Page 11 – DTiQ

Convenience store loss prevention strategies for franchise owners

Izzy Esber on May 4, 2023

In This article

As a convenience store owner, you know that theft and losses can be a major issue. From shoplifting to employee theft, these losses can quickly add up and significantly impact your bottom line. That’s why it’s crucial to have a robust loss prevention plan in place.

In this article, we’ll dive into the types of convenience store loss and some practical tips and strategies you can use to prevent losses in your convenience store.

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Understand the Types of Losses: A Key to Convenience Store Loss Prevention

Before we dive into the specific strategies you can use, it’s essential to understand the different types of convenience store loss you face at your C-store franchise locations — after all, how can you manage what you aren’t aware of? There are four categories of loss we’ll look at:

1. Shrink

Shrink refers to the difference between the actual inventory you have and the inventory you should have based on sales — which no doubt you have seen can be a pretty huge number at convenience stores. Shrink is largely impacted by things like theft, damage, or even just administrative and inventory errors.

2. Fraud

Fraud is a problem across all industries, but you definitely need to be especially careful about fraud in convenience stores. Committing fraud is arguably easier for convenience store employees as there’s more opportunity — longer hours, less staff on the floor, and so many other factors. Fraud can range from anything to embezzlement from the cash register to false refunds.

3. Errors

Mistakes can happen in any business, including convenience stores. These errors can range from incorrect pricing to missed sales.

4. Waste

Waste may be one of the most frustrating forms of loss as it’s one that is most in your and your team’s control. Waste refers to products that are unsellable or expired. While waste is not necessarily caused by theft, it can still impact your bottom line.

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Convenience Store Loss Prevention Tips: 5 Tips Plus Insights from the DTiQ Team

Now that you’ve dove into the types of loss you face at your convenience store, it’s time to review ways to work on your convenience store loss prevention.

1. Create a Culture of Loss Prevention

Everything starts with your culture, and loss prevention is no different. When creating your in-store culture, make loss prevention a cornerstone. All employees should be trained to identify and prevent theft, fraud, errors, and waste. Make sure to provide clear guidelines and procedures for employees to follow and encourage them to report any suspicious activities.

There may be times with loss prevention when you need to have hard conversations with your team but start from a place of positivity! You can try an incentive program that rewards your team for taking loss prevention courses, spotting moments of loss and course-correcting, or just generally following best practices for convenience store loss prevention.

2. Invest in Surveillance Systems

Technology is evolving, and this goes for video surveillance as well. It’s not good enough to have a camera installed “just as a prop” in hopes that the camera (that doesn’t film) is enough to minimize loss.

An intelligent video surveillance system is essential in preventing theft in convenience stores and pinpointing where loss is coming from. The physical cameras throughout your store can deter potential shoplifters, while active intelligent video helps to pinpoint suspicious behavior as it occurs. and help identify any suspicious activities that occur. Additionally, consider investing in a digital video recorder (DVR) system, which can help you review footage and identify any patterns of theft or fraud.

While surveillance systems may be expensive upfront, the investment is worth it in the long run!

3. Have Coverage on High-Value Areas

This is a niche but extremely important note. Once you have your video solution in place, make sure that it’s covering the areas of your store that could be considered “high value” or “high risk” for loss. This can include anywhere cash is handled (back office, over cash registers, an ATM, etc.) or areas where you find products are being stolen often (candy bars, cigarettes, or beverages). Hopefully, the cameras in this area deter theft and loss, but you know you have eyes on the areas if not.

4. Monitor Your Inventory

As you already know, shrink can be a significant source of losses in convenience stores. One effective way to prevent shrinkage is to monitor your inventory regularly. Make sure to conduct regular inventory counts and compare them to your sales data. This can help you identify any discrepancies and pinpoint potential areas of theft or error.

Additionally, consider implementing an inventory management system that uses RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to track your inventory automatically. This can help you streamline your inventory management processes and identify any discrepancies in real time.

5. Implement Safe Cash Handling Procedures

The perception that there is cash on hand is one reason that convenience stores tend to be at risk of robbery — which obviously has a large impact on loss. Having good cash handling processes is essential to prevent theft, loss, or mismanagement of cash. Following safe cash handling practices is critical to ensure that cash is properly accounted for and secured.

Some key practices for safe cash handling include having two people in the room when cash is being counted, ensuring cameras are over areas where cash is handled and counted, avoiding cash being displayed or easily accessible to the public (keep cash in a safe, in the back of the store in employee-only areas), and training your team on all of these cash handling efforts.

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Convenience Store Loss Prevention Advice from DTiQ

So, what does the DTiQ team think? We asked Glenn, our Customer Success Manager, for advice they would give franchise owners struggling with convenience store loss prevention.

Glenn: Don’t Rule Any Convenience Store Loss Prevention Cause Out

“You and your management team need to assess all possible causes of the loss, don’t rule out anyone. Understanding what is happening in the lives of your team members and employees is key to finding the root cause of why said employee would commit the theft.

Once your sights are narrowed and you have an idea as to who (singular or plural) may be responsible, you can dive into the data you have access to. For example, imagine you know you are losing money week over week on cigarettes. Cross-reference your weekly inventory count data with the work schedule to confirm who is on shift and what is happening, then prove it with video.”

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Manage Your Convenience Store Loss Prevention with Confidence

Convenience store loss prevention shouldn’t keep you up at night. By leveraging technology and following the right strategies, you can minimize the loss that takes place at your store — and keep profits up.

If you want to up your technology to match the convenience store loss prevention efforts, DTiQ can help. Our comprehensive business intelligence platform includes artificial intelligence and data analytics to identify suspicious activity that may take place in your convenience store.

