Restaurant security should be one of the biggest priorities for owners of a restaurant operation, especially when you consider how much cash and credit card transactions are made at your business every day, and sometimes on more than one shift. It is too easy to get complacent and take the “it won’t happen to us” approach. You need to get your safety and security measurements up to speed from the moment your business opens.

In order to be protected against all manner of safety and security issues, you must first be aware of them. The main security risks for restaurant operations are:

• Theft

• Burglaries

• Criminal damage

• Employee theft

When you know the risks, you can prepare for them better. In the vast majority of cases, being aware of your surroundings will protect you against the majority of the instances above.  If you encourage your employees to keep an eye out for anything untoward or anyone acting suspiciously, you can usually deal with the problem before it happens.

Security against Cash Theft

A restaurant operation is more likely to become the victim of cash theft than anything else. This is simply because there is not a lot else inside a restaurant of any immediate value to thieves and burglars, particularly after closing time. This means that you have to be extra vigilant during opening hours to protect yourself against cash thieves.

One of the best ways to protect yourself is to discourage customers paying in large bills. This can be an annoyance to customers.  It simply comes down to looking less attractive to thieves. If a criminal spots that you have been taking $100 bills from customers all night, they will be more than aware that there is serious cash on the premises. By taking smaller notes, it might put criminals off the scent.

Many restaurants deposit their cash frequently during the day especially following busy shifts so that their cashboxes and/or safe are not too full at any given time. It is also a good idea to leave no cash on the premises overnight. It is easier to deal with a break-in when there is a little damage but no cash been stolen. If your restaurant is broken into AND you have a safe full of cash stolen, that is a catastrophe.

It is also recommended that you switch up your processes. Criminals are known to scout locations and look for familiar behaviors and times, e.g. what time you go to the bank every day. They might watch for a pattern and strike on the third or fourth time, so make sure you change it up so that they can’t catch you in the act and rob you of your businesses hard-earned cash.

General Safety and Security Measures

The busiest periods for restaurants are the evening, which means that your business and your employees are more at risk than businesses that are open in normal business hours. You should make sure that everybody has a ride home at the end of a shift, and whoever is in charge of locking up is never left to do so alone. Safety in numbers is the best policy.

A great investment for restaurant owners is surveillance equipment – including safety cameras on the inside and outside of the building. Nothing puts off a criminal quicker than a camera looking right at them, and by showing potential thieves that you are invested in securing your premises, you will make them think twice about choosing your restaurant as a potential target.

The same can be said about setting an alarm system. Your premises will have more than one entrance/exit to it, and it’s vital to your safety and security that they are protected by security alarms. You should look to get an alarm system with set codes for it, and you should change these on a regular basis so that only you and a select few on your team can stop them from calling out to the authorities in the event that they are triggered.

A lot of security is common sense, but common sense sometimes goes out of the window if you or your employees are tired or distracted for some reason. This is why you need to have set procedures and duties in place that every employee and/or manager on shift has to follow to ensure that you are running a safe and secure ship. This includes:

• Checking electronic equipment regularly

• Checking ventilation hoods, plug sockets and other areas of risk

• Checking windows and doors to ensure that they are closed and locked

• Setting security alarms to ensure they are in full working order

• Checking lights – including emergency lighting inside and outside of the premises

• Checking bathrooms to ensure that no members of staff or patrons have been locked inside – or any opportunist thief has hidden inside hoping to be locked in

In order to ensure all of the above gets done, there should be a checklist for every shift leader/manager to follow during and after every shift. Once this becomes routine, the safety and security of the business will become second nature to everyone on the premises.