{"id":27752,"date":"2025-12-15T14:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T19:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/partech.com\/?p=27752"},"modified":"2025-12-16T11:48:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T16:48:15","slug":"theft-or-teachable-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/partech.com\/2025\/12\/15\/theft-or-teachable-moment\/","title":{"rendered":"Theft or Teachable Moment?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Theft and fraud are unfortunate realities for restaurants. According to the Food Industry Association, 85% of U.S. food retailers<\/a> named theft or fraud (aka shrinkage) as the number-one threat to their businesses last year.<\/p>\n

QSRs are among the hardest hit of all, with losses from theft reaching 7% of sales in the segment. In an industry where typical net profit margins range from 3% to 5% on average, such losses can effectively erase an entire quarter\u2019s profitability. This reality makes restaurant loss prevention a key priority for brands of all types and sizes.<\/p>\n

Shrinkage is primarily the result of theft \u2014\u00a0about 75% according to the National Restaurant Association<\/a> \u2014 and most of it is done by team members. This puts regional, district, and store managers in the uncomfortable position of constantly policing employees to protect profits.<\/p>\n

The methods employees use to steal are extremely varied, from fake refunds, discounts, or voids to giving away free food to friends. All these tactics accomplish the same objective: obscuring what really happened at the register to keep the cash or food.<\/p>\n

Ironically, employee theft and fraud can be relatively easy to detect. The real challenge for QSRs is time management. Combing through every transaction for discrepancies is incredibly time-consuming \u2014 so much so that it is basically impossible to do manually, especially when overseeing multiple stores.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where technology comes in.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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  • \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/stop><\/stop><\/linearGradient><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFocus on What Matters<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    Identifying suspect transactions manually is not a realistic approach for QSRs with several, dozens, or hundreds of stores, each of which logs hundreds of transactions every day. The investment in time and resources would not only negate any potential gains, but it would also detract from a long list of daily activities that provide genuine strategic and operational value.<\/p>\n

    To solve this problem, many QSRs are turning to the automation provided by restaurant loss prevention software. These platforms quickly target questionable transactions for follow-up, enabling managers to focus only on those stores, transactions, or employees that deserve attention. These efforts can be incorporated within a daily routine. They also provide insights that can be replicated across multiple stores.<\/p>\n

    One of the most important benefits of automated fraud detection is the ability to differentiate between employee theft and human error. For example, the platform might surface a series of big-ticket returns during a late-night shift at a store when the manager is likely not there. The timing is an obvious red flag. But is an actual crime occurring, or is it something more innocent?<\/p>\n

    In many cases, managers discover employees are not following proper procedures for disposing of food, accounting for inventory, handling returns, or other common activities. This creates an opportunity to retrain specific employees in an efficient and focused way, while sharing these learnings with other stores to reduce risk similar errors from happening elsewhere.<\/p>\n

    By prioritizing transactions for special attention, automated restaurant loss prevention software gives management enough time to understand the situation and follow up effectively. It also helps brands avoid the default approach of firing the employees involved, which leads to unnecessary turnover, compromised customer service, and a cascade of staffing issues.<\/p>\n

    Essentially, automated fraud detection empowers district managers, area coaches, and others to keep closer tabs on each store without the need to visit all of them daily. On top of saving money, this frees up valuable time that can be spent on coaching team members and improving the guest experience.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    • \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/stop><\/stop><\/linearGradient><\/defs><\/path><\/g><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNeutralize Phone Scammers<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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      Automation is also useful for uncovering stores that have been victimized by phone or email scams. These scams are much like consumer scams, initiated by a caller or sender supposedly \u201cfrom corporate\u201d telling an unsuspecting worker that an audit has uncovered a serious problem \u2014 one that can be resolved by issuing a gift card or refund.<\/p>

      Like anyone who has been scammed, employees are often embarrassed to admit what happened and are afraid they will be fired if they report the fraud. But with automated detection, managers can identify the problem, quickly investigate, and build trainings that prevent other stores from repeating the same mistake. Turning a common threat into a stronger overall defense can save substantial time and money.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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        As we all know, there will be times when what\u2019s really going on at the register is employee theft or fraud. Automated loss prevention restaurant software delivers several advantages in these instances. Most critically, it makes it far faster and easier for managers to identify when theft happens and take appropriate action \u2014 without the need to devote hours on tedious manual review.<\/p>

        Even better, many of these tools can be integrated with popular video surveillance platforms that allow managers to review flagged transactions in parallel with video footage, yielding a clearer situational understanding of what went on compared to data alone. In just a few minutes, managers can gather the evidence needed to determine whether theft occurred and confidently take next steps.<\/p>

        Managers can also bring these same assets along with them when reviewing any questionable transaction face-to-face with the employee involved. If theft has occurred, the manager can proceed accordingly. If the employee just made a mistake, then it\u2019s a simple matter of training.<\/p>

        Either way, these conversations serve as a long-term theft deterrent, helping to establish a culture where employees understand that all suspicious activities will be identified and investigated \u2014 rather than simply getting lost in the shuffle like so many are today.<\/p>

        PAR Technology helps QSRs strengthen fraud and theft detection through industry-leading restaurant loss prevention software that uncovers losses, inefficiencies, and blind spots long before they become problems. Request a demo today.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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        \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVictoria Tran<\/strong> is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at PAR Technology, leading go-to-market strategy for PAR OPS, an enterprise restaurant operations management platform. She oversaw the post-acquisition portfolio unification \u2014 bringing together PAR Data Central and Delaget under the PAR OPS brand \u2014 and manages all marketing efforts for PAR OPS product launches, including PAR Technology\u2019s first AI data analytics assistant, Coach AI. Previously, she held product marketing roles at Spectrum Brands and Bradshaw Home, delivering e-commerce growth, new product commercialization, and high-impact campaigns. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Government from the University of Virginia.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Theft and fraud are unfortunate realities for restaurants. According to the Food Industry Association, 85% of U.S. food retailers named theft or fraud (aka shrinkage) as the number-one threat to their businesses last year. QSRs are among the hardest hit of all, with losses from theft reaching 7% of sales in the segment. In an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTheft or Teachable Moment? - PAR Technology Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Theft or Teachable Moment? by PAR Technology . . 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