Is employee theft something you have experienced in your pizzeria or QSR? If you think it can’t happen to you, think again! According to Fast Casual, a study by the National Restaurant Association estimates that internal theft is responsible for 75 percent of inventory shortages and losses of close to four percent of restaurant sales. Three-quarters of employees steal from the workplace at least once, while half steal repeatedly. Those employees are not all stealing cash. Theft can also come in other forms: staff abusing discount codes, treating themselves or friends to food and beverages, or cheating the time clock.
The good news is that with a proactive approach to loss prevention, you can detect or deter most internal theft. Find out what steps you can take to protect your restaurant and profit:
Control Access
Employ fingerprint security at the point of sale to track every transaction indisputably to the responsible employee. This change alone simplifies tracking of questionable transactions, inventory variances, time clock edits, and schedule changes. Where passwords are required, change them frequently.
Reports and Alerts
Use notable activity reporting to alert you to things like excessive voids, coupons applied after the sale, and other types of unusual transactions that warrant investigation. Review tender summaries daily. And each week, take a close look at system events, time clock edits, bank account reports, and credit and void reporting.
Video Security
Not only will video security allow you to monitor your cash registers, but it will also allow you to see the day-to-day operations in your restaurants when you are not physically in the store. Watch staff serve your customers, and get alerts when a suspicious transaction occurs. Use an IP video solution to support business analytics and help you better understand what’s going on in the restaurant.
March Networks explained how to use cameras in your restaurant in the article Increasing Pizzeria Profitability with Integrated Video POS Data.
Employee Screening
Before you hire a new employee, do your homework—and listen to your gut. If possible, have a second person to interview potential new hires to look for red flags you missed. If you like what you see in an interview, check references, and do a quick scan on Facebook. You may also consider a background check, especially if a new hire will be handling money in your restaurant.
We talked specifically about what to do when hiring delivery drivers in Solving the Challenge of Hiring & Retaining Delivery Drivers.
PCI Compliance
Installing a PA-DSS validated POS system is an important step toward safeguarding your customers’ credit card information. This also protects your restaurant business from payment fraud. The entire SpeedLine POS product line has been validated compliant with the PA-DSS 3.1 standard, safeguarding your restaurant from risk of breach at the point of sale. But your POS choice is only one factor in PCI compliance. Read more about PCI compliance and data security in Restaurant PCI Basics.
