Your Bartender's Skimming!
I know because I see bartenders take cash for beers and throw it right in their tip jar. All. The. Time. Oh, and how about waitstaff bad-mouthing you in front of guests. Throwing you right under the bus, yep. I’ve been sitting right by service wells when they’ve been discussing such matters.
Of course I don’t mean that I was actually in YOUR restaurant watching these events unfold, no. But I’ve seen it happen right in front of me when I was a “guest” elsewhere. Waitstaff trash-talking management, other employees and even guests. Bussers rushing and cutting right in front of old ladies. Bartenders sneaking a bottle of wine into their backpack at the end of their shift. Food runners serving soup with their thumb in the bowl.
You know these horrors of which I speak; you’ve seen them yourself, haven’t you? You’ve documented, you’ve disciplined, you’ve re-written standards and policies. But as much as you try to keep on top of all this crap, it can feel like you’ll never contain it. And just as they say it is with roaches, when you see 1 there are 50 more that you DON’T see. Ugh, gross.
But for the moment, let’s just talk about skimming and theft since that’s how we started this conversation, right?
There are 3 basic categories of theft: Cash, Inventory and Wages. And there’s not enough time in the world to cover every possible scam that could most certainly be taking place right under your nose, so let’s not even try. But let’s hit some important points about cash: This is so tempting because… it’s cash! And your cash-handling staff spend all day with the POS. They have more time to think about how to *work* the loopholes than you have time to think about *plugging* the loopholes.
Whether they’re using the “counting” technique, the “no sale” technique or some other way to skim cash, they’re getting away with it because by the time the results show up in the inventory, so much time has passed that there’s no way to nail down exactly where the problem started. To nutshell these techniques, if you’re not familiar – they involve giving a guest product and accepting cash but not ringing up a sale, then separating that cash from what’s owed and pocketing it. And boy, can they get creative!
An Oklahoma State University research study shows that employees’ attitudes are a big factor in whether or not they will steal from their employer. They might feel mistreated. Younger workers might have lower moral standards. Some might even think theft is normal and even accepted by their employers. This is the beast we’re up against!
The National Restaurant Association estimates that internal employee theft is responsible for 75% of inventory shortages and about 4% of sales. For some operators, that can be the difference between opening another location or shutting the doors forever.
We can’t change the fact that some are going to find a way to steal no matter what, but we can try. If you could just reduce employee theft by half, what would that mean for you? What would you do with an extra 2% of sales if I handed it to you right now? Hmm? The best part of getting this under control is once you maintain it regularly, you’ll keep recouping that “lost” cash year after year after year!
Whatever you do, don’t ignore the fact that if you employ human beings, you definitely have theft. If you never try for improvement – if you stick your head in the sand and accept your current state – you risk losing your future. Or your bonus. Or your business. Not to mention your time, energy and sanity. Isn’t that worth saving?
As Coach George Halas said, “Nobody who ever gave their best regretted it.”
Always good hanging out,
Leslie Kalk, Restaurant Coach
hello@LeslieKalk.com
P.S. I'm looking for 10 restaurants that want to make a positive change in their team. Do you want to make your store an official stop on my tour this summer? I’m outfitting our new van as an adventure camper and I’ll be visiting restaurants in person for staff training. Woo hoo! Let’s talk about out if there's a date available for your area: Calendly.com/LeslieKalk