Category Archives: Food & Beverage

Servers and Bartenders Split Checks (and steal) in a Blink of the Eye

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It never amazes us to hear about all of the ways our Mystery Shoppers see servers and bartenders stealing from their hotels. With the advancement in technology, especially point of sale systems, you would think that it would be harder for servers to steal. However, in many ways, it actually makes it easier.

With the advancement in technology, a server can make a guest check-in seconds. That means they can easily manipulate a guest check-in seconds. Here is one example our Mystery Shoppers see. A server serves 2 breakfast buffets and presents check number 101 to a customer. The customer pays $40 cash. Instead of closing the check to cash, the server pockets the cash and goes back and splits that check, and creates check number 102 for 1 buffet and check number 103 for 1 buffet. Now the server has two open checks for very popular items that he/she can do many things with. He/she can present a check to their next customer who orders a buffet or they can add additional items to the buffet or transfer it to another guest check. The opportunities are endless.

This not only works with buffets but with any items that are not prepared by the kitchen such as beverages, desserts, and especially alcoholic drinks.

How can you protect your restaurant?

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Bottle for Bottle Exchange

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All bars have an inventory system, but most bars overlook an important aspect that should be as controlled as any other process. Imagine that your bar revenue begins to decline; more notably, your cash sales. You begin to do your research and your business levels seem to be consistent and all of your costs seem to be in line. You even do a full inventory mid-period to find any discrepancies. Everything seems fine.

Can someone be stealing your customers? That person might be right under your nose.

Your typical bar will carry a variety of different alcoholic selections, almost all of which can be found in grocery stores. There are no distinctions between the bottles you receive from your liquor broker and the bottles you can buy in the grocery store. What will prevent a shrewd bartender from bringing his/her own bottle of Absolute vodka from the store, and pouring and serving to customers out of it, and pocketing the proceeds without a trace? Your bartender just opened his/her own business in your establishment.

Obviously, you cannot have a manager watch each bartender all night looking for any suspicious activity. There is a much easier method that allows you to control this aspect of your liquor operation at a glance; Ensure that you are using a proper bottle for bottle exchange program in your liquor inventory system.

An effective bottle for bottle exchange consists of just a few steps. First, obtain a stamp or a set of stickers that is original and difficult to reproduce. Secondly, mark all of your bottles with the stamp or sticker (discreetly on the back of the bottle to maintain appearance) to show that they are the bar’s property. Lastly, add the bottle for bottle exchange to your requisition process.

This bottle for bottle method requires the bartenders to save finished liquor bottles and exchange them for new bottles during requisition. The bar will not receive new bottles unless an accompanied empty bottle with the proper stamp or sticker on it is received in return. The manager then properly disposes of the empty bottles so that they cannot be retrieved.

With the new changes, managers can easily do spot checks to see if there are any bottles in the bar without stamps or stickers on them. It also provides some additional benefits. Your bar should not run short on any types of liquor anymore as any missed requests in the requisition process will be mostly eliminated due to bottle for bottle exchange. You can be certain that your bar par levels will always be maintained. Any missing liquor inventory will now be the sole responsibility of the bartenders and cannot be blamed on the process. Managers should also consider taking it one step further and disallow personal belongings such as purses or bags behind the bar. This will prevent the use of a personal bottle of liquor to refill the bar’s bottles. Also, be sure to use separate stickers for the different outlets you may have so that you do not mix or confuse the bottles with each other.

The bottle for bottle exchange will definitely add some extra work and time to your bar’s inventory process. However, it will be worth the peace of mind you will receive knowing that you are making it tougher for bartenders to steal from you.


Perpetual Inventory System

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mqdefaultFor the discerning bar manager, a perpetual inventory is a must. A perpetual inventory system is a method used so bar managers can know their exact liquor inventory at any given time. The rule generally is; the more liquor that a bar stocks on hand, the more crucial it is that a bar should use a perpetual inventory system.

