Restaurant Surveillance, Protecting Your Profits
I recently read an article in QSR (Quick Service Culinary) Magazine regarding restaurant owners protecting their assests. The article stated that employee theft eats up to 4 percent of all food sales and results in 75 percent of inventory shortages. These lost revenues also go on to affect employee raises, bonuses, 401K Contributions, and benfits. What most restaurant owners fear is the culture it creates and the potenital to bring down employees that work hard and do the right thing!
Technology is one of the ways restaurant owners are combating this problem. DVR’s (Digital Video Recorders) offer a way for owners to monitor their restaruant from afar and to review past incidents. Video surveillance systems have come a long way! Not to long ago you might have a VCR recording for short periods of time. However today video surveillance systems can record video for several months!
Once a surveillance system is installed in a restaurant application, most owners see a payback within 1 year in increased profit and reduced product costs. I don’t want to paint the picture that everyone who works at a restaurant steals! However it only takes 1 bad apple to ruin the bunch! And if that 1 person gets caught on video stealing, the word spreads like wildfire! Today owners install video surveillance cameras in the freezer, cooler, entry ways, kids play land, cash register, pick up window, pay window, break room, office, drive thru lane, and parking lot areas. Owners are concerned about internal theft, but what about customers trying to get a “free lunch”. Customers who “slip” and fall inside or outside of the buildng? Customers who back into something or someone, but it was not there fault!
Not everyone is looking for the “free lunch”, but as an owner you have to protect your investment. In today’s economy there is not a better option than installing a quality video surveillance system! Would companies like McDonalds, Wendys, Culvers, Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Subway, and others install surveillance systems if they did not work? Protect yourself and your assets, no “free lunch”!
Ryan Temple is the Director of Operations for PCSurveillance.net. PCSurveillance has been serving integrators and manufacturing customized Surveillance Systems throughout the US since 2002. You can read more of Ryan’s articles at http://blog.pcsurveillance.net/ Ryan can be reached at ryan@pcsurveillance.net
