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Close, sell or what? I need help.

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lynn150

New member
I have gotten so much valuable info here, but I need help. I currently have 2 carry out/delivery pizza shops. One is fine, but the 2nd is stressing us out. We have a great manager who works harder than anyone else ever does and has been with us 6 years. The last few months she has been asking for pay advances. It was so out of control, so we don’t allow it anymore for anyone. A month ago she took money from our till but paid it back a day later. She said her rent was due and she knew she could replace it the next day and thought we wouldn’t find out. My husband told her he was not her personal ATM and if she took, or borrow as she calls it, any money she would be fired. Well on a random check tonight we found that she borrowed $160 from the till and advanced herself another $95 from the days deposit. We want to fire her, but we have no one to run that store. There are no extra managers we can send from our other location. What should we do? How do you find management? We don’t have good response with newspaper ads and there’s no one ready to promote from within. My husband wants to franchise it and sell it that way, but I don’t know. I really want to keep it.Please help!
 
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The principal is more important than the situation.

You let the person stay and you have lost all credibility and I shudder to think about what she has done which you dont know about.

She goes tomorrow and you figure it out…
 
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she has a problem & “Tuff Luv” is the answer…you will have 2 run the operation until a replacement is found…franchising is not an option…
 
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Hello Lynne,You have a cancer on your hands that can’t be fixed.I would fire her or him yesterday and do not look back!Then worry about what to do from there.Put an enticing add in your local paper and tell them you want it in BOLD letters it may cost a little extra but you should get some response.Go to your local Burgerkings and Mc Donalds and ask their mngrs.if they’re happy there and you have a better opportunity for them.Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do.Wish you luck…it will work out it always does.
Niccademo
 
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Our shop opens at 3pm today. I have no one that can work more hours. We had a fulltime manager move out of state with her husband a couple weeks ago and everyone has picked up as many hours as they could to help us out. We are making $3000-3500 per week in sales. We are 60% del. What if we forward calls to our other location about 6 miles away and send deliveries from there? That is what we currently do for lunch during the week. It works out pretty good, but I am worried about the long term impact if people driving by see the store closed they may not call for deliveries either even if we continue advertising as delivering their area. Hubby wants to sell as franchise since we have been approached by others interested in buying that location. He doesn’t think anyone would buy it without our name and number being part of the package. I don’t agree since that is how we started into the business. If we keep the number we can continue to forward calls to our other location.
 
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Drug problem?..
Gambling problem?..
The point here is that there is probably something more to the story than what you know…You need to do more investigation…Regardless of your staff situation if this woman is a problem you need to get rid of her even if it means reducing your hours…Closing short term will have less long term impact than a very bad employee…Good luck…
 
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you dont have to get rid of her right away use your brain make it work to ur advantage. Find someone in the next few days to take over than I would fire her. Teach them see if 1 of ur employees at the new shop would want a pay raise to move over there.
 
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You and your husband just need to divide and conquer. One at each store working doubles for awhile. So you will be a bit short handed. Get some people hired. Maybe promote someone to just be a shift leader to help close.

Get the crews you have together…let them know things are going to be short for a period and you are doing what you can to help but in the meantime you will need everyone to jump in and work hard.

Get rid of her. You are fooling yourself to think that she is just borrowing money. Trust me on this. I guarantee you when she is gone you will have more money coming in than you ever thought was “missing”

Been there done that. I would even let her back on the premises.
 
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One big important issue…

Change the locks when she exits, even if it costs a fair ammt, all locks and change alarm codes and safe combinations.

For the sales you are talking, those arent huge numbers. Having hubby at one store and you at another makes the most sense.

Maybe you forward phones, but if you get a pick up order than you make and have the food prepared there, and keep walk-in business going.

Closing the doors does send a negative signal and I suggest against that.
 
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The problem is I can’t work in either store. I currently do all accounting, marketing, etc for our business and also have a catering division that is doing quite well. I can’t neglect that. I also have 3 children to care for and have some issues with my health. We definitely have to fire our manager.
 
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I understand being a wife, mother, accountant and all around person.

But I will say this and hope you don’t take it the wrong way.

It is just for a season. Perhaps you could start “winter hours” or something. Perhaps close one day a week.

Use your family, friends to help out with the kids just for a season. Take your computer to the store and doing book keeping during your down times.

No sense in going all out marketing when you aren’t going to be open. No sense in catering right now.

This is a huge lesson why it is so important to have “assistant” managers in the back ground.

What are your options really? No option is going to be the “ideal” situation for a you. Your emergency plan in temporary.

If you are going to close the store you might as well keep her on. And start training someone right away at the other store.

I wouldn’t do it…I would bust my tail and figure it out. Realizing it is for a season.
 
