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Prevention:
• First, set a cell phone policy and make sure it is enforced. Have a cell phone desk/box in the back where employees need to deposit their phones at the beginning of the shift and can only check it during set breaks. Dole out warnings to those who violate the rule and appropriately reprimand repeat offenders.
• Second, make sure you have a set break policy and that employees know what it is. Breaks are crucial in this industry - your servers and chefs are under a lot of pressure to get everything done perfectly! Be generous but clear with your break policy and your staff will deliver their best work.
2) THE SHORT RING
Here’s the scenario: On a busy night in your clubhouse, 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. As the business owner, you will notice when Grey Goose is flying off the shelves and the sales don’t reflect the inventory, but by then it is probably too late.
This is a common occurrence in bars and nightclubs, but it’s also possible in a quick-serve environ- ment where cash transactions are being rung into the system near a cash drawer.
Prevention:
• The best preventative measure for short ringing is to implement a blind closeout process. Blind close- out 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. • If the bartender has been short ringing all night, it would be nearly impossible for her to keep a running total in her head of what the computer thinks the sales should be at the end of the night. If she’s able to remember the difference between the actual and the short rung total after hundreds of transactions, hire her as your accountant instead.
“Your employees are smart - when they know that money is not being tracked closely, some may try to skim $5, $10, or $20 when they think they can get away with it.“
3) “FREE” FOOD & DRINK
For some people, a freezer full of filet mignon and decadent 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 (or four) on the house for their friends and favourite customers in an effort to increase tips.
Prevention:
• To start, lock the freezer and alcohol and only share the keys with a select few of your most trusted employees.
• Consider an inventory manage- ment 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.
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Golf Business Canada