R2D2 Protects Stores from Theft, Loss

December 22nd, 2009

Restaurant owners cannot be in their stores every minute of every day keeping watch over the operations, but McDonald’s R2D2 technical support is the next best thing.
With R2D2, owner/operators can receive weekly reports that provide a daily summary of key events that occurred in the store.
“This report shows every keystroke, every reduction before sale, every unauthorized drawer opening, every drive-thru queue clears,” said Frank Phalen, the owner/operator of nine McDonald’s stores in Roswell and Alpharetta. “If you see a problem, you can drill down and find the employee who did it.”
Phalen should know. Not long ago, he caught a long-time employee — a 15-year assistant manager — who was pilfering money from the drivethru window and netted about $3,000 in less than six weeks’ time. Phalen’s son, Tim Phalen, who also owns  McDonald’s franchises, identified two employees who had stolen approximately $15,000 over a six-month  period. The Phalens’ success is due in large part to the pinpoint accuracy of the R2D2 system.
“What our employee was doing was taking orders at the drive-thru and then he would clear the sale,” Frank Phalen  explained. “He took the customer’s money, gave them their food and then kept the cash for himself.” Armed with the R2D2 report, along with surveillance footage, Phalen confronted the employee who admitted his theft and reimbursed the company for the money he stole.
Through the R2D2 report, owner/operators can establish benchmarks to watch based on normal activity in their store. If any items — such as the number of  order changes, card swipes, manager meals — fall outside those benchmarks, appropriate steps can be taken to address those problems.
Unauthorized drawer openings is a key statistic to watch for employee  theft. These are drawer openings that are made manually with a key by a crew person or manager. Tim Phalen said this report was instrumental in helping to catch the manager who was stealing cash by accessing other  employees’ drawers by using his password.
“My reductions before total and unauthorized drawer openings dropped significantly after identifying the individual responsible,” Tim Phalen said. Tim Phalen presented the employee with the forensic evidence from the R2D2 report and, after he threatened to pursue criminal action, the employee left the company.
“The key point to be made here is that without the big picture comparing  each register and keystrokes side by side, I may not have caught this individual,” Tim Phalen said. “An operator need only pay about $250 per year for the R2D2 program and all the reports that they can provide to you.”
Frank Phalen is open with his employees that with R2D2 he has the ability to keep track of every keystroke made in his stores. “I wanted every manager in the store to know that Big Frank is watching,” he said.