Commentary
4 ways your restaurant staff is stealing from you
Opportunities for theft will depend on the operations and setup of your restaurant, but if you think like a thief, you're more likely to recognize and prevent possible loopholes
March 23, 2017
By Aman Narang, president and co-founder of Toast Restaurant POS
It's tough to deal with the reality of employee theft, but it is a reality. Approximately 75 percent of employees have admitted to stealing at least once from their employer. In the restaurant industry, employee theft totals between $3 and $6 billion dollars annually.
Opportunities for theft will depend on the operations and setup of your restaurant, but if you think like a thief, you're more likely to recognize and prevent possible loopholes.
Here are just a few of the ways your staff could be stealing from you, and how you can help prevent it from happening.
1. Self-imposed breaks
Everyone's on their phones these days, but this shouldn't be the case in your restaurant. If you have a lax cell phone policy, it shouldn't be unexpected when your chefs or servers take a quick peek at their phone during their shift. These impromptu breaks interrupt the flow of your restaurant, which can damage efficiency. Less efficiency equals less profit.
Prevention
First, set a phone policy, and make sure it is enforced. Have a cell phone desk/box in the back where employees need to deposit theirs at the beginning of the shift and can only check it during set breaks.
Second, make sure you have a set break policy and that employees know what it is. Breaks are crucial in this industry. Be generous but clear with your break policy and they will deliver their best work.
2. The short ring
Here's the scenario: a customer orders an $11 Grey Goose martini at the bar and pays for it in cash. The bartender takes the money for the top-shelf cocktail and puts it in the cash register, but rings it into the POS system as a $6 well vodka drink. The customer was charged the appropriate amount, so she doesn't know the difference.
At the end of the night, the bartender pockets the difference between the cash drawer total and what the POS expects it to be.
Prevention
The best preventative measure for short ringing is to implement a blind closeout process. Blind closeout requires employees to reconcile cash at the end of their shift without notifying them of the exact amount they are expected to return. They have to count the cash and report the total to the system without knowing what it's “supposed” to be.
3. Freebies
For some people, a freezer full of meat pre-made desserts is too much to resist. Even the “complimentary” bread at the server station can add up if your staff is snacking on it every day.
Of course, alcohol is also a huge factor in inventory theft. In addition to drinking it or taking bottles for themselves, bartenders can throw in a drink on the house for their favorite customers in an effort to increase tips.
Prevention
Lock the freezer and alcohol, and only share the keys with a select few of your most trusted employees.
Also, consider an inventory management solution. The technology options are becoming increasingly accurate and robust. To keep better tabs on comped alcoholic drinks, define and enforce a strict policy. Some examples include writing down every comp with an explanation or giving bartenders a dollar value limit on freebies.
4. Register skimming
Restaurant owners who don't track their sales report are extremely susceptible to employee theft.
Your employees are smart. When they know that money isn't being tracked too closely, some may try to skim cash when they think they can get away with it.
Prevention
Modern restaurant POS systems make these thefts a bit more obvious. When there's a mismatch in your daily sales report and the money in your register, there will be a glaring mismatch. With modern POS systems, you can also make it clear in the training process how accurately you are able to track sales to deter staff members from skimming.
No matter what you do to arm your business against theft, there will always be ways that your staff can steal from the restaurant. So it's also important to recognize the roots of your staff's impulse to steal, and take the steps you can to prevent theft in the first place.
