Even with perfect execution, you're going to have losses. This is the reality of the food and beverage industry. And there are two main types of losses: waste and theft.
Waste:
Waste is the food and beverage product you don't sell. Pastries that go stale. Milk that goes sour. Coffee that's not sold within its freshness window.
Waste is inevitable. You're never going to sell everything you buy. But you can minimize it.
Here's how:
Track your waste. I keep a waste log. Every item that's thrown away gets recorded. What was it? Why was it thrown away? How much did it cost? After a few weeks, you'll see patterns. Maybe you're ordering too many croissants. Maybe your soups aren't selling. The data tells you what to fix.
Order small quantities. Especially in the beginning. It's better to run out of a product than to have it go to waste. Customers will forgive a "sold out" sign. They won't forgive stale pastries.
Donate your leftovers. If you have leftover sandwiches at the end of the day, donate them to a homeless shelter or a food bank. It's good for your community and it's a tax write-off.
Embrace "day-old" sales. Some cafés sell day-old pastries at a discount. It gets product out the door and it reduces waste.
Theft:
Theft is more painful than waste, because theft is intentional. And it's more common than you think.
Cash theft is the most obvious. An employee pockets $20 from the register. But cash theft is actually less common than you'd think, because registers are tracked and balanced.
The more common theft is from inventory. An employee gives a free drink to their friend. An employee takes a pastry without paying. An employee steals a bag of coffee beans. These small thefts add up.
Here's how to minimize it:
Ring everything up. Every drink must be rung into the POS. No exceptions. The drink is accounted for before it's made. That prevents someone from making a drink and giving it away without a record.
Monitor waste. If you have a waste log, you'll notice if waste suddenly goes up. It might be a sign that someone is giving away product.
Check inventory. Do random inventory checks. If your coffee beans are disappearing faster than your sales indicate, you have a problem.
Have a policy. Make it clear that theft is not tolerated. And enforce it. If you catch an employee stealing, fire them. Immediately.
I learned this lesson the hard way. I had a trusted employee who gave away dozens of drinks to her friends. It cost me hundreds of dollars. I was furious. I fired her. And I changed my procedures so it couldn't happen again.