Employee Theft—The Biggest Cause of Restaurant Inventory Shortage
August 30, 2021
Theft—an ugly word and an all-too-common occurrence in the restaurant business. It’s often the person you least expect and possibly the one whom you trust the most, but according to the National Restaurant Association as much as 75% of inventory shortages in restaurants of all types—from fast-food restaurants to fine dining establishments—are the result of theft, and most commonly theft by employees.
As a restaurant owner you will, undoubtedly, sooner or later suffer the expense and indignity of an employee stealing from you…whether the theft is of food, money, recipes, alcohol, or time.
A potentially expensive hazard for any restaurateur, employee theft is often hard to prove. Before filing a claim on restaurant insurance, you will want to address the theft at source. There’s a lot you can achieve through disciplinary action, careful inventory control, limiting access to food and alcohol, surveillance, and providing your employees a great environment to work in.
But, no matter what you do, there may come a day when your restaurant suffers a substantial loss through employee theft and when you will want to file a claim on your insurance. Don’t wait until then to find out whether or not you are covered.
Employee theft insurance is typically not included in a restaurant’s standard property or business insurance policy. Thus, you will need to take out a business crime insurance or commercial crime insurance endorsement. This will protect you against losses caused by employee theft, burglary, fraud, and forgery.
Remember—every restaurant, from the smallest to the largest, suffers from theft and you do need employee theft insurance. You won’t claim for every small infringement but those small acts of dishonesty can develop into larger more costly crimes that, without employee theft insurance, can have devastating results on your restaurant business.
Contact Vozza Agency for restaurant insurance in New Jersey.