Whether you run a pub, club, hotel, bar, restaurant or hotel, things like theft, wastage and spillage will happen and whenever it does the profitability of your business is being reduced too. In this blog post we would like to share ways with you that allow you to improve your handling of this, which will have a significant impact on your gross profit.

Warn Employees

You need to make sure that your employees completely understand what you class as theft – at previous jobs they may have been allowed unlimited soft drinks, but you may only allow one drink per shift or none at all.

Explain to your employees what your expectations are, what you class as theft and what the consequences of theft are. This could be done in a team meeting followed up with a written version for each employee and another on display for example.

Install CCTV

CCTV is a really good deterrent and will often put off employees and customers from committing a crime. It is also an effective way of collecting evidence that you may need in the future. As well as security, CCTV cameras will also protect your customers against fraud or cash-back transaction errors.

Check Logs

Keep a close eye on your wastage logs, if there are lots of stock write-offs this could be a sign that employees are stealing from the bar or giving away free drinks to friends for example. When looking at your wastage logs, look at who is working on the shifts when there is wastage. This means you can look at particular members of staff and offer them additional training or keep a closer eye on them.

Empty Tills

On busy shifts you may have a hundred and one things to do, but stop and take the time to remove large wads of cash from the tills as this removes the temptation from employees to steal from the till. It also means a potential thief who is a customer is not tempted to steal the cash from the till as there is less on show.

Take Stock

Of course as wet stocktakers this is something we would recommend, but regular wet stocktakes really will help your business. They allow you to keep an eye on how much stock you have, how much you need to order, how much has come in and then you know as soon as the stock has gone missing.

These are just some of the ways you can reduce theft and waste in your bar; if you’d like some more tips please keep an eye on our blog posts or contact us directly.