It was great connecting with attendees at the Restaurant Loss Prevention and Security Association (RLPSA) Annual conference in Denver, CO. To keep up with the evolution of the restaurant industry, it is imperative that we talk in-person with loss prevention and security leaders, make meaningful investments in our development, and attend conferences – Like RLPSA.
Suffice to say, very little in the last 18 months has gone to plan, especially for restaurants. Despite their on-going struggles, it was inspiring to hear all the food service survival stories and how the industry has come together, collaborated, and most of all how they continue to learn from one another.
The main takeaway from this year’s event has been “prevention.” Stopping crimes before they happen is key to maintaining a safe restaurant environment. Here is what we learned…
Burglaries on are the rise.
In RLPSA’s first ever Franchise Focus Day, expert panelists unpack this growing problem and share lessons learned as they navigated unprecedented times. It is survival of the fittest in the food service industry – restaurants are urged to revisit and dust off their burglary mitigation strategies:
- Safes: The main reason loss prevention leaders choose to install safes in their restaurants comes down to safety and security. A safe enables restaurant operators to safely store cash and other items of importance, in a protected location. SMART safes provide added benefits such as streamlining cash operations, labor savings, and additional layers of security. Amphion can also retrofit your existing safes for added hardening and protection.
- Locks / Keys: Security must be the top consideration when selecting a locking system. After all, that is the basic purpose of a locked door. Many people don’t realize that many of the industry’s leading lock and key systems out there may not be as secure as they think. The words stamped on standard keys usually read “DO NOT DUPLICATE”. Comforting words, but rarely true. Truth is, any key on a standard keyway can be duplicated, and you can count on it, that it will be. The only way to ensure that a key will not be duplicated is to adopt a “restricted” keyway.
Overhauling Safety
There has never been a more crucial time to keep your employees and customers safe, not just feel safe. Store closings, modified hours, and customer habits still have many restaurants under budgetary restraints. Restaurant leaders need solutions that meet the needs of their organizational safety objectives and budgets:
- Video Surveillance: CCTV monitoring is essential to protect customers and employees from harm. Placing cameras at entry and exit points, throughout the inside of the store and at drive-thru locations acts not only as a tool to solve crimes, but it also acts as a deterrent to prevent violence from occurring in the first place.
- Access control: Access control systems are designed to restrict or allow access to a certain area. or building. These physical security systems are implemented to protect people and property from harm. Restaurants, in particular, can benefit from having access control on the back door – either using intercom or keycard based electrified systems.
Future Planning
Planning helps restaurants identify and stay ahead of potential pitfalls. Preparing for the future allows leaders to take all things into consideration during the goal setting process. When a team works together to set goals, it allows everyone to be on the same page and working toward a common purpose. Workers are better able to recognize ways to work to achieve goals, as well as behaviors to avoid that could prevent the business from reaching its objectives. Restaurants with 20/20 hindsight made the following investments:
- Amphion Integrated Solutions: AIS is a multi-layer physical security solution (CCTV, access control and intrusion detection) working together to provide retail and restaurant businesses with greater value and protection. By providing businesses with the ability to integrate systems that synergize together, they have growing confidence in the performance of their security portfolio
- Cloud-managed video: Utilizing 100% of your recorder’s video means gaining new insight into your business’s operations with alerts and reports available through Amphion’s partnership with OpenEye. Real-time alerts and notifications, with video verification, improve response time and identify inefficiencies to keep your business safe and secure. Having access to this business intelligence will improve customer service, identify areas that employees need additional training, and prevent downtime with reports on all your systems managed through the cloud.
- Supply chain: Supply chain kinks and impediments to operational physical security solutions don’t have to pile onto the growing list of fears for loss prevention and security leaders. Instead, choose Amphion to solve for any bottlenecks in your security integration logistics.
Just ask Amphion
Amphion’s commitment to customer service has always been the cornerstone of their core mission. But that service moves to a new level through Amphion Integrated Solutions (AIS). The foundation of AIS is built through long-standing relationships with some of nation’s finest security suppliers and subcontractors. These relationships extend the reach of Amphion’s dedicated service and install support teams to ensure that you can consistently work with the same teams to deliver service where and when it’s needed. Amphion has built out the infrastructure to ensure that service, supply, and delivery issues get resolved – so you don’t have to.
About Amphion
Amphion is a security integrator delivering unmatched service to national restaurant and retail guests across the country. Specializing in loss prevention and security products and services, they are the one-stop-shop to safeguard your business assets.
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