Food Theft and Small Restaurants: Protecting My Business

Food Theft and Small Restaurants: Protecting Your Business

When I started Laud Shawarma, I learned the many pluses and small minuses of running a business…especially food business; I learned to mind my margins, I worked long hours, I managed customers’ expectations (to the best of my abilities anyway), managed important documents, taxes etc. I didn't know that I also had to learn how to deter selfish jobless food thieves 🤪

These people strike by stealing takeouts (coming in and grabbing prepaid orders meant for others or using stolen credit cards), delivery fraud (drivers and even customers receiving the food and then falsely reporting that they never got the order for a refund) and dine-and-dash incidents (customers eating and not paying). Well, thankfully, we are not really a sit-in restaurant so food is not made or served until the customer pays. In any case, the impact can be devastating. In this post, I will share my experience, make some of these thieves famous and share what I have done to protect my business.

Each of these incidents chips away at my profits and morale, creating unnecessary stress for me and my staff.

The Hidden Costs of Stolen Orders - let's break it down

For small but growing restaurants like Laud Shawarma, every order matters. When one is stolen or refunded under false pretenses, the losses go beyond just the meal:

Lost revenue — One stolen $30 order might sound small, but multiply that by 5 in a month and the numbers add up to 150$. And a lot of these Credit Card processing companies are not doing much to protect us either. Square certainly isn't. Right now, I am paying CC companies back for fraud committed at the store.

Wasted ingredients — the food can’t be resold, meaning the inventory is gone with no return.

Operational costs — Staff time, packaging, and utilities are all wasted.

And if you run catering services like Laud Shawarma Catering, a single stolen bulk order could mean hundreds of dollars lost.

Exhibit 1 - Celebrity Thief #1 uses the email - rosecunn@outlook.com and (484) 620-5960 but different names to complete online orders. Ole ni!

Credit Card Thief

He came 2ce, hence the change of cloths. Ole buruku...ọfáàn.🤬

He will get people's credit cards, somehow (I don't know how), buy food online and come to the shop and lie that apple pay is not on his phone. A few weeks later, Square will send me a charge back letter. His jibiti alone, square has collected 250$ from me. So if you know him, tell him to come and pay me my money and never come back. Ole ni.

Exhibit 2 - Celebrity Thief #2 - Madam d madam

This one came to the shop to pick up an order with 5 supreme shawarmas. The owner of the order shows up a couple of hours later. The owner claims not to know her, so till tomorrow we don't know how she did it or knew the details of the order. Anyways, if you know her, tell her she owes me 65$ + stress fee.

Madam d madam

Exhibit 3 - Celebrity Thief #3 Eleyi, Ole 3rd party apps ni.

This one na DoorDash Thief. He came to the shop, picked the order, then reported us to DoorDash that we refused to make the order. Thank God for camera that shows him picking up the order. It's a few of them with this 3rd party theft. It's ridiculous. If you know him, tell him never to come back to our shop. I don't know why he is still able to work for DoorDash. Maybe cuz they dont care🤷🏾‍♀️

DoorDash Thief

Anyways, since they want to come to my shop to steal and have the audacity to come back, I figured I will help their stardom.

Some of the Strategies We Put in Place to Prevent Food Theft:

I don't think you can really eliminate theft entirely, but you can make it much harder for it to happen:

1. First thing’s first, we make sure that the drivers confirm the orders before they pick up the food and our camera is also working.

2. We verify pickup orders and also ask customers for the order details before handing over food.

3. We also make sure the customers confirm the order before they leave the shop.

4. We had to start checking IDs for large delivery orders — especially for first-time customers.

5. We implemented all the checks on Risk Manager for our cc processing company. So you will have to make sure that you know your zip and address for your cc online payment to go through.

6. Invest in a camera that records in the cloud. Trust me, it is so worth it.

There are other resources and documentations on the web on this topic - National Restaurant Association has excellent resources for creating anti-theft training programs.

Some people will read this and think, all this for 22$ Shawarma??? Yes! I work very hard for my money and some jobless lowlife will show up and outrightly steal from me? It's crazy!

Food theft might seem like a minor annoyance, but for small restaurants, it’s a real financial threat. And by combining practical security measures, technology, and community engagement, you can protect your business and keep your hard work from ending up in the wrong hands.

Abi? E ma kpa mi. Shawama melo ni mo nta that I have to keep refunding the bank after people complete the order, eat the food and then report to the bank that they have no knowledge of the order. Awon ti Sylas Adewusi aka Sy A (202) 507-9230 / mateng508@gmail.com

Ah han! E saanu Aje. Ire o🤲🏾