What does it mean to take inventory perpetually? Like the name would suggest, it is a continuous inventory. Instead of counting your liquor inventory just once a month, you track each transaction in an ongoing count. The process is definitely tedious to set up initially, but once running can make the inventorying process much easier. Here are the steps to make it successful:

1. Log each type of liquor carried and all the information associated with that liquor in regards to costs and ordering. This includes:

a. Cost of bottle or case

b. Cost per pour (Bottle cost divided by ounces in bottle multiplied by ounces in standard pour)

2. Build a spreadsheet or database that can store and automatically update and calculate based on your inputs. The simplest way to do this is in Microsoft Excel. Be sure to add in places to log requisitions and purchases. Keep the different outlets and storage room all separate on the spreadsheet. Also, add in the extensions that calculate your total inventory value for each item as well as the total. Be sure to include a second area where you can calculate the important numbers that you would like to see (i.e. pour cost to date).

3. Lastly, find a good time and day to perform a full inventory count. The most preferable time is usually when the normal periodic inventory is done. Count everything and log everything into the database.

Now that the system is ready, be sure that the bottle for bottle exchange requisition process is in place, and begin to track each transaction. A good way to approach the situation is to think of each outlet as a separate entity that the storage room is supplying. Now, as all purchases and requisitions are logged as they occur, the database should show exactly how much inventory is in your storage room at any given time. Also, a pretty accurate pour cost can be calculated based on taking your outlet’s sales for the period divided by the requisition costs to the outlet (*Note – At least three months from the system’s launch should be allowed to see the accurate costs).

For a pre-made perpetual inventory database, a simple search online can produce many companies that can produce them. However, for one that is catered to your needs and products, find a person that can do basic Microsoft Excel formulas and functions. A very simple, effective one can be built from scratch.

Room Service Delivery Done Right!

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Does your hotel’s room service delivery program operate like this? The room service delivery person throws some lukewarm food on a tray and covers it with saran wrap, tosses it on a cart, and dashes up to the guest room. He knocks on the door, darts in, and tosses the tray on the desk. He asks the guest to sign the guest check which includes the food at a 10 percent premium over the restaurant price, a $4 delivery charge, and an automatic 20 percent gratuity. He then tells the guest to just leave the tray out in the hall for a day or two and someone will pick it up. Enjoy your meal!

It is no wonder why Room Service is often one of the lowest scores on hotel comment cards and one of the lowest areas we see during our hotel inspections.

Here are some tips for doing it right:

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Restaurant Menu Engineering

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Take a break from working on your budget to catch up on a new law that will have a huge impact on your gross operating profit. As you may have already read, on September 12th, 2006 Governor Schwarzenegger approved a bill to increase the minimum wage. The bill calls for two raises to the minimum wage over the next year and a half as follows:

-On January 1, 2007, the minimum wage for California will increase from $6.75 per hour to $7.50 per hour.

-On January 1, 2008, the minimum wage for California will increase an additional 50 cents to $8.00 per hour.

To read the bill, click on the following link: http://www.dir.ca.gov/IWC/iwc.html

The biggest area the new law will impact is in the hotel’s food and beverage departments. Most restaurants only make a profit of about 10 percent. With server and bartender labor to increase 11 percent to $7.50, it could easily squeeze out the entire profit. Hotels with high benefits (especially high workers comp rates) will be hit the hardest. Now is the time to examine your menus and consider any price increases. There is a great article on menu engineering available at http://www.restaurantowner.com/public/330.cfm . There is also a menu engineering worksheet available for download to help you out. It is also a great time to examine your labor productivity. Make sure that you have a productivity number for each position and those numbers are used to forecast, schedule, and report each week.

The earlier that you can prepare for the increase, the easier it will be to absorb the expense. It is critical to examine what positions that it will affect and have a plan for them. Typically any position under $10.00 per hour will be affected by this minimum wage increase. You may want to consider raising the wages on those positions immediately rather than waiting until January 1st. As the word about the minimum wage increase gets around, employees will start looking around to see what other hotels are paying. The hotels that wait until January 1st could risk losing some good employees to their competitors. Also, a large increase before the government requires could be a great boost for morale, especially in December when hotels are slow and work is scarce.

Link provided with permission from RestaurantOwner.com. For more information, visit http://www.restaurantowner.com/.