Loss of any kind is a sensitive subject. In this week’s post, I had the opportunity to pick the brain of a MIRUS client who deals exclusively with loss on a daily basis. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Las Vegas for the annual MIRUS User Conference and he offered up his time to participate in a QA.
Mike Scafidi knows about loss. He has made it his career since the early 90s. Mike has helped prevent loss for big brands, such as: Macy's, Toys R Us/Kids R Us, Marshalls and PetSmart. For the past four years, Mike has dedicated his time to loss prevention for Uno Chicago Grill. Three of those four years have been spent using the MIRUS Enterprise solution for restaurant reporting and analysis. Mike uses the software for fraud detection and loss prevention, specifically.
Uno Chicago Grill originated from … you guessed it, Chicago, IL. What started as a man (Ike Sewell) creating a deep dish pizza in 1943 has turned into a company of 140 locations, worldwide. They still create their famous deep dish pizza from scratch everyday but in time have adjusted their menu to suit anybody’s palate; not just pizza lovers.
The following is a question and answer with Mike about how he manages loss at Uno Chicago Grill and how he leverages MIRUS to discover fraud:
Clay Coomer, MIRUS: Your job at Uno is focused on Loss Prevention specifically; how long have you been using MIRUS to identify theft?
Mike Scafidi, Uno Chicago Grill: Uno has been up on MIRUS for three years now.
Clay: How many times per week would you say loss occurs at Uno?
Mike: It’s hard to say how many times per week because at some level it is occurring every day. It is more about using the reporting tools to create awareness and teaching Regional and Management teams what to look for to minimize the number of times it happens.
Clay: Do you manually audit each location after you run your reports in MIRUS? – What is your process for discovering fraud?
Mike: Our process is constantly evolving. Everything we build and create in MIRUS is reviewed on a regular basis with the Regional and restaurant teams. We rely on our alerts to keep both the Operations team and myself on top of any issues. I go over the report findings with the Regional team or the GM so they may address the issues. But in some cases, when a restaurant flags regularly or there is a particular issue of interest, I will conduct a field visit to work with the team to develop a better understanding of the problem and how it is impacting the business. I try to approach it as a business partner. In the end, one way or another, the problem(s) get resolved.
Clay: What did you use to prevent loss before MIRUS was implemented at Uno?
Mike: We did not have anything that I had ever seen. Many of the reports had to be built out through our financial reporting system. We were months behind on identifying any problems.
Clay: Was it as effective?
Mike: It just scratched the surface. We could tell what area the problem was in but not the specifics of the problem. With MIRUS we have been able to pinpoint the issue to a specific check, server or manager.
Clay: When you notice a fraud event during your analysis, how do you go about resolving and/or reconciling the issue?
Mike: If it is at the server level, I will work with the GM to find the right resolution. If it is an issue with a manager, I will start with the Regional Manager.
Clay: What does an automated loss prevention system look like to you?
Mike: I am looking for something that is going to frame quickly and clearly for me. I like to see trends and spikes, like many LP (Loss Prevention) professionals, and… I love graphs.
Clay: We talked about Sentinel™ at our recent User Conference; what does a Loss Prevention Manager, like yourself, think of a product like this?
Mike: I haven’t had the opportunity to play with it yet. But the main point I like on it is the follow up factor. Being a one-man-show, things can get lost in the shuffle. Having a particular place where the follow up can be documented is great and it helps create consistency and accountability.
On behalf of myself and all of us on the MIRUS team, we thank Mike Scafidi and Uno Chicago Grill for their continued partnership. Restaurant companies like Uno who understand the importance of self-service business intelligence solutions are staying ahead of the curve and positioning themselves nicely for the “analytic bubble” that is on the cusp of bursting within the industry. Refer to our previous post about the impact customer satisfaction has on restaurant profit margin. In that post, MIRUS CEO Dave Bennett was quoted by saying: “Would you rather be served a fish dinner or have someone teach you how to fish?” Mike and his team at Uno have opted for the latter – and it’s evident by our conversation that they have made a great decision.
Want to "be like Mike?" Learn more about the MIRUS solution for loss prevention by clicking the button below! You can even schedule a free demo!
