Restaurants Use Surveillance Systems to Improve Efficiency and Reduce Theft

The digital video surveillance system at Miami-based Lime Fresh Mexican Grill has proven to be a versatile tool. It has helped the three-unit restaurant company improve operations and loss prevention—crucial as the fast-casual upstart embarks on expansion this year.

Lime Fresh has been using the system since it opened in 2003. It costs about $7,200 to outfit each store with the system. Each restaurant has eight to 12 cameras placed in areas such as prep tables, cash registers, dining room, beer and wine storage, back door, parking lot and patio. The motion-sensor cameras upload images to a digital video server housed on site at each restaurant. Each server holds 45 to 60 days of footage and is connected to Lime Fresh's Web server. Managers can dial into a password-protected Web site to watch the images in real time or review stored footage.

Managers and executives use it daily to ensure customer service, employee productivity, and that units are clean and properly staffed. Lime Fresh has seen labor go down 1 percent to 11 percent to 12 percent since it opened, which the company partially attributes to the system.

The surveillance system has also been effective in catching employee theft. For example, COO John Tims credits the system for reducing the number of no sales, voids and refunds, although he can't quantify. Because the POS system is integrated with the video surveillance system, Tims can review the transactions and corresponding footage to determine whether a void was legitimate.

Are Employees Using These Sneaky Tactics to Defraud Your Business?

Investigation News - Are Employees Using These Sneaky Tactics to Defraud Your Business? - PInow.com Investigator Directory: "Employees embezzle many millions of dollars from their employees each year. All businesses need to be aware of the most common worker scams.

In 2004, Lucy Magda pleaded guilty to stealing more than $2.2 million from her previous employer, the St. Catharines Standard. The Burgoyne family, who owned the newspaper, was forced to sell the newspaper to Southam Newspapers in 1996, a move that some experts claim was brought about by Magda’s dishonesty. In 2006, a business manager of the N.C. Press Association pleaded guilty to embezzling $268,340 from his former employer. In 2006, an employee of Brock Cabinets was sentenced for five to seven years in prison after she was found guilty of embezzling $1.5 million from the company that hired her.

Findings from the University of Florida’s 2004 National Retail Security Survey suggest that theft by employees means more than $14.6 billion in annual losses, which means that employee embezzlement and dishonesty is the single most expensive type of fraud affecting businesses today. Yet, many businesses are blissfully unaware of the impact their employees have on their businesses. Lucy Magda was considered an ideal employee at the St. Catharines Standard – even though she stole from"

Are Employees Using These Sneaky Tactics to Defraud Your Business?