With our integrated mobile app, you can monitor your C-store and receive alerts even when you’re working remotely. Plus, DTiQ’s subscription-based model means you always have the tools you need to guard your business.

And because we know that your stores are operating around the clock, we provide 24/7 customer support.

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Book a demo today for more information about our custom solutions and pricing

Best Practices for Cash Handling

Izzy Esber on March 7, 2023

In This article

Small businesses and food service establishments need to be able to accept cash in addition to credit card and smartphone payments. But when business is booming, it’s easy for small mistakes to turn into big accounting headaches. Employees must be aware of cash handling best practices to ensure it is handled correctly.

Cash is popular, especially for small purchases: one Federal Reserve study found that nearly half of payments under $10 were made in cash. Following the proper procedures for handling cash will result in fewer errors. Keeping this in mind, here are some best practices for cash handling.

Set Staff Up for Success

Whether you run a restaurant, boutique, or convenience store, you likely have multiple staff members handling money. That’s not a problem when you have standardized policies and procedures across all your locations and registers. A cash-handling policy is a critical tool for small businesses to maintain accurate bookkeeping and minimize the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.

An important first step of a cash-handling policy is implementing effective cash-handling training. Ensure that each employee who handles cash has received comprehensive instruction on your practices. Always confirm the amount of starting funds in a cash drawer and the amount at the end of an employee’s shift. This helps you keep track of any mistakes an employee makes and stay organized as money moves through your business.

Having proper staff and an engaged team is critical, as well. If your business is shorthanded, employees are more likely to rush and make mistakes when preparing deposits or issuing change. Even with video surveillance that oversees cash handling, you should never have only one staff member onsite.

Cash Handling At the Register

While you want to ensure a positive customer experience, you also need to protect your staff and your bottom line. Limit the number of employees who handle cash, and be careful that those who do are storing it properly or calling on a manager when they need help. Consider implementing these six cash-handling best practices at the checkout or register:

1. Examine all bills greater than $20

Ending up with counterfeit money is never a good thing. Even though it may be busy, take a few seconds to examine any bill over $20 the bill to ensure that it is real. Look for watermarks and other marks of authenticity, or use your counterfeit pen on the bill.

2. Store all large bills underneath the register

Keeping larger bills (anything $50 and over) underneath the register helps keep the cash drawer organized. Tucking them away ensures they won’t accidentally be given as change and keeps them out of sight from quick-change scam artists or those looking for stores that might have larger amounts of cash in their nightly deposits. Make that you have a secure container to keep these bills in to prevent them from getting lost when using this method.

3. Place customer cash payment across the register

Placing the cash across the register helps to confirm that both you and the customer are aware of the type of bill handed over. This eliminates uncertainty if payment or change is questioned and makes it very easy to reconfirm the amount of cash the customer paid versus the change that was given back.

4. Verbally confirm cash received and change

When possible, employees should state the amount of cash the customer hands over to prevent honest mistakes, such as a customer handing over a $10 bill when they thought they took out a $20. Employees can also count back a customer’s change out loud to reduce confusion.

5. Alert management when cash is over-defined limits

Keeping your cash drawer organized is easier when it’s not overflowing with bills and receipt slips. An overstocked till can lead to bills slipping out, getting stuck together, or other simple errors that lead to cash loss. Once a till holds a certain amount of cash, it is safest to bring cash to a designated safe or a manager’s office to be stored safely until the money can be moved off-site.

6. Audit the register if a customer believes they were short-changed

Auditing the cash drawer when a customer questions their change will assure them that they have not been short-changed and offers employees peace of mind.

7. Use technology to ensure counts and audits are accurate

Integrating your point of sale (POS) software with intelligent video offers a sophisticated solution for reviewing specific transactions and ensuring the customer receives the proper amount of change. Depending on the technology provider you choose, the features often go beyond just one beneficial feature to your business.

When in doubt, make sure employees know that they can call on their supervisor for assistance. Set clear policies about when to involve a manager in a transaction, such as when a customer requests a refund or wants to return an item without a receipt — this can all be outlined in cash-handling training. At the end of their shift, each employee should know the proper procedure for closing out their register and turning over cash to be deposited.

Best Practices for Deposits

Whether your team is using an onsite smart safe or preparing a deposit to take to the bank, it’s important to have internal controls in place to mitigate risk and prevent errors. These include:

Separation of duties: You need a system of checks and balances to minimize the risk of errors or fraud. If one employee prepares a cash deposit, a different employee should make the deposit.
Consistency: Always use a consistent process when counting cash, such as counting bills from lowest to highest denomination.
Count in private: Do not count cash out in the open, which could put you at risk of theft. Instead, count in a private area with at least two employees present, preferably with video surveillance.
Keep accounts separate: If you’re preparing to deposit cash in different accounts, make sure to record and store those monies separately.
Check your work: It’s a good idea to count cash twice and review your deposit slip thoroughly before completing a deposit.

Keeping a large amount of cash at your business is a security risk, so it’s best to have a set schedule for making cash deposits. Plus, the more cash you have onsite, the higher the risk of errors or disorganization. Some businesses set a limit on how much cash they keep in their registers.

The right technology can improve your cash-handling experience and establish a digital paper trail. An automated cash management system eliminates the manual process of counting cash and creating deposits. This reduces the chances of human error and saves significant staff time, which can then be reallocated to other tasks.

