There are numerous factors to manage when it comes to daily food and beverage operations, but there’s one that will always be harder to manage than the others: People. You can meticulously plan and forecast overtime, you can cross-train employees to do multiple job functions, you can even efficiently cut/call, but at the end of the day you still have sky-high labor costs. Here are some proactive steps you can take to ensure that one of your most valuable assets, your people, don’t hurt your business:
- Knowledge is Power: You can easily implement restaurant theft prevention software, but it won’t have as big an impact if no one knows about it. Restaurant employee fraud can be prevented simply by them knowing it exists and is being used in your establishment. Tell your team about this tool that identifies POS fraud on a daily basis, and tell them how quickly and automatically it detects theft. Showing your restaurant employees the power of your arsenal may be enough to eliminate temptation.
- Keep Tabs on Payroll: Employees trained for multiple job functions are imperative for your business – a prep cook can jump behind the line during peak hours, a hostess can pick up a drink tray and start cocktailing when business picks up – but with these added responsibilities comes freedom to clock in using different job codes. This means some employees can clock in under the job class they know pays more, despite the fact that they were scheduled for a lower paying one. Quickly run a payroll report to see if the job classes your employees clock in as are unfairly hurting your bottom line.
- Watch the Clock: A flat tire, heavy traffic, or a table that just won’t leave – all of these factors can influence what time an employee clocks in or out despite what time they’re scheduled. Run a time clock report to determine if the bartender who was 20 minutes late managed to clock in or out at the time he was supposed to. As an ethical operator, you want to make sure that every minute of work executed in your restaurant is accounted for and monetarily compensated, and that no excess funds are being allotted to employees clocking in or out outside their scheduled time.
Let Avero help you safeguard your restaurant against fraud, theft, and employee negligence – get started today!
