Preventing hospitality crimes
Security advice for staff to stop diners leaving a café or restaurant without paying, and how to prevent cooking oil theft.
If you work in the hospitality sector, you may have seen someone enjoy a meal before ‘doing a runner’ without settling their bill. This is known as dine and dash.
Tips to prevent dine and dash
- Take phone numbers and credit card details when accepting online or phone bookings, to enable you to reclaim what is owed should a customer leave without paying.
- Have a staff member meet and greet everyone who comes and goes, as this can make it less likely for someone to leave without paying the bill.
- Make sure whoever is managing the till has a clear view of the entrance and exit. Ideally, have only one doorway for customers to enter and exit the establishment.
- Control outdoor areas by using a combination of CCTV and railings or fences to make it difficult for them to get an easy getaway.
- For bigger parties, ask a customer for their credit card
Tips to avoid cooking oil theft
Thieves are targeting takeaways, pubs, restaurants and chip shops for their used cooking oil, resulting in significant financial losses for businesses.
If you own one of these businesses:
- Make sure you and your staff members know who is collecting the oil, what vehicles they use, and what uniforms they wear.
- Know what days of the week your grease collector attends.
- Ask for ID if you believe people claiming to be contractors are suspicious.
- Keep used oil safely locked up in a storage area while you await collection.
- Mark, tag or write on your oil containers. This can help police to identify them if they are stolen and later recovered.
- Consider fitting an alarm to any external storage facility.
- Check your oil levels frequently to ensure they are not fluctuating drastically between service visits.
- Contact your supplier about the possibility of lockable tubs and drums to prevent siphoning.
- Consider appropriate security lighting and CCTV. Even fitting dummy CCTV cameras and displaying CCTV signage may be enough to act as a deterrent.