1.  Claim a bogus walkout, but keep the cash the customer has paid

2.  Brings in and sell their own bottle of liquor and pockets the cash

3.  Waitstaff and bartender work together to skim tables

4.  Pretend a customer returned a drink then sell it to another customer

5.  Pretend a customer returned a bottle of wine, and sells it by the glass

6.  Phantom Register: bring/setup an extra register and ring some sales on it and pocket the cash

7.  Giving away free liquor in hopes of a tip

8.  Tapping In: adding water to bottles to get more shots and pocket the cash

9.  Substitutions: charging a customer for premium drinks but, ringing up well drinks

10.  Ringing up happy hour prices and charge regular prices

11.  Short pouring mixed drinks, and sell the liquor

12.  Short pouring to cover up over-pouring or ‘freebies’

13.  Not pouring liquor in mixed drinks

14.  Reporting false spills to management

15.  Ringing items under another bartender or managers name

16.  Serve  and collect cash while register is reading between shift changes

17.  Free drinks to staff for tips

18.  Duplicate imprinting of customers credit card charge slip

19.  Not ringing in cocktail servers sales and splitting the money

20.  Turning in the amount of sales rung and keeping any overages

21.  Selling wine by the glass but rings up a bottle sale

22.  Re-pouring wine leftover in bottles to other customers by the glass

23.  Over pour and freebies to friends and family

24.  Brings in small disposable jiggers from home to short pour drinks

25.  Juggling: collects cash from 2 or more customers at the same time, only rings up some of the orders and pockets the cash

26.  Freebies to local merchanchants in exchange for free items

27.  Receiving kickbacks from liquor distributors

28.  Short-changing customers

29.  Ringing food items on liquor key in order to cover high liquor cost percentage

30.  Claim the bank till was short and pockets the difference

31.  Stealing full bottles while taking out trash or at the end of their shift

32.  Re-using register drink receipts

33.  Free drinks to cooks in exchange for food

34.  Under reporting sales by Z-ing out register tape early

35.  Recording incorrect overrings and voids

36.  Changing a credit card amount after a customer leaves

37.  Hitting “nosale” key to open register and pull money out later

38.  Putting liquor in work boots and walk out with it

39.  Reusing empty bottles to get new inventory out of storeroom without suspicion

40.  Under pouring drinks by a sixth, keeping track and pocketing the cash for 1 drink every sixth

41.  Overcharging the number of drinks served to a group that is running a tab

42.  Clearing away full beer bottles with the empties and reselling them

43.  Picking up customer change from the bar or table

44.  Collecting drink tickets and reselling them or giving them away

45.  Inflate ending inventory values by filling empty liquor bottles with water and counting as full

46.  Under report the number of door entries and keep the cash

47.  Overcharge patrons at the door

48.  Charge patrons at the door when it free before a certain time

49.  Allow friends in for free or add their name to the free list

50.  Bring in tickets for coat check and sell those​​​​​​​

Are you mortified or are you still skeptical? Some owners may feel like their staff is unique because ….they are family….they have a close relationship… they are hard workers who would never steal.  

This may shock you but most times, long term theft is done by people we least expect.  

They are hard working, take on extra duties and are always at work. That’s because they want to make sure their theft isn’t detected.

One South Side bar lost $47,000 over the course of five years from a manger who was also a cousin. He worked 60 hrs a week and rarely took vacations.  It wasn’t until he became i’ll and was out of work for two weeks that the owners noticed the theft. Sales rose and liquor inventory had a surplus!

Employees who steal are always searching for loopholes. The complexity and fast paced nature of the nitelife industry may put you at higher risk.  But with proper insurance coverage and management systems you can stop thieves from putting you out of business.