| Friday, November 22, 2024 | CONTACT |
Add $1,000 or More to Your Business's bottom Line in 30 Days!
Losing product because of waste in production
The efficiency with which your employees prepare your products is probably the one area where the most loss can occur. Do they maximize the yield from ingredients, or are they throwing away useable product? Here are some things to watch for:
- not getting the last bit of product out of containers (not placing empty sauce bottles – chocolate, caramel, white chocolate – in hot water to liquefy what remains so it can be married to the new container; not scraping out the remaining mayonnaise from its container with a rubber spatula, etc.)
- peeling off excessive leaves of lettuce from the head, or not processing the full useable amount
- throwing away the heels of roasts, or bricks of cheese, because employees don't know how to process the entire amount when slicing, or don't understand it can be utilized in other menu items
Losing product because of theft
Don't fool yourself, theft happens! Your employees may have no desire or need for a sleeve of 12oz. paper cups, Java Jackets, or roll of toilet paper… but they might like a frozen cake, gallon of chocolate sauce, or a 6-pack of beer or a bottle of wine.
Theft is a reality in the foodservice business, and while it may only be a very small percentage of your staff that might steal from you, it can have a significant financial impact on your business. If it goes unnoticed, your employees will usually become even more audacious in their activities.
There are some simple things you can do to greatly reduce the chance of being ripped-off. First, don't allow your employees to store their jackets, back backs, and purses near where you store product. This makes it incredibly simple for someone to slide something into their bag or jacket pocket when no one is watching. I always had my employees store their personal belongings in the cabinet under the cash register (where someone would always be watching), or in my office, under lock & key.
Second, keep the back door of your store locked with a key at all times (you or your supervisor being the only one having a key). If customers regularly enter through your back door, this may not be an option. If your back door is an emergency fire exit (and it probably is), you'll need to install an alarmed breaker bar. The whole point is that you do not want your employees to be able to flow in and out of the back door at will. Carrying product out the back door to an awaiting friend, their car, or a hiding place for later pick-up, is one of the most common ways product will exit your store.
Once you have made it more difficult to stash things in their personal belongings, or carry it out the back door, employees may resort to hiding items in the trashcan. Of course you will unlock the back door to let them take the trash out. A dumpster diving expedition will certainly be planned for after hours to recover their treasure! We'll talk about how to stop this in just a bit.
One situation that will create an ideal opportunity for employees to steal from you, is having only one person in the store. If your baker comes in each morning an hour before you or the next employee, or if one person is left to clean and lock up the place at the end of the day, opportunities for theft abound. As the old saying goes, when the cat's away…
Always try to have at least two people in your store at all times. If there is not justification for having a second employee on the clock, then you will need to be that second person. If this requires you going from a 60-hour workweek to 80-hours, then this may not be a tolerable option. If this is the case, then at least invest a couple of hours more each day for a week or so to do some detective work.
During those times of day when only one employee is working, park at the far end of the parking lot, or across the street, so that you will reduce the chance of being noticed by your employee. If they are familiar with your vehicle, use your spouse's or friend's vehicle for a few days. Watch carefully (with binoculars if necessary). I know this all sounds a little CSI like, but better to rest easy, feeling fairly assured that your employee isn't carrying away your store when you're not watching. If I had the time, I could tell you countless stories of my experiences in catching employees red handed, loading the trunks of their cars.