Servers, bartenders and cashiers handle cash from customers on a daily basis. These restaurant workers need to be trained in proper cash-handling techniques in order to improve guest service and minimize mistakes. Take the time to teach proper cash-handling practices to your team to reap these benefits.
When the worker takes the order, he or she should listen and ring up the entire order, then repeat each item to the customer to be sure everything was communicated correctly. Then, the restaurant worker should let the customer know the total cost with tax. For instance, the worker may say, "A large noodle bowl, sir? That will be $5.35, please." This type of communication puts both the worker and the guest on the same page.
When the customer hands the worker a form of payment, the worker should verbally acknowledge this. The worker might say, "out of five" or "out of twenty" depending on the bill the customer offered. This can help deter disputes if customers say they handed over a larger bill than they truly did.
Many Point of Sale (POS) systems will only allow restaurant workers to enter one transaction at time, and many restaurants are set up to handle only one order at a time. Running more than one sale at a time can easily cause mistakes and accidents.
When workers owe the customer change, they should remove the change from the cash drawer, count it, and give it to the customer before placing the payment inside the drawer. This ensures that workers remember exactly what bill they received in case of any confusion.
When counting back change to the customer, make sure workers are trained to do this correctly. Basically, if a larger bill is given to pay for an order, count the change starting with the small change and counting up to the large bill amount. Customers may prefer this to be sure they receive the proper change. For example, a customer's meal costs $13.50. The customer pays for this with a $20 bill. The worker should follow these steps:
- Retrieve change for the customer in the amount of $6.50.
- The change is two quarters, one dollar and one $5 dollar bill.
- Count the change starting from the amount of $13.50.
- When handing over the 50 cents, say "$14."
- When handing over the dollar, say "$15."
- When handing over the $5 bill, say "and $5 makes $20" to show that the customer is getting the proper change for the original payment.
This is just an irresponsible habit. Leaving the cash register unattended may even invite thieves to dip into the cash drawer.
Cash registers should have separate codes and separate drawers for each user. Only one person should have access to a drawer at any time. This ensures that one worker is accountable for one drawer and any cash overages or shortages that occur. This also encourages employees to act more responsibly.
When a drawer runs short of coins or bills to make change for customers, workers should notify a manager to retrieve the change from the safe. The manager should then count out the change needed and take the appropriate bills from the worker's cash drawer to put back in the safe. Only managers and shift managers should have access to the money in the safe.
A cash-drop, also called a drawer-drop, involves removing some of the cash from the cash drawer and dropping it, or depositing it, into the safe. Keeping a lot of cash in the drawers puts the restaurant at greater risk for robbery. Managers and workers both should count and witness the money going into the safe.
When a transaction needs to be cancelled for any reason, the worker should notify a manager. For instance, a server may have entered an incorrect item into the POS. After communicating to the kitchen staff to ignore this order, a manager needs to verify the reason for the void in order to maintain employee integrity and responsibility.