Credit Card and Smartphone Payments

Not all payments will happen with cash — you also want your team to be confident when accepting payments via credit card or smartphone.. While errors are less likely with these methods than with cash, it’s still important for staff members to be diligent when accepting any form of payment. Make sure your employees are implementing the following practices:

Track all transactions: Your POS should be integrated with your accounting software. This creates an audit trail for all types of payments, helping to reduce the likelihood of bookkeeping errors.
Use chip cards properly: If a customer’s credit card has a chip, an employee should always process their payment by inserting the card, not swiping it. Microchips offer a much higher level of security than magnetic strips, which generate static data that can easily be stolen and fraudulently used.
Record customer information: Ensure employees are collecting sufficient information if your business accepts credit card payments over the phone. This includes the customer’s full name as it appears on the card, the complete card number, expiration date, and security code, as well as the customer’s billing address and phone number.
Verify customer information: Have employees request to see a customer’s photo ID for large purchases via credit card or mobile payments.
Learn from your audit: An audit can be a stressful process – but it’s also a rich source of advice. If you’ve recently had an internal or external audit, take the time to go through the auditor’s report and look for areas where your company can improve.

With mobile payments becoming more and more common, businesses may need to provide additional staff training. Luckily, accepting mobile payments is generally a simple process and is just as secure as using a credit card.

If your business offers gift cards or you accept less common payment methods, such as personal checks, make sure you’ve taken time to train your staff on handling those payment methods.

Improve Cash-Handling Training With Help From DTiQ

With all the daily demands of running a business, it can be difficult to focus on all the small details of cash handling. That’s where DTiQ comes in. Our SmartAudit tool gathers powerful insights to help you improve your business practices. DTiQ uses advanced video analytics to review cash-handling procedures, so you can target your training and improve your bottom line. DTiQ’s SmartAudit can flag several issues, such as:

Unsecured tills or safes
Open cash drawers
Cash left out on counters or desks
Dropped bills
Lack of single-drawer accountability

Plus, DTiQ can design custom solutions to help you with operational efficiencies and loss prevention strategies. We work on a subscription service model, so there’s no capital expenditure, and you’ll always have the most up-to-date software. For more information about our services and pricing, book a demo today.

The importance of drive-thru order accuracy and how to improve this key metric

Izzy Esber on March 2, 2023

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Drive-thru order accuracy is arguably one of the most important metrics to track for a quick-service restaurant (QSR).

With drive-thru making up 70% of business for QSRs, this metric can be a leading indicator for the success of the largest part of your revenue. After all, there’s no more surefire way to disappoint your customers than for them to drive away from your drive-thru only to discover the wrong meal in their food bag.

However, things move fast in a QSR (hence the name). Improving drive-thru order accuracy is not something that can be done without effort. Each small step you take to improve can lead to big results — and a bigger bottom line by keeping your customers happy.

Let’s go over the importance of drive-thru order accuracy and what you can implement today to improve this key metric.

Drive-Thru Order Accuracy Ensures Diners Keep Coming Back

Over the last two years, drive-thru’s boomed in popularity. This was largely fueled by the pandemic, as dining rooms were shuttered for months — in some instances, many locations around the world were closed for one to two years.

With drive-thru making up nearly ¾ of the revenue stream for QSRs, the importance of ensuring your drive-thru is running in the best possible way is extremely important. It keeps that revenue stream optimized and working seamlessly.

Simply put, poor drive-thru order accuracy can deteriorate that highly important revenue stream. Think about the fact that up to 70% of QSR revenue comes from the drive-thru and that 20% of customers won’t return somewhere they got the wrong meal.

Valuable customers are on the line with every order. If your drive-thru order accuracy isn’t up to par, you need to ensure you’re doing everything in your power to keep accuracy as high as possible.

5 Ways to Improve Your Drive-Thru Accuracy

Mistakes will happen — it’s never going to be possible to have 100% drive-thru order accuracy. But there are technologies and team training that you can implement at your QSR to keep your accuracy as high as possible.

Here are 5 of the best ways.

Improve Communication

Almost anyone who has ordered through a drive-thru has found themselves struggling to hear what is being said through the speaker box at least once. And guess what? The employee taking your order is probably having just as hard a time hearing what you have to say in their headset. Not to mention what seems like they’re being yelled at by an angry customer. These types of issues lead to frustration from the customer – feeling like they have to yell their order, and for the person taking their order as the impatience grows.

If your main means of communication in the drive-thru isn’t clear, it’s going to make maintaining a high level of order accuracy unnecessarily harder.

Check It Twice

Even the clearest communication can be miscommunicated. Ann easy way to improve drive-thru order accuracy is to have an employee working the drive-thru confirm the order with the customer.

This can be as simple as your drive-thru worker saying, “to confirm, you’ll have a number two and a number four?” A question like this gives the person ordering the opportunity to confirm or correct if an order is wrong.

You can also use technology to help check it twice (which we will dive into even more at the next point). The right technology can even take over checking it twice for you! Drive-thru systems that pair with your POS can put the order right over the visual of the car. This means you take the order then glance at your technology — it does the double checking for you! It’s easier to get orders right when you have a visual showing you which order pairs with each car.

Leverage Technology

Technology is your best friend when it comes to improving your drive-thru order accuracy, whether you’re a one-lane or multi-lane drive-thru operation. The right technology can help measure time spent in the drive-thru by each car, track voided orders to show when more order issues are happening, and track employee engagement on a rolling basis. All of this can completely transform your efforts.

For example, DTiQ customers saw increases in order accuracy of over 20% when leveraging technology to improve their drive-thru order accuracy! The accuracy went from 75% to 98%. This difference is huge when it comes to your business’ bottom line.

Proper Team Training

Without training, even the best technology or communication won’t make everything perfect. Make sure to take the time for proper training when implementing any new methods in your QSR. Without proper training, any new methods may have the opposite impact.  Using an auditing tool can help create customized programs that can measure and manage various areas of concern for clients, including enhanced loss prevention, customer interaction, employee effectiveness, operational compliance, and more.

Reward Success

When you use technology, you can measure more success metrics. Use these measurements to reward drive-thru employees that are improving well or when seeing improvements.

