Employee theft — 8 ways to minimize
Employee theft is such a common thing and a huge problem because there are so many loopholes and ways for workers to do it. And even statistic tells that up to 75% of employees admitted to have stolen at least once from their employer.
We’ve looked at some of the most common examples of how your staff can steal from you:
- Take the difference between the real price of an item and its cheaper analog.
If a guest wants to pay with cash for his cocktail, the bartender can ring into the post a cheaper cocktail and take the difference between the real price paid in cash and the sum he put into the POS.
2. Free beverage or drink.
Bartenders or servants could give guests a free snack or add more alcohol to get higher tips, but the restaurant owner only loses their profit in this case.
3. Use the same receipt twice.
When it comes to popular menu items that fly off the shelves, especially drinks, very often the staff can steal when clients order the drink one after another.
The bartender can open the receipt for the first guest and close it for the second with the same order (which he had opened 15 minutes before for the first client with the same drink).
4. Fake eat-and-run.
Sometimes your employees can tell that guests left without paying even when they did actually pay in cash.
Surely nobody wants to see this happening in your business, so we put together a list of 8 tips that will help you minimize or avoid employee theft in your restaurant.
- As we see in most cases, employee theft occurs with cash transactions you can use your management to approve all voids.
2. Track all Sales and Inventory. There are dozens of POS solutions available in the market — use a POS you like most.
3. Choose employеes not only for their professional skills but also for how these people serve customers — in a generous and welcoming way.
4. Reward your team regularly. Many successful restaurant chains made their own loyalty program for employees. Consider presenting a gift card for a spa day or set up a special honor board to display photos of the best-performing workers of the month, week, etc
5. Train your employees. If you make it a rule to educate employees regularly, they will feel that you care about them and the business.
6. Lock the freezer and alcohol and give the keys to only a few most trusted employees.
7. Feed your stuff before work, so they wouldn’t want to steal food for themselves.
8. The security camera in the restaurant is also a good option. You could also appoint a person in the hall who will observe every table and all the guests who come in and out.
And of course, always use a safe bank system for debit and credit card payment.
Have you had any experience with employee theft in restaurants? Feel free to share in the comments below
