Loss prevention · Cafe & restaurant

How do I reduce restaurant shrinkage?

Restaurant shrinkage is the gap between what you bought, what you sold, and what is still in the cooler. When food cost jumps or stock seems to vanish, it is tempting to call the whole gap theft. Most of the time it is the shift’s process: a delivery nobody checked, waste nobody wrote down, a comp nobody approved. Coach those piles before you name a person.

Short answer

Pick one trading stretch, such as a week. Split the gap into piles: receiving, waste and spoilage, comps and voids, walk-outs, and the till. Write each pile down with the shift it belongs to before you talk to anyone. Use a camera only to confirm an exception once the paper trail points at a shift, not to go looking for a culprit.

What “restaurant shrinkage” usually is

It is not one number. Food cost variance, missing stock, and a short till are different piles with different causes. A cafe that over-portions on a busy Saturday, bins a tray of pastries without logging it, and has a $20 till short will see all three blur into one “we’re losing money” feeling. Mixed together, every short looks like theft. Kept apart, most of them turn into a coaching conversation about a habit on a particular shift.

Coach receiving and the cooler

• Docket vs carton. Someone on the shift owns the delivery and checks it against the docket before the driver leaves. Short deliveries signed for as complete show up later as shrinkage.
• High-value stock. Alcohol, coffee beans, meat and seafood, and expensive dry goods get counted more often than the rest. Keep them where one person is responsible for access.
• Walk-in and cooler discipline. First in, first out. Label and date. Stock that spoils at the back of the cooler is a process loss, not a missing-stock mystery.

Waste, spoil, and comps on the same day

If it is not written down, the book still thinks you can sell it. Ask each shift to log waste, spoilage, staff meals, and remakes before they leave, not at the end of the week from memory. Set a simple rule for comps and voids: which ones a staff member can do on their own and which ones need a manager’s OK. When the log and the food-cost number disagree, you now know which shift to talk to and what to ask about.

Till and walk-outs without mixing piles

A short till is a separate pile from food cost. Review voids, refunds, and no-sales with the person who was on that shift; the hospitality steps are in how to prevent employee theft in a restaurant. If a till pattern survives the routine, use how to catch employee theft fairly rather than a sting. Customers who walk out without paying are a third pile again: that is floor presence and table ownership, not a reason to watch your own team harder. Retail owners will recognise the same split in preventing employee theft in a retail store and preventing shoplifting.

Cameras after the count, not instead of it

Point them at the back door where deliveries come in, the pass, the till, and high-value storage. Play back when a count or a food-cost spike disagrees with the shift notes, and use what you see to coach the habit, not to build a case. Coverage for hospitality: security cameras for a cafe. Register versus picture: cameras vs POS. Workplace CCTV rules differ by state, so read can employers use CCTV to monitor staff in Australia? and get proper advice for your situation before you change where cameras point.

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