This is also a fantastic way to boost employee engagement. These reports are great for pointing out opportunities for improvement but can also be used to reward employees for good Speed of Service and exemplary customer service. If your team members know there’s a chance of being rewarded, they’ll put their best foot forward!

Final Thoughts

Drive-thrus will only continue to grow in popularity — and therefore a need to provide a near-flawless drive-thru experience. Ensuring you’re going to everything to keep your drive-thru order accuracy as high as possible is going to be critical in delivering a positive customer experience. Fail to do so, and your bottom line may pay the price.

If you’re looking to level up your drive-thru technology, you can learn more about how DTiQ can help. Contact us or book a demo to see how our technology can improve your drive-thru order accuracy.

Drive-thru speed of service: improving customer experience

Izzy Esber on February 27, 2023

In This article

Quick service and fast casual restaurants offer a convenient way for busy families to get meals, snacks, and drinks on the go. For even faster service, customers can use the drive-thru lane.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, drive-thru service has been even more popular: one report found that drive-thru orders represented roughly 75% of quick-service sales. To stay competitive, quick service restaurants (QSRs) need their employees to serve up orders efficiently and accurately.

Learn more about how QSRs can improve their speed of service to create a better drive-thru experience.

What Is Speed of Service?

When a customer visits any kind of restaurant, they expect to receive their meal promptly. The amount of time it takes a restaurant staff to serve their customers is known as the speed of service (SOS).

In a QSR setting, SOS is particularly important. Benchmarks to assess your drive-thru SOS might include:

Amount of time a customer waits in the drive-thru lane before placing an order
Amount of time it takes for a customer to receive their meal after placing an order
Amount of time elapsed between placing an order and arriving at the pay window

Slow service means customers will become frustrated – and they’re less likely to return to your establishment in the future. To provide the best drive-thru experience, you need to improve SOS.

Best Practices for Improving Drive-Thru Experience

For national chains, average drive-thru wait times can significantly impact their public image. A widely publicized report from QSR Magazine listed Chick-fil-A as the food restaurant with the slowest drive-thru and Taco Bell as the fastest. Arby’s, however, outranked both chains in order accuracy.

QSRs always need to strike a balance between quality and efficiency. You don’t want your customers to wait a long time in the drive-thru, but you also want to ensure their order is correct.

For better drive-thru SOS, try these practices:

Monitor Inventory

You can’t serve your customers effectively if you don’t have all the ingredients you need to prepare each menu item. Keep prep areas and walk-in coolers fully stocked, and ensure each employee knows where key ingredients and supplies are located.

Stock Order Window

Maintaining a fully stocked drive-thru window helps you keep customers happy. At the start of each shift, your team should replenish the pick-up window with items like:

Napkins
Straws
Utensils
Condiment packets

Employees will have what they need within arm’s reach and can efficiently move customers through the drive-thru line, even when they ask for extra items.

Choose the Right POS System

Point-of-sale (POS) software facilitates transactions and ensures accuracy. QSRs need a user-friendly POS system that’s easy for both staff and customers to navigate.

In a drive-thru setting, it’s helpful to use a POS solution that displays the customer’s order on a screen. The customer can confirm that the order is correct, avoiding delays at the pickup window because of missing or incorrect items.

Schedule Strategically

If one QSR location is consistently slower than another, it may be because of a staffing issue. Each location needs sufficient front-of-house and back-of-house staff to keep customers moving through the line consistently.

Review your staff schedules to check that you have enough staff on hand during busy drive-thru times, such as the lunch hour. Consider adding runners to expedite mobile orders during peak times and shorten drive-thru waits.

Monitor Equipment

Broken or malfunctioning equipment can mean delays and inaccurate orders. Ensure a positive customer experience by testing your equipment regularly. This includes:

Speaker systems
Headsets
Digital displays
POS terminals

If your menu changes seasonally or features new items, ensure your menu display is always up-to-date. A digital menu board is a great investment because you can update it whenever you need to.

Upgrade Order Technology

Today, many QSRs are accepting cashless payments and offering online ordering options. Contactless options mean customers can pay with one tap quicker than cash or a credit card.

Online ordering also helps QSRs provide faster service and a more positive customer experience. Patrons can order ahead of time on a mobile app, and then pick up their order at the drive-thru window or park in a dedicated pick-up spot. You can set up an alert system so that employees know when a customer has arrived and can bring the order to the customer’s vehicle.

Schedule Refresher Trainings

Even the most experienced QSR staff can always improve. Set aside time to cross-train your staff on different stations so that everyone knows how to operate each aspect of the drive-thru line efficiently. This is especially important anytime you debut a new menu item or implement new software.

Use Your Data

Tracking drive-thru orders offers a wealth of data that you can use to improve employee performance. Take advantage of analytics and video monitoring to identify areas where you can streamline your processes or provide additional staff training. Happy employees lead to happy customers – so be sure to give staff the support they need.

These changes will ensure your QSR offers the best drive-thru service for your customers.

Improve Drive-Thru Speed of Service (SOS) with DTiQ

Drive-thru speed of service can be a major factor in customer loyalty. Don’t risk losing customers because of operational inefficiencies: partner with DTiQ to improve the drive-thru experience. DTiQ’s business intelligence platform offers advanced drive-thru timing and management solutions.

Integrating smart video surveillance and data analytics, our clients gain in-depth insights into their operations. By tracking SOS across your entire enterprise, you can identify trends and flag areas for improvement. And user-friendly reporting tools make it easier to share insights and use data to drive better decision-making.

Learn why more than 45,000 customers around the globe trust DTiQ to help them create a better experience for both customers and employees. To get started with DTiQ, book a demo today.

