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1. Combining smaller checks with large parties thus getting paid twice for the same tab

2. Charging other customers’ credit cards for cash sales and pocketing the cash

3. Not charging for chargeable extras

4. Buddy clocking

5. Not recording comps to get bigger tips

6. Clock milking

7. Under-purchasing

8. Overproduction of prepared goods

9. Over-pouring to get a bigger tip

10. Over-purchasing

11. Kitchen mistakes

12. Server mistakes

13. Serving free drinks, salads, or desserts to get a bigger tip

14. Under-pouring to build a bank of liquor and pocketing the sales from that bank

15. Bringing in their own liquor and pocketing the sales from those bottles

16. Keeping manual tabs, then not entering all the sales from those tabs, keeping the difference

17. Cooks giving free items to servers to sell and split the profits

18. Faking breakage and spillage sheets and pocketing the sales from those “broken” and “spilled” items

19. Snacking, nibbling, and drinking – personal consumption

20. Ordering an item, getting paid, then transferring that item to another table in the computer

21. Diluting liquor with water or cheaper liquor and pocketing the additional sales from that bottle

22. Comping food and drinks to friends (and their friends)

23. Ringing in beer bottles as draft beer because kegs are harder to control

24. Ringing normal sales at happy hour prices and pocketing the difference

25. Faking normal sales as “walk-outs” and pocketing the difference

26. Serving premium drinks or mixed drinks and ringing them as well drinks and keeping the difference

27. Serving imported and microbrew draft beers and ringing them in as domestic draft beers

28. Serving premium wines and ringing in a house wines and pocketing the difference

29. Preparing the drink wrong, replacing it, and then selling it to someone else without ringing it in

30. Ringing in regular sales under “special promotion” items and pocketing the difference.

31. Over-portioning

32. Under portioning

33. Low yields – waste

34. Accepting non-spec items

35. Spoilage

36. Short weights

37. Theft by delivery drivers

38. Accepting damaged goods

39. Stealth pricing – prices rising slowly until you notice

40. Accepting a padded order

41. Employees damaging goods so that they can take the “damaged” goods home

42. Selling miscellaneous or “open food” at discounted prices

43. Turning in their own discount coupons and keeping the cash

44. Giving friends employee or promotional discounts

45. Server and manager deleting items after collecting for full check

	Brian McMillan is Director of Product Development of In Sight Commander System, Inc.  

	a software development company specializing in restaurants and video surveillance systems.  

	He can be reached at (714) 940-9800 or http://www.insightcommander.com/