Will you learn from these restaurant robbery lessons?

We did a quick search on the internet for restaurants that were robbed and broken into.

When we Googled this, here is what we found:

1. NASHVILLE — East Nashville restaurant Hunan Express was burglarized early Thursday morning.
2. ATLANTA – Police are investigating a violent ambush robbery at a popular Inman Park restaurant.
3. CHARLESTON — Police are investigating a reported break-in at a restaurant on the West Side of Charleston.

Let’s talk about these one at a time and see what lessons we can learn from them.

Nashville restaurant break in

In Nashville, the restaurant’s alarm company notified the owner around 6 a.m. of a possible break-in. Apparently, the suspects broke the company’s drive-thru window and climbed inside the restaurant. They grabbed the cash register and ran it outside.

After realizing it was empty, they threw the cash register on the pavement, just outside the drive-thru window. In the end, nothing was stolen from the business.

The lesson for your restaurant business?

• Have a monitored alarm system
• Empty your cash register out nightly

Here is a suggestion for you: Why not have a sign outside each window that says, “Cash register is emptied every night?”

Atlanta restaurant robbery

Atlanta police said armed masked men ambushed & robbed two employees at the restaurant early Sunday morning .

The surveillance camera video showed the intruders ambush an employee at the back door of the restaurant when he came to throw out the trash early Sunday morning. They both had weapons; they pushed him to the ground and then the forced him up to the door where there’s another employee inside.

Police said they forced her to open the safe and hand over cash. They also stole a couple of cell phones, some credit cards, and identification.

 The lesson for your restaurant business?

• Someone may be watching you. So don’t do the same thing every night or every morning coming out of the same door. Don’t make it easy for someone to rob you.
• Empty that safe every evening so there is no money overnight.
• Consider installing a silent alarm switch in the case of a hold-up like this. the silent alarm will contact the police that a robbery is in progress.

Charleston restaurant robbery

Police are investigating a reported break-in sometime between closing Wednesday evening and sometime early Thursday morning. Apparently, someone popped the lock off the front door and broke into the restaurant, dumping boxes of supplies and ransacking the place.

The good news is that  whoever broke in didn’t steal anything. They were looking for money but didn’t find any. The surveillance footage is being looked at to find a possible suspect.

The lesson for your restaurant business?

• Install a surveillance camera in your restaurant or bar.
• How many locks do you have on your front door? Consider installing a deadbolt if you don’t have one already.
• Have a certified locksmith check your front and back door locks. Ask them for suggestions to make your restaurant more burglar proof.

In conclusion, remember that no one plans to have a break in, robbery or hold up at their restaurant. Unfortunately, things like this happen. The key is to take practical steps to protect your business.

In our article today, we highlighted several restaurant break-ins and robberies and ways to prevent them. How many will you be implementing? The one thing we didn’t address here is the proper restaurant coverage for your business.

Two of these incidents involved breaking and entering which requires damages to be repaired.

• Broken windows
• Broken locks

Here at InsuranceHub, we suggest an annual restaurant insurance check up. Why not contact your agent today to see if you are sufficiently protected in the case of a break-in, robbery or hold up at your restaurant? Your local agent is standing by to answer your questions & help you to protect your restaurant with the proper coverage.