What is vendor theft? How it happens and ways to prevent it

Izzy Esber on February 16, 2023

In This article

A busy store or restaurant is a positive thing: it’s a sign that your business is booming. But the hustle and bustle of deliveries, customers coming in and out, and employees changing shifts can create opportunities for mistakes and even intentional theft. Learn more about vendor theft and how to address it through loss prevention solutions.

Understanding Vendor Fraud

Whether you own a restaurant, convenience store, or retail business, you likely have existing relationships with multiple vendors. These outside partners may provide a service, such as trash removal, or they may provide a product, such as bottled beverages. Strong vendor relationships help you meet your customers’ needs so that you can run your business efficiently.

Vendor fraud happens when a third-party supplier steals from your business. Fraud may be unintentional: for example, a vendor might accidentally deliver fewer items than they were contracted to provide. Whether it’s deliberate or an honest mistake, vendor theft can hurt your profits, interrupt your operations, and negatively affect your customer relationships.

Types of Vendor Theft

Vendor fraud can occur in many different forms. These include:

Invoice Alteration

A vendor may engage in an overbilling scheme to increase their profits. This type of theft occurs when a vendor changes an invoice: they may add items that were never delivered or charge higher rates than what was agreed upon. Suppliers may be able to get away with this if they have frequent deliveries or complicated invoices. This type of theft can add up quickly: Forbes reports that invoice fraud can cost a middle-market business about $280,000 a year.

Duplicate Charges or Payments

Occasionally, duplicate payments happen inadvertently: a reminder invoice and a check get crossed in the mail, and your accounts payable team makes a mistake. But vendor fraud can also happen with the help of bad internal actors.

A staff member may work with a vendor to issue a second fraudulent payment, pocketing the extra money. Or a vendor may charge your business twice for a service that was rendered just once. If someone on your team approves the charge, your business loses money – and the vendor knows they can get away with theft again.

Bid Rigging

This fraud scheme is a type of illegal collusion. When a restaurant or retail chain needs a new vendor, they may issue a bid to collect proposals from different companies. This allows the business to compare and contrast its options and choose the vendor that best meets its needs.

Bid rigging is an illegal attempt to influence the outcome of the bid process. A vendor may offer kickbacks or favors to an internal employee in exchange for helping them secure a vendor contract.

Price Fixing

Price fixing is another type of collusion – but instead of a vendor and an employee working together, this type of fraud is organized by a group of suppliers. Two or more vendors will work together to agree to set the price of goods or services above market rates. Whoever wins a contract gets to take advantage of these artificially inflated prices.

Vendor Fraud Prevention: Best Practices

Stopping vendor theft is an important part of a comprehensive loss-prevention strategy. Take these steps to reduce your external and internal losses:

Centralize Vendor Information

Using different procedures for different vendors creates opportunities for payment and billing errors. Maintaining one centralized system for all vendor information and transactions makes tracking each supplier and the staff members interacting with them easier.

Use Digital Payments

It’s best to use a software-based bookkeeping system, which creates a digital paper trail of all vendor invoices and payments. This helps prevent check tampering, in which an employee changes the payee or amount on a check to divert funds fraudulently.

Implement Internal Controls

Having just one or two staff members who interact with vendors creates opportunities for collusion. Make sure to establish internal accounting controls. For example, if one employee approves an invoice, a different employee should complete the invoice payment.

Monitor Delivery Areas

Your suppliers are likely to use a loading dock or back door. Unfortunately, staffing these areas is not always feasible, so be sure to use a smart video system that can flag any suspicious activity. Otherwise, employees or vendors could steal items off the truck when a delivery arrives.

Educate Your Staff

Provide robust staff training so that employees know how to recognize and prevent fraud. Consider offering a way for team members to report fraudulent activity anonymously.

Inspect All Deliveries

Make sure that each delivery matches your vendor agreement. This may require manual inventory or video monitoring with analytics that can send an alert if unusual activity happens.

Having good business practices is important even if you trust your current vendors. Hopefully, your business continues to grow, meaning you’ll be taking on new third-party partners and additional internal staff. That’s why it’s critical to regularly review your loss prevention practices and provide ongoing staff training and refreshers.

Prevent Fraud with DTiQ

Don’t let internal or external theft affect your bottom line: choose a trusted loss prevention partner. At DTiQ, we offer custom vendor fraud prevention solutions for the retail and restaurant industries. With more than 45,000 clients, DTiQ knows how to enhance your business operations with smart video systems, audit tools, and advanced analytics.

LPI by DTiQ is the preeminent loss prevention solution on the market today, protecting trillions of dollars of assets worldwide. We provide:

With both onsite and video-based auditing services, DTiQ can help you gain powerful insights into your operations and take steps to protect your profits. To learn more about how DTiQ can help your business, book a demo today.

A customer complaint program is the new feature that makes improving your business even easier

Bob Cliche on January 31, 2023

In This article

Getting feedback for improving your business can seem impossible. You only hear about things when they go wrong, or the surveys you have linked at the bottom of receipts aren’t getting many people to fill them out. It can get even more frustrating when your business is part of a large or international chain. Consumers send feedback to headquarters and it takes longer to hear back — if you hear the feedback at all. At that point, your store reputation may be dinged at the corporate level.

All of this may have you wondering if there is a better way to collect feedback for a specific location that lets you make improvements in real-time — and there is.

A customer complaint program is a new way to collect feedback that is specific to your store, versus feedback going to a general number or address for an entire large or international chain. It creates an experience that is more personal to customers and beneficial to business owners!

DTiQ has a program called Text the Owner (TTO) available for businesses to use and create better communication among their customers.

Benefits of a Customer Complaint Program

Having a customer complaint program set up at your business has some major benefits — for you as a business owner, your customers, and your staff.

Here are the top benefits you can expect rather quickly.

