Home » Physical Security » Loss Prevention

The Scoop on Restaurant Loss Prevention and Cash Management

Friendly's Restaurants' Ernie Patnode approaches cash management with a lot of common sense, a little technology and, yes, politeness

By Scott Berinato

April 13, 2007 — CSO —

Ernie Patnode likes to say that cash handling is a lot like passing sand from hand to hand. The more hands involved in the process, the less sand you’ll have left at the end.

Patnode is corporate security manager for Friendly’s Restaurants, an ice cream and burger joint familiar to any New Englander. And part of Patnode’s approach to loss prevention in his company’s 510 restaurants (some owned, some franchised) is to minimize the number of hands passing the sand. “It’s basically about honesty,” says Patnode. “There’s no magic about it.” But Patnode’s philosophy is broader than that, and parts of it are surprising. Loss prevention programs are often tagged as “gotcha” operations, a policing function that doesn’t contribute to the business unless it’s stopping someone from skimming the till. But Patnode, who retired from the Massachusetts State Police 18 years ago and who has been with Friendly’s ever since, doesn’t adhere to that philosophy. Underlying his loss prevention program, which he believes can enable the business, is significant respect for human nature, even empathy for someone trying to buck the system. He approaches loss prevention with a healthy dose of niceness, saying that all those tools used to catch bad guys in the act of stealing ought to be used as much for rewarding good guys with praise.

CSO spoke with Patnode about his approach to effective cash handling and loss prevention.

CSO: Which comes first in your loss prevention program, technology or policy?

Ernie Patnode: In many ways, your policy and sticking to it, that’s more important than technology when it comes to loss prevention. If you have a good policy and are strict about enforcing it, that’s key. For example, you can install various types of cards and all that, but you know what? A waiter leaves his access card unattended, something still happens. It’s a policy violation that got you. Electronics are trackers. It’s the same as card access to headquarters’ offices. It tells you who entered, what time, how long the safe door was open. It helps tracking supervisory staff. But it isn’t like you have something that reads every single action. The strength of most loss prevention is good solid supervision. Look, systems are great, don’t get me wrong, but loss prevention comes down to having top-notch supervisory staff.

Still, technology must be important. What do you focus on?

I’m a firm believer in CCTV and alarm systems. Our back doors are locked with alarms when possible. Pass doors, where trucks drive right up and deliver goods right into the freezer, we put monitors on those to record entry and trigger CCTV, and also alarm if someone walks out without having already walked in. The CCTV, we’ve done studies on the new stuff. Things like being able to bring it up on my office PC. It’s a substantial financial investment we weren’t ready to make. So what we did do is invest in cameras that allow for the upgrade if we decide we need it. I want to research its value more.