The manager of a neighbouring liquor store, Avtar Sran, who spoke to the Rotorua Daily Post on behalf of the dairy owners, said the ram-raid had left the female owner extremely upset.
She said her husband was currently overseas and she was now having to deal with the clean up.
He said security camera footage, which had been passed to police, showed the five offenders arrived in two cars, one a Subaru and the other a Mazda. The offenders drove through the roller doors in the Subaru, ran inside and grabbed cash and a till and tried to open a cigarette machine.
The alarms were sounding and they left in the Mazda vehicle one minute and 10 seconds later, Sran said.
A police spokeswoman said police were called at 3.42am after the dairy was driven into.
Police searched a vehicle left at the scene and another vehicle that fled the area was found abandoned in the Koutu area.
Police received a call from a member of the public shortly afterward with a tip-off about people believed to be involved but when police reached them, they had stolen a vehicle and fled the area.
The spokeswoman said police were still working to find the offenders involved.