Your Customers Know They’re Being Listened To

According to a study by Microsoft, almost 90% of customers want to provide feedback to brands. Why not give them the opportunity to do just that!

Giving customers the chance to share their feedback shows them that you want to hear what they say and make the experience better for them. Customers would likely be happier to support your business when it’s clear you’re making the effort to improve things for them.

Remember, the key to letting customers know that they’re being heard is to take action on the feedback they send you! That’s the final proof that you’re truly listening.

You Receive Feedback in Real Time

Receiving feedback from headquarters weeks or months later is valuable (of course!), but it’s more valuable when it’s heard right away. Feedback in real-time allows you to make necessary changes as close to the time of the incident as possible, meaning the customer who shared the feedback will see improvements by their next business and the chance of having the same feedback diminishes.

It also doesn’t get much more instant than being able to shoot off a text — you’ll know when somebody has something to say immediately!

Feedback Stays at a Store Level

When your store is part of a regional or national chain, you may get dinged if you’re receiving negative feedback to the top of the chain regularly. TTO keeps the feedback at a store level. Your team can make the appropriate changes in a timely manner, ensuring the same mistakes aren’t repeated, all while maintaining a clean corporate reputation.

You Make More Informed Business Decisions

Having such an open communication method for feedback opens an even more valuable avenue for information to make business decisions based on.

For example, you find that you’re regularly receiving texts that the cash line is super long. Maybe it’s time to hire some more front-of-house staff — and you have the data to back this business decision.

Final Thoughts

Consumers across all industries want to know their feedback, both good and bad, is heard. And having a program like DTiQ’s Text the Other (TTO) in place is a surefire way to ensure that they are being heard. Not only do customers feel heard, but you receive an extremely valuable feed in real time that can improve your business for guests.

If you’re looking for more support on the technology side of implementing this type of feedback gathering, see how DTiQ can help. You can contact us or book a demo to see our technology in action — and the benefits it could bring to your business.

Learn how loss prevention software can help improve your business

Izzy Esber on January 24, 2023

In This article

Unfortunately, even the most carefully monitored businesses can experience incidents of shoplifting or shrinkage. And in the retail and restaurant industries, even minor losses can significantly impact your bottom line. Fortunately, retail loss prevention software can protect your business. Learn more about loss prevention strategies and the benefits of investing in video software.

What Is Loss Prevention?

Most stores and restaurants have practices in place to prevent theft, whether it’s a set of security cameras or rules for cash handling. Loss prevention is simply the complete set of policies and procedures that a business uses to protect and maximize its profits.

A preventable loss is any reduction in profits or inventory caused by an employee, customer, or vendor. Preventable losses include both internal and external theft:

External theft: This type of theft includes break-ins, robberies, and shoplifting. Individuals can also commit external theft through fraudulent behavior, such as using a stolen credit card number or attempting to exchange stolen merchandise for cash.
Internal theft: This type of theft, committed by employees, may be intentional or unintentional. Workers may take merchandise without asking, so that missing inventory is unaccounted for, a problem known as shrinkage in the retail industry. Employees may also give unauthorized discounts to family or friends or commit “time theft” by taking extended unapproved breaks.

Implementing a Loss Prevention Strategy

A comprehensive loss prevention strategy should seek to minimize internal and external theft while ensuring a positive experience for customers. Loss prevention tools include:

Security cameras: Video monitoring discourages crime, but it can also help spot issues with the store layout and catch staff errors before they become bad habits.
Analytics: Smart camera systems can pair with video software for loss prevention. This software will recognize and send alerts if specific events occur, such as an unsecured cash drawer.
Staff training: Onsite employees can discourage shoplifting and fraud by greeting customers, actively monitoring the store, and following best practices for cash handling

Benefits of Using Video Software for Loss Prevention

Video software helps a business owner effectively monitor their store or restaurant. With strategically placed security cameras, you can monitor high-traffic areas, cash registers, business entrances, and parking lots. If a theft does occur, recordings can provide a physical description of the offender or capture their license plate number.

However, surveillance software can also be a tool for taking proactive measures to prevent theft. With video loss prevention software, you can monitor staff and customer behavior.

Monitor Unstaffed Areas

Self-checkout terminals are becoming increasingly popular at retail stores and fast-casual restaurants. Retail Dive reports that the number of stores offering self-checkout is expected to triple in the next five years.

While this innovation can reduce labor costs, it also allows bad actors to shoplift products or commit fraud. Smart camera systems can identify and reduce theft in unstaffed areas like self-checkout kiosks. They can also monitor employees who might be working on their own in a back room or storage area.

Identify Irregular Transactions

Loss prevention software can also help reduce internal theft through a process known as exception-based reporting. Most restaurants and stores use a point-of-sale (POS) platform to process customer transactions. Exception-based reporting is a type of analysis that reviews a string of transactions and flags outliers.

With exception-based reporting loss prevention software, managers and owners can catch employee errors: they may be inputting orders incorrectly or giving unapproved discounts. Conversely, a worker may be intentionally committing theft, such as voiding a transaction and pocketing the money. This reporting tool can flag unusual activity, so managers don’t need to waste time manually reviewing transactions.

Partner with DTiQ Today

If your company is looking for retail or restaurant loss prevention software, DTiQ is here to help. We’ve implemented custom solutions for more than 45,000 major corporations and franchisees.

DTiQ’s business intelligence platform integrates intelligent video systems with powerful analytics to detect suspicious activity, prevent theft, and identify staff training needs. We provide 24/7 customer support and offer an integrated mobile app, so you can monitor your business from anywhere.

Our pricing is based on a subscription model so you always have the most up-to-date tools to protect your business – without major capital expenditures. DTiQ integrates with a wide range of leading POS platforms, like Square, Toast, and Revel. To get started, book a demo today.

