25 ways bartenders steal and how to stop them.
If bartenders are stealing, improper inventory management is the problem.
So you think all of your bartenders are honest, right?
Hopefully they are, but if you feel like your register sales just aren't what they should be, then it's time to start looking a little harder at how those profits might be disappearing.
It's not always just your bartenders that you have to worry about either, our bar inventory control software has helped catch waitstaff, kitchen staff, and even dishonest management from robbing some of our customers blind.
We find that the majority of employees are honest and earn the cash that they take home in their pockets, however it only takes one (and it usually ends up being the least suspected) employee to drive your bar or restaurant into bankruptcy.
If you're not watching your employees closely, and more importantly know what to watch for, then you could be losing $1000's in retail profits every month.
If you think you might have a serious bar inventory theft problem then implementing an inventory control system might be the next best step in your fight to keep profit where it belongs.
Start with the tips below and start finding out how bad of a theft problem you may potentially have in your establishment.
Don't hesitate to contact Bar Cop with any questions you have about protecting your business from dishonest employees.
Here are some of the most common ways your profits go into your employee's pockets.
1. Under-ring the correct price of a drink order and pocket the difference.
2. Over pour and/or give free drinks to friends and family.
3. Claim a bogus walk-out. Keep money customer paid for order.
4. Brings in their own bottle of liquor and pockets cash from the sale.
5. Short pour customer drinks to cover "give away" liquor costs.
6. Waitstaff and bartender work together to skim table tabs.
7. Fake a returned drink and then sell to pocket the cash.
8. Serving free liquor or undercharging in hopes of larger tip.
9. Adding water to bottles to get more shots and pocket the extra cash.
10. Ringing well brand drinks and charging premium brand prices.
11. Charging regular prices, ringing happy hour prices.
12. Charging customer higher price than actual cost.
13. Short-pouring blended drinks to cover high pour costs.
14. Claim bank till was short and pocketing the difference.
15. Recording false spills, over-rings and/or voids.
16. Ringing items on another bartender or manager key.
17. Walking out with full bottles at end of shift or while taking out trash.
18. Selling wine by the glass and ringing in a bottle sale.
19. Not ringing in cocktail server sales and splitting the money.
20. Turning in the amount of sales rung and keeping any overages found.
21. Under pouring by X amount, then keeping the cash for every X drink.
22. Using smaller jiggers brought from home to short pour drinks.
23. Over stating drinks on a tab to run up the price or pocket cash.
24. Re-pouring wine leftover in bottles to other customers by the glass.
25. Free drinks to local merchants in exchange for merchandise.
If you think you have a theft problem because profits just aren't adding up like you think they should be, then there's really no thinking about it... you definitely have a theft problem.
Profits just don't walk away on there own, they leave in someone else's pockets.
Get control of your inventory and profits by implementing our bar inventory software and stop theft today.