Case Study: How Much Illicit Cash Are Your Employees Pocketing?

By Brian Albright, Integrated Solutions For Retailers magazine

Jim Nichols is the owner and operator of Nichols restaurant in Marina Del Rey, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles. Independently owned, the "neighborhood kitchen-style" casual dining restaurant has been serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner for more than 35 years and employs more than 25 servers and 80 employees. With a closeknit group of servers all working in one primary location, server theft was never a prominent concern to Nichols. But in the spring of 2009, his brother-in-law recommended the book How to Burn Down the House: The Infamous Waiter and Bartender's Scam Bible by Two Bourbon Street Waiters. The book is an entertaining and illustrative "howto" guide to several hospitality industry server scams. Nichols read the book and took particular interest in the section on "the transfer scam."

Used with permission from Integrated Solutions For Retailers magazine.