Candid Cameras

Security systems involve technology and training to keep foodservice "acceptable losses" at a minimum.

Restaurants and Institutions

Erin J. Shea
Associate Editor

Lell dressed with elegantly coifed hair, the middle-aged woman blended perfectly into the dinner crowd at City Limits Diner. After a brief stop at the front desk to ask the evening’s host to let her enter the dining room in search of her husband, she was gone and never seen again.

That is until Nick Livanos, partner in New York City-based Livanos Restaurant Group, which operates three City Limits Diner locations, checked the security-camera footage that had captured the woman snatching a guest’s purse.

“No one noticed her leave,” he says. “But the camera caught her walking in and then walking right back out with the purse.”

Theft is an unfortunate element of any retail business. Restaurant operators say that combating its effect on the bottom line requires not only dependable surveillance systems but also creativity and solid staff communication.

Livanos’ security cameras have picked up more than just purse snatchers. “We came in one morning to find that someone had smashed into the building,” he says. “It turns out that a delivery service we used had done it very early in the morning. They caused $70,000 worth of damage and our surveillance system caught it all.”

Strategically positioned cameras on the indoor and outdoor perimeters of his operation have allowed Livanos to effectively dispute specious claims, including an instance where he was shortchanged during a beer delivery.

“We ordered 15 cases of beer and only five were dropped off,” he recalls. Despite a signed receipt claiming otherwise, Livanos says he turned to his digital camera footage and learned his suspicions were correct. “The signature ended up being forged,” he says.

Livanos’ investment in upgrading cameras from videotape to digital recording formats has paid off. Where the former system required management staff to change tapes every few hours, the digital recording demands little maintenance and archives footage for up to two weeks.

“Digital is the way to go,” he says. “We’re a high-volume restaurant and it really helps to have that kind of technology.”

Eye-Tech Methods
In almost 30 years as foodservice coordinator at Michigan State University (MSU) in East Lansing, Bruce Haskell has seen all the tricks: plates that are not-so-carefully hidden in pant legs and glassware that finds its way into backpacks.

A foodservice-union grievance filed more than a decade ago forced MSU to remove surveillance cameras in the kitchens, and budget constraints preclude adding high-tech cameras in dining halls. But Haskell trains his staff how to catch thieves in the act. “We watch students do it and confront them when they leave,” he says. “Our security system is our well-trained staff.”

Haskell says the costs of dining-room cameras outweigh what he calls the “acceptable loss” of those items that slip his scrutiny. He does what he can, however, to deter sticky fingers.

“We have campaigns where we explain [to students] that the expense of replacing items will hit them in their dorm costs,” he says. “We see a reduction in waste and theft when we host awareness-and-education programs.”

For back of the house, there’s always the slight-of-hand option as well. “I’ve been able to use dummy cameras with battery-operated lights and it has an effect,” he says. “Some folks will steal regardless, but it takes care of some people who will think twice about it.”

Legal Eyes Are Watching

Sometimes the question of whether to install a surveillance system is not one of cost but of law.

“Technology has improved so much and electronic surveillance is a good way to go,” explains Frank Cronin, a management labor attorney for Irvine, Calif.-based law firm Snell & Wilmer. “But state laws put restrictions on how and when business owners can use it.”

Cronin says three categories of electronic surveillance are regulated and usage rules vary from state to state. The first, considered the least intrusive, is video-only recording; the second is audio surveillance; and the third is communication interception, such as wiretaps.

“If you’re a multistate operator, you have to look at the laws pertaining to these three areas when you’re using surveillance,” he says. “You can be sued for invasion of privacy and punitive damages are available.”

Compliance with such issues can be achieved, Cronin explains, with “simple and consistent human-resources practices,” often without having to hire an attorney.

“Traditionally, small operators don’t have links to human-resources professionals or lawyers for these things,” he says. “State restaurant associations usually have the information an operator needs to be in compliance.”