What To Do When Your Guests Have Sticky Fingers

Among the reasons restaurants fail (poor location, inadequate marketing, lack of staff and inventory control, uninspired menu, unreasonable pricing), customer theft is rarely on the radar. And yet, the diner who walks out with your logo beer mug is damaging your restaurant’s bottom line.

After a guest thief takes what they want, the restaurant must purchase replacements and eventually report the thefts to their insurance company, which in the long run will raise their premiums, creating another drag on profitability.

If these folks were going to a friend’s house they wouldn’t think of taking a plate, a mug or a picture off the wall. And yet, as a Washington, D.C., restaurateur recently observed, “If it’s not bolted down, they’ll take it.”

Here’s how some guests justify stealing.

“I just spent a lot of money”A guest at one of our nightclubs, who spent $5,000 to get $5,000 worth of food and beverage to entertain his 10 guests, took the $500 glass centerpiece on his…