Burning Down the House

The book, Burning Down the House, is a great and quick read.  The book relies on the chicanery of two restaurant employees who teach the reader about the successful scams they have performed.  With an "us versus them" bent, these two servers are anti-establishment, including the manager and just about any one who isn't in on their scams.

Bottom line, the book is a great read and informs the reader (ostensibly an owner of restaurant or similar establishment) that your employees are looking for ways to rob you blind.  With all due respect to the honest employees out there, most employees seem willing to take the risk to steal from their employer for short-term personal financial gain.  In an industry where the lowest paid person can seemingly impact customer service, handles your cash and can influence the success of failure of your enterprise, it's important to pay attention to ALL of the details, including what is happening at your restaurant.

The moral of the story is to beware of employee theft in all of its forms.  Also have a system that has strong internal controls and processes is key to thwarting theft.  Sure, opportunities for theft will be with a restaurant nearly 100% of the time -- the key is to minimize the threat and teach your employees to aspire for something more lucrative...a raise and a promotion!

Michael Viola, CPA, MBA, is the president and founder of PURE Restaurant Solutions, an accounting firm that specializes in restaurant accounting. PURE is located in Orange County, California, but with the help of cloud computing, PURE's clients are nationwide. With nearly 14 years of service in the industry, he has worked with some of the leading restaurant concepts as an employee, auditor (through his "Big 4" audit clients) or as a Controller/CFO. Michael is passionate about restaurants and enjoys seeing concepts succeed. He can be contacted at blog [at] go-pure.com.