Bottle Locks Are A Barrier to Liquor Bottle Theft From Bars

Owning a bar or a club with a bar can be an extremely profitable business. Like any business though, there are challenges in preventing theft which can, if not addressed, put an owner out of business. It may be cash theft by an employee stealing from the register. Your business could be the victim of a robbery and your register gets cleaned out. Perhaps a dishonest bartender is stealing profits by over pouring alcohol into the drinks of friends. Another method to steal your profits is the bartender who simply does not charge someone for drinks. Bottle theft can also be a cause for concern. Bottle theft can occur by employees, as well as by patrons. Take for instance a recent case in Oregon where four women were arrested after they were caught trying to steal bottles of alcohol from behind the bar during a fight (Oregonlive.com, story by Everton Bailey Jr., December 15, 2015). In August 2015, a man in Corpus Christi was arrested after he had reached over the counter twice and stole two bottles of alcohol (KZTV10.com, story by Aaron Blaser, August 25, 2015).   In March 2015 a man stole eight bottles of alcohol valued at $367 from a restaurant bar in New York while employees were going in and out for deliveries (dnainfo.com, story by Rosa Goldensohn, April 3, 2015). Liquor bottle security is not an easy task. An employee cannot be behind the bar ALL the time, there are going to be instances when they have to step out from behind a bar, or go to one end of the bar or the other. Even if you could prevent the chances of a customer stealing bottles, how do you provide liquor bottle security against the dishonest employee? Bottle Locks are the key to your dilemma.

Bottle locks are designed to go over the top of a bottle and secure the bottle cap from being opened. Locks come in a number of designs from a collar device that goes around the neck of the bottle to a full bottle cap cover that prevents the cap from being opened without a special key. Should someone take a bottle protected with a bottle lock they would be unable to open the cap and quite possibly, they could wind up breaking the bottle, a losing proposition for a thief. Added to the protection of preventing a bottle to be opened, bottle locks also are designed to work with electronic article surveillance systems. If a bar was protected with an EAS antenna and someone were to try to take a bottle out of a bar and the bottle had a lock on it, it would activate the EAS antenna. A person trying to sneak a bottle out would be exposed and staff could recover the stolen item. The same thing would happen to an employee who might attempt to steal from the bar. Liquor bottle security could then dissuade employees from engaging in dishonest activity because the temptation that might exist to steal is removed.

 I mentioned earlier that a special detachment key is used to remove bottle locks. There are several types of detachment keys available, but for the best liquor bottle security a bar could secure several multi-detachment keys to the bar itself based on the length of the bar. The base has a barrel lock that can lock the detachment key to the base preventing it from being removed from the base and stolen. When the keys will not be used they can be locked, and while the bar is open the keys can be unlocked from the bases. The keys are attached to the base by a flexible lanyard that allows it to be used up to the length of the lanyard. The key can’t be lost or stolen because it is attached by the lanyard.    

There are enough challenges facing bar owners and managers in running a profitable operation. Make liquor bottle security a priority by using bottle locks on all your products and see the impact they can make.

For more information on Liquor Bottle Security, contact us or call 1.770.426.0547