Talking with friends in the restaurant business lately always involves talk about staffing. Many of the restaurants are continually short staffed, meaning that they don't have enough employees to cover all the positions all the time.
This means that they end up paying overtime, or they take on more work themselves, at a time when they would like to do less work. It also means that there are going to be gaps in the systems when someone is taking on two or sometimes three jobs.
One owner told me about his opening cook, who now has to come in at 6AM instead of 8. He has to get the kitchen fired up, and check in all the deliveries, and do some prep work. He's a great employee, but he stretched to the limit, and has to constantly shift his priorities depending on what is happening.
Sometimes a door gets left open, sometimes he can't devote his full attention to checking things in. He has been lucky so far, but that streak won't last forever. He goes in early some days, but his shift is really the night shift, and it makes for very long days when he goes in early, and he isn't a spring chicken anymore.
This owner put in a surveillance system about a year ago, and he can watch the restaurant from home. It helps him keep an eye on things, and who is around. He doesn't worry much about his guy, but it helps him monitor others. He was able to spot a vendor not delivering all his cartons while his employee was tied up with another vendor. He has spotted the back door open when vendors left it open.
He has also spotted employees only partially doing their job, or ignoring customers while they talked to each other. “The cameras are a huge help, and many employees can't figure out why he just “knows things.”
The quality of employees is going down. Restaurant work is hard, and many people are staying away from it now, or opening small operations that can be run with only a couple people.
It would be very hard for this guy to operate without the cameras. He just can't be every place at once, but the cameras can.
If you're prepared, you'll never be surprised.
About the author:
Michael Gravette is a successful entrepreneur and ex-Air Force Intelligence. He is the founder and president of Safety Technology, the largest provider of wholesale dropship hidden cameras and spy gear.
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