How to Prevent Employee Theft at a Restaurant

Employee theft is something that most restaurant owners encounter at one time or another. No matter how well you think you know your employees there is always a possibility of theft. Employee theft in restaurants takes many forms, including giving away free food and drinks to customers without authorization, stealing customer’s credit card information and stealing food or alcohol for themselves. If employees know you have a system in place to trace theft, then most will respect that and not try to steal. Here’s how to prevent employee thefts at your restaurant! 

Track all sales

As the restaurant owner, it is hard to be everywhere at once, therefore, it is important to have a good tracking system for food and beverage sales. Tracking food and drink orders through a POS system, you can cut down on the amount of “freebies” that staff might give out without your knowledge. Once an order is placed and sent to the kitchen or bar, the ticket cannot be changed without the manager/owner password. Of course, a POS system used for security purposes only works if the kitchen staff and bartender know not to give out orders without a ticket.

Track food inventory

Stealing food can be as simple as eating a forbidden piece of dessert while on break or it can be more serious, such as taking cases of food right off the delivery truck. Prevent food theft by closely monitoring orders, usage, and waste. Set up a system where at the end of each shift, inventory is taken and waste should always be written down. If the kitchen staff knows they are accountable for the food inventory, they will be careful to keep track of it.

Tracking food and drink orders through a POS system, you can cut down on the amount of “freebies” that staff might give out without your knowledge

Keep all alcohol under lock and key

Alcohol will vanish like magic if left unattended, so the best way to keep employees from stealing alcohol is to keep it locked up. Only the restaurant owner, manager and perhaps bartender, have access to the supply. Like food, you should keep a running inventory of alcohol and check your POS system if a certain type of alcohol is consistently running low. If there are no sales to account for the alcohol use, you can assume that employees are helping themselves to it.

Update your PCI for handling customer credit and debit cards

PCI stands for Payment card industry data security standards. It means the rules that any business, including restaurants, agree to follow if they accept credit cards. PCI standards are administered through banks that handle credit card transactions. A major liability of using a POS system as a credit card processor is that transactions are via the Internet and could be hacked and your customer’s credit card information stolen. It is important to make sure all your computer firewalls and other safety precautions are periodically updated.

You should keep a running inventory of alcohol and check your POS system if a certain type of alcohol is consistently running low.

Limit access to cash drawers and the safe

Only the restaurant owner, manager or head server during their shift should have access to the cash drawer, register or safe. In some instances, only the owner knows the combination to the safe. The fewer hands that touch the cash, the less chance of it being stolen.

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