A guide to camera placement for surveillance and security

Izzy Esber on January 18, 2023

In This article

Security cameras are a worthwhile investment for any business – but they’re especially important in the retail and restaurant industries. A strategic security camera system can protect employees and customers while reducing theft and internal losses. Learn more about effective security camera placement from DTiQ.

Benefits of Security Cameras

Restaurants, shops, and convenience stores can all be high-traffic, fast-paced environments. A security camera system offers a range of benefits that can improve business operations, including:

Deterring crime: Simply, the physical presence of security cameras can discourage individuals from shoplifting or burglary.
Apprehending criminals: If a theft does occur, security camera footage can help law enforcement identify and apprehend a suspect.
Optimizing layout: Surveillance footage can help you understand how customers move through your store or restaurant so that you can improve traffic flow, minimize wait times, and enhance your existing displays.
Improving staff engagement: Intelligent video systems can also help you evaluate how staff members are serving and engaging customers. AI-powered insights can identify areas for improvement and additional training.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) reports that 64% of retailers saw an increase in organized retail crime in 2021. With security camera systems in place, business owners can better protect their employees and their bottom line.

Optimal Security Camera Placement

The best placement of security cameras can vary depending on your business’s size, location, and layout. There are a few locations, however, where security cameras are generally recommended, including:

Exterior doors: You should have security cameras at any entrances and exits to your store or restaurant.
Points of sale: Whether you have a cash register staffed by an employee, a self-checkout terminal, or a drive-through window, you’ll want security cameras anywhere transactions take place
Loading dock or back entrance: You should have a camera placed at the location where vendors and suppliers drop off deliveries.
Parking lot: If your business has a dedicated parking area, you should have exterior cameras to capture foot and vehicle traffic in the lot.
Employee-only areas: Security cameras can also be helpful in employee break rooms or storage areas.

Security Camera Best Practices

A comprehensive loss prevention strategy should include a high-quality, reliable security camera system. Keep these recommendations in mind when choosing your camera placements:

Select Appropriate Lighting

Placing a camera too close to a bright light can prevent it from capturing high-quality images. It’s best to place lighting higher than a security camera. Light floods the camera’s recording range without directly shining into the camera lens.

Be sure to minimize excessive backlighting, as well. If you have motion-detecting floodlights, make sure they’re not too close to a security camera, as they may wash out images and make it more difficult to identify bad actors.

Choose the Appropriate Height

Security cameras are often mounted on a business’s interior or exterior walls. Many security experts recommend mounting cameras at the height of eight to 10 feet off the ground. This range allows the camera to capture detailed recordings while being high enough off the ground that thieves are less likely to tamper with it.

Consider Camera Location

The type of camera you use and where it’s mounted often depends on its location. For example, consider a camera with a wide-angle lens if you want to monitor a large parking lot.

When evaluating the best placement for outdoor security cameras, you’ll also want to factor in protection from the elements. Choose a waterproof camera and mount it in a protected area if possible, such as underneath an overhang.

Opt for Professional Installation

A top-of-the-line security camera is a waste if it isn’t installed properly. Choose a reputable security expert to perform installation and testing to ensure your camera is correctly positioned and mounted.

Choose DTiQ for Security Solutions

At DTiQ, we’re committed to equipping restaurants and retail businesses with the right security camera solutions for their needs. A member of NRF and the Retail Industry Leaders Association, DTiQ offers intelligent video systems with advanced analytics to help you minimize losses and improve the customer experience.

With more than two decades of industry experience, we serve over 45,000 customers from luxury retail businesses to fast-casual restaurants. For more security camera placement tips and to learn about our products and pricing, book a demo with DTiQ today.

The future of drive-thru headset equipment and systems

Izzy Esber on January 5, 2023

In This article

If you own a quick service restaurant (QSR), you need processes in place to balance speed and quality. Without the right technology, you risk frustrating and losing your customers. Here, we’ll cover how innovations in restaurant drive-thru headsets and equipment can help you train your staff and improve your business operations.

How Does a Drive-Thru Headset System Work?

Any QSR with a drive-thru needs headset equipment. Employees use a drive-thru headset system to take customer orders and coordinate with other workers wearing headsets. They can toggle between the customer and employee channels as needed, and the headset is designed to be lightweight and comfortable so each employee can wear it throughout their shift.

Drive-thru headset systems for restaurants can integrate with your video technology to time speed of service (SOS) and generate real-time reporting. The headsets may have individual battery packs or they may be placed in a charging dock. Some headset systems have additional features such as noise reduction to lessen background noise from the restaurant kitchen and customers’ cars.

Recent Innovations in Drive-Thru Technology

Effective drive-thru technology is more important than ever: drive-thru transactions represented 42% of all restaurant visits in 2022, according to QSRweb. To accommodate a growing number of customers, restaurants need sophisticated tools, reliable restaurant drive-thru headsets equipment and systems, and well-trained staff.

Recent innovations have helped further streamline the drive-thru experience. These include:

Ordering Online

Just a few years ago, the only way to order restaurant food offsite was via the telephone. And phone orders were limited to specific types of restaurants, such as pizza parlors. In the early 2000s, web-based ordering platforms became more prevalent.

In recent years, many QSRs have launched dedicated mobile applications. With built-in rewards programs and user-friendly interfaces, customers are encouraged to order via the app instead of an online platform like Grubhub. These apps allow customers to order a meal for pick-up or delivery, offering flexibility and convenience.

When customers pick up an order onsite, they can simply use the drive-thru lane to get their order. Some restaurants are also offering dedicated curbside pickup parking spaces. Once a customer arrives to pick up their order, they simply notify the restaurant via the app, and a staff member can bring their food directly to their vehicle.