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Lynn
You said this manager worked for you for six years. She knows you and your business inside and out. You told her not to take anymore money. She did it anyway. If I allowed her back and anymore money was missing I would have her arrested no questions asked. I believe from what you wrote. There is always a way around almost any system and being your manager she knows them. So if you were missing this much money in one day I hate to see what she really took. What are your food costs in this store. That should give you a ideal of what she is really not ringing up and putting in her pocket besides what she lets you know she is taking. I hate the situation this person has put you in. One more thing if she is your manager and she stated she needed the money for her rent, what kind of manager is she that she can’t manage her own money to pay for her rent. I don’t want her managing my money. NOWAY I think she needs to be taught a lesson. You don’t steal from the person who feeds you and gives a good paying job. People make up in there minds to convince themselves well I’m not really stealing because of this this and this. And it makes it all ok to them. Well its not. Its your money and hard work that made this place what it is today. Good luck with all of it. My two cents
Mystie
 
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Thank you everyone for your help. PizzainAZ - Great suggestion to just handle the walk in business. We are definitely firing her. We are leaning towards forwarding calls for delivery to the other shop and just handling carry out until we find a replacement. I can’t give up the catering, even for a season because we cater daily for several large companies and make more doing that than the shop in question makes. We have very good relationships there. I take a completely different menu of homemade items there including soups, cookies, pasta, etc. that we don’t have or want on our normal menu since it’s large enough already. The shop provides pizza, hoagies and salads. I am the only one cooking for that. I am expanding that part of my business. I am running reports to see the busy times for the carry out portion and trying to come up with a schedule.

Our food cost is 28-30%. All invoices are delivered to my home office and checking inventory shows nothing wrong. We don’t have much, if any voided orders and coupons are accounted for.
Six months ago, this manager moved out on her own from her grandmothers and I think it was a rude awakening on budgeting her money. When she takes the money, she does put a note in saying so and signing it, even the till that was short. It’s like if she writes it down it isn’t really stealing.
 
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I WOULD NOT SH1T CAN HER FOR THIS…
AT LEAST NOT UNTIL I GAVE STERN WRITTEN WARNING TO TERMINATE IF THIS DOES NOT STOP.
 
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SMITH:
I WOULD NOT SH1T CAN HER FOR THIS…
AT LEAST NOT UNTIL I GAVE STERN WRITTEN WARNING TO TERMINATE IF THIS DOES NOT STOP.
Click to expand...
I can see where you are coming from. I take a different stance that anyone being “creative” with MY money, especially when in a custodial position, will ge tthe heave ho that day. I cannot afford anyone else in the place thinking they can take liberties with my stuff, food, money, time, etc.

Georgia is an “at will” state, and I ask her to leave, hand her a separation notice stating that her services are no longer required at my place, and follow whatever termination policies we have in place (if any). If I have actual documentation of her wrong-doing, I place that in a file folder with her name for her unemployment benefits hearing. Clean, quick, and no question who drives the boat.
 
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IT SEEMS MR. SASSO YOU HAVE MISCONSTRUED WHAT MY POST WAS SAYING.
I CAN SEE WHERE YOU ARE COMING FROM,I WOULD NOT, AND HAVE NOT WORRIED ABOUT FIRING ANYONE IN THE PAST.
ANYONE WORKING FOR ME IS NOT UNDER ANY CONTRACT,IT IS VOLUNTARY.
THE WRITTEN WARNING TO HER IS SIMPLY TO LET HER KNOW HOW SERIOUS I AM ABOUT THE SELF INDULGENCE IN MY HOUSE…
THIS PERSON MAY THINK SHE HAS A “RELATIONSHIP” WHICH WOULD LET HER MAKE THIS TYPE OF “LOAN” TO HERSELF AND DOES NOT UNDERSTAND
THERE ARE RULES EVERY ONE MUST FOLLOW.
 
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Mr. Smith, I don’t think I misunderstood. I should have made a better response. You appear to want to salvage the employee in case there was a misunderstanding about handling of the store cash receipts. I simply disagree with the premise of a warning with this sort of behavior. I agree with the rules must be followed part, and not the stern warning idea.

I am coming from the same place someone else was in that we only know about the parts where she was caught. I would have zero way of knowing if she made ‘loans’ that were intended to be, but never were paid back (or outright theft). There is no adult human being in my world who could find that an acceptable practice. It is actually a crime that can be prosecuted if desired, even if she paid back the money.

Taking money from me without my permission is not tolerable and never will be. I think that my staff is very well aware of that fact. We make it clear that we will be generous, but will not tolerate theft or manipulation of our trust in any fashion. Thus, no stern warning would be necessary. Finger in the till leads to dismissal, and possible legal charges if I can document the theft/loan/whatever.
 
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Hello Lynn
I have to go with Nick on this one. It looks as though your feeling kind of bad about this. I would fire her as soon as I found a replacement no questions. It sounds as though she has just had a problem lately. But you did say don’t do it again and she didn’t listen again. So she has to live with the consequences and go back to grandmothers house.
Good luck
Mystie
 
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Hey Lynn…We’re getting ready to open our second place, and these are some of the issues we may face. But, from experience of firing a manager due to theft, you need to look at it as this person is taking from you and doesn’t respect you.

I guess the best advice I can give is our motto…it’s better to give no service then bad service. It can hurt your business…both of them. If you can find someone confident to help run the other place, yoou’d be best to do that. We have 2 kids that we bring to work, i do all the marketing and bookeeping, i know how tough it is, but you find ways to make it work. you may need to camp out there at one store for a little while as back up.

Good luck, I may send you a message for advice…

Jim
 
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