That changed when Patrick Alexander recently introduced a control system. Flatware is requisitioned to serving teams by a controller who has responsibility to maintain it. After service, it is returned and each team signs off. The system not only cut losses, saved money and prevented hoarding, but it reduced tension and increased cooperation, reports Alexander, co-director of restaurant operations. More important than systems is the philosophy behind them, insists D'Addario, now the director of asset protection for Starbucks Coffee Company in Seattle.
People care when their best interests are met.
Rather than setting cash up as a target, get them to regard cash as part of their profit-sharing interests. Don't look for Lone Ranger types. Ordinary people, insists Gary Koeb. Theft has a triangle. In testing, we identify an attitude then look for a pattern in their responses.