Valets find new ways to combat theft at Atlanta's restaurants

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Car thieves targeting valet key stations

Atlanta police are urging restaurant and business owners to prevent theft by making their valet stations more secure.

A parking company owner said the storage box where keys are typically kept has been the same for 25 years. 

Thieves have taken advantage as restaurant customers line up to go home, causing valet runners to leave the valet podium, they then have been able to pull the door open.

All they have to do is grab a key with the manufacturer's insignia and press the fob to locate that vehicle.

In seconds, they are able to drive off.

The Atlanta police commander of the Buckhead zone -- which has more valet-equipped restaurants than in any other portion of the city -- called the existing storage units "flimsy".

Maj. Andrew Senzer convened a meeting of the parking companies.

Zach Wojohn was one of the owners at that meeting.

Wojohn decided to try to design a more secure key storage container.

He came up with the Valet Vault. The door to his units can withstand one thousand pounds of pull pressure. "It is like a gun safe," Wojohn told FOX 5.

All around town right now, you likely will see his units in place of those old boxes that thieves have been able to defeat.

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