount of meat or health and beauty products, which is the two areas that we see a lot of the organised crime operating in,” she said. “Meat and health and beauty are the two biggest ones. So meat tends to be sold to the restaurant trade and health and beauty you quite often will see that available in little pop-up shops and the like.”
Weckert described the crime wave as operating at an “industrial level”, echoing recent remarks from Super Retail Group’s Anthony Heraghty, who flagged similar theft patterns at Rebel stores.
Victoria is proving the hardest hit, with 40% of theft incidents and Coles now deploying more security in its stores across the state.
“What has been interesting is seeing the different approaches and what looks to have had early success in this space is South Australia, which has actually had a reduction in their retail crime incidents over the last 12 months,” Weckert said, noting that new legislation and worker protections are making a difference there.
Jonathan Jackson, 27th August 2025
