A few free drinks, misplaced cash, and missing inventory: shrinkage adds up.
In fact, it can cost you up to 25% of your profits over time. As an owner of a fast food restaurant, you probably have a lot on your plate—running a food establishment is difficult and time-consuming, so it’s easy for potential threats to your profits to go overlooked and unnoticed. But if you’re proactive about the issue and take advantage of cash management solutions and streamlined security procedures, you can curb shrinkage and keep more money in your pocket.
Video Surveillance
Installing video surveillance can help you keep an eye on your establishment, your employees, and your customers in order to prevent losses and monitor what’s going on in your fast food restaurant when you’re not around. You can record clips to a DVR and archive video files in case of an incident so you can go back and review it.
Card Access Control
Some parts of your establishment will be higher targets for shrinkage. Employees helping themselves to some of your inventory in the stock room or some of your cash in the back room can lower your profits. When you install card access control that limits specific areas to approved personnel only, you can reduce the amount of shrinkage taking place. Some systems will also log who accessed the areas and when so you can track any suspicious activity to specific staff members. Access cards are more effective than keys, which can be easily duplicated.
Standard Procedures
Your employees should be following standard procedures when they’re taking orders, processing transactions, counting daily floats, and handling inventory. They shouldn’t be left to figure out how to do so on their own. For example, they should always be entering purchases in your POS system before handing out food or drinks. Staff members should never share registers—they should have their own code for accountability purposes. When there’s a void or coupon to be processed, a manager should be present to verify it. Only a few trusted employees should be allowed to manage stock.
Automated Cash Solutions
There are several cash management solutions on the market that can help you curb shrinkage. When you invest in a cash recycler that collects and dispenses money, you can keep your money locked up and safe, make sure every dollar is accounted for, and prevent human error from reducing your profits. Currency counters and sorters can also take care of your nightly cash handling, so your employees have fewer opportunities to be alone with your money, your counts are always accurate, and you are alerted to counterfeit fraud. When you let technology handle your cash instead of your employees, you can reduce instances of losses, missing money, and miscounts.
Seek Professional Help
If shrinkage is a serious problem at your fast food restaurant and you don’t know how to effectively minimize it, ask for help. Loss prevention professionals can identify the weaknesses in your system and find solutions to help you stop theft. Cash management solution professionals can also help you streamline your cash handing procedures so you can have better control over the money coming into your establishment.
Prevent Potential Loss
Shrinkage can be a large contributor to your fast food restaurant’s overall loss. When you have inventory and you have money, you have the possibility for theft. When you are proactive, you can prevent potential loss from occurring before it starts to affect your bottom line. Cash management and security solutions can help you resolve the issue.
