ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Customers and employees at a Denny's were forced to the floor and one employee had to give up his tips during a robbery early Thursday morning. The two violent crooks robbed the restaurant on South John Young Parkway near Sand Lake Road (see map) and remained on the loose Thursday afternoon.

Eyewitness News learned late Thursday morning there is surveillance footage that caught the thieves as they walked in the front door and then when they were inside, but it has not been released.

Customers eating at Denny's Thursday afternoon had no idea it was the scene of a frightening robbery at 2:00am.

"It's terrible. It's a horrible thing to happen anywhere. This is bad news," customer Ray Towels said.

Two scared customers in their 20s hid underneath their table during the robbery. One of three employees scrambled to hide his tips, but one of the crooks caught him and took the only $20 he had made all night.

Orange County deputies dusted for fingerprints, because one of the thieves walked right into the 24-hour restaurant and into the restroom like he was a paying customer. Minutes later, the manager saw a man with a mask and a gun walk past the front windows. That man stormed in and made everyone drop to the floor.

"That makes me feel unsafe, means security is low," customer Jessica Geraldo said.

But the thieves may have taken advantage of a rare opportunity. Deputies assigned to the area of Orange County normally patrol the shopping center every night and those same deputies eat breakfast at the Denny's during the overnight hours.

"I hate to say it, but we have a job right now because someone else didn't want to get one," security installer Lewis Caplan said.

Caplan's security company has seen a spike in the number of businesses installing extra security features, like panic buttons behind the counter, in addition to better cameras.

"It's getting worse and worse as the economy gets worse and worse," Caplan said.

According to the sheriff's office, there have been 303 commercial robberies so far this year, compared to 360 during all of last year. That's a 16 percent decrease, but still a very high number. Overall, there have been more than 2,000 robberies and that number is down nine percent.