AI Voice Assistant

Some restaurants are piloting artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to free up staff time. With AI voice technology, customers can place an order through a software program instead of talking to an employee directly. The AI voice assistant automatically sends the order to the restaurant’s point-of-service (POS) system.

This technology addresses the labor shortage while minimizing human error. It can also increase revenue using adaptive upselling, meaning it will make suggestions for order modifications or add-ons.

Drive-Thru Analytics

Good data can translate into better performance. Today’s drive-thru video systems can measure metrics such as customer wait times, the number of cars served per hour, and order accuracy. This real-time information allows managers to monitor staff even when they’re not in the same location.

Data analytics is key to improving customer satisfaction. These insights can also help managers understand which staff members need additional training and support. It can also help owners with multiple locations allocate their resources better – if one drive-thru has significantly more customers than another, they may need to reassign staff to the busier location.

These innovations are a boon to QSR owners, who are trying to maintain quality customer service with a limited staff. A recent National Restaurant Association survey found that 78% of restaurant owners did not have enough workers. With advanced drive-thru video technology, QSR staff can work more efficiently, even with a smaller team.

Improving Drive-Thru Headset Systems for Restaurants

DTiQ offers cutting-edge technology for drive-thru timing and management. Our state-of-the-art video solutions help restaurant owners identify staff training needs and streamline service delivery, measurably improving SOS.

DTiQ’s acquisition of Summit Innovations allows us to offer unparalleled business intelligence analytics, offering insights into all your drive-thru locations. These innovations can help improve staff performance while ensuring a positive customer experience.

Optimize Drive-Thru Service with DTiQ

At DTiQ, we’re committed to serving our clients through custom-built intelligent video solutions that integrate with your drive-thru headset technology. With more than 45,000 customers nationwide, we serve convenience stores and retail businesses in addition to QSRs.

DTiQ offers subscription-based pricing, meaning you’ll always have the most up-to-date technology without a major capital outlay. We even offer custom onsite and video auditing services to help you assess guest experience, employee engagement, and loss prevention. To learn more about how DTiQ can help you advance your business, book a demo today.

Restaurant loss prevention: using restaurant security cameras to stop theft

Izzy Esber on December 28, 2022

In This article

Loss prevention is the set of strategies a business uses to reduce and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse. A good loss prevention policy is helpful in any type of business, but it’s especially important in the fast food industry. As a franchisee owner, having cameras in your restaurant can help with customer experience, speed of service, and inventory management, including food waste and fraud

According to a report from Indeed, the average quick-service restaurant has a profit margin between 6% and 9%. That means that internal or external theft can significantly impact your financial position.

A Real Example of Restaurant Theft

A manager from Dunkin Donuts in Cambria County, PA was suspected of stealing from the company. The regional manager was unable to locate missing bank deposits, which led to further suspicion.

By using DTiQ’s 360iQ, a remote management tool and intelligent surveillance system which provides owners and managers with complete visibility into their businesses, the regional manager was able to compile videos that proved the manager was stealing from the store.

That manager is now facing more than 12 charges after stealing from the business and being made to pay back the stolen money. That’s just one example. There are plenty of other types of theft to be aware of for restaurant loss prevention.

Types of Restaurant Theft

Unfortunately, both patrons and employees can commit theft at restaurants. External theft is committed by customers, while internal theft on the staff side.

Internal Theft

Also known as employee theft. Sometimes servers and cashiers make honest mistakes that can lead to accounting discrepancies. But other times, employees intentionally “skim off the top.” This is internal theft and can include practices like:

Giving customers extra discounts or complimentary items to get a bigger tip
Giving free food or drinks to friends or family without supervisor authorization
Stealing tips from a tip jar or another server
Undercharging a customer and stealing the difference – a practice that is known as “short ringing”

External Theft

If you own or manage a restaurant, you’ve probably had a customer or two dine and dash. But patrons can commit external theft in other ways, such as lying to get items comped, or a customer may claim they never received a delivery order to get a refund.

External theft can also be committed by other parties – for example. Upon the initial review of the video, the attorney saw a wet floor sign in the area and used that as evidence to support the claim that the floor was wet and not properly dried and filed for $300,000 dollars in damages. Using DTiQ’s 360iQ system, the McDonald’s legal team was able to do a deep dive and found the video from a different camera angle which showed the napkin falling off the tray, and her fall was caused by her slipping on that napkin. The McDonald’s team won, and the claim was thrown out, covering their own attorney costs.

Loss Prevention Techniques

With restaurant industry sales down significantly from pre-pandemic levels, loss prevention is more important than ever. Simple steps can make a big difference in loss prevention at restaurants:

Utilize restaurant security cameras: Video monitoring can record videos and help managers improve site security and identify suspicious staff behavior like improper cash handling. You can utilize surveillance cameras both in the dining area and parking lot for video footage.
Invest in analytics: A restaurant camera system is even more helpful when you have accompanying analytics for your security and POS system. For example, intelligent video can send a real-time alert for a specified event, such as an employee coming onsite after hours or a worker performing inventory.
Conduct thorough staff training: Some losses, such as undercharging customers or incorrectly applying discounts, are simply unintentional errors. Make sure everyone on your team is properly trained on how to use your point of sale system.

Improve Restaurant Loss Prevention with DTiQ

Learn more about how DTiQ helped has helped quick service restaurants like Dunkin Donuts, Subway, Domino’s Pizza, Wendy’s, and more with our loss prevention case studies.

If you need help to make sure your restaurant loss prevention program is protecting your assets, DTiQ is the answer. We offer an unparalleled combination of intelligent video systems, integrated analytics, and customer support for loss prevention programs.

To learn more about our protecting your assets for the restaurant industry, view our loss prevention solutions and book a demo today.