Restaurant Security Cameras - A necessity?

If the register in your store is holding $Thousands at the end of the night, is it necessary to have a safe or empty the drawer? Most likely your answer is yes. Restaurant security cameras provide many valuable and needed functions for your restaurant. Restaurants are one of the first businesses to be affected by gas and raw material price increases. What is also evident, is that restaurants are one of the first hurt by an increase in the cost of living or recession...people just stop going out to eat, and when they do go out, they order less expensive and spend less money. This puts restaurant owners in a difficult position to begin with...but you already know that. Owning a restaurant is not for the feint of heart, clearly. The fact is that there are many additional factors that make it even more difficult to keep the doors of your restaurant open. From dine-and-dash customers to vandalism to less-than-honest employees, the budget of your restaurant can absorb many unexpected hits.

Restaurant security camera systems can help you keep an eye on your restaurant, watch your registers, monitor your customers, watch your kitchen and supplies and more. These security camera systems can let you record exactly what is happening, so that when problems occur you will have a complete and honest recording. There are various types of restaurant security camera systems that can help to secure your restaurant.

Restaurant Standalone DVR Systems

Standalone DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) are a great selection for smaller restaurants. These embedded style standalone dvrs provide the ability to digitally record from your cctv security cameras onto an internal hard drive, and even provide basic remote viewing capabilities. These systems are generally chosen for small installations, because they do not require a PC on location, and can still plug into a DSL or Cable broadband internet connection and allow you to watch your cameras remotely over the internet.
Standalone DVRs and Standalone DVR Systems

PC-Based Restaurant DVR Systems

For larger restaurants or installations where higher resolution video is required, PC-Based DVR Systems are a great selection. These systems in general provide higher quality recording, better quality remote viewing and additional access from Windows Mobile PDA Phones and Smartphones. These systems are the clear choice when you want to be connected to your restaurant at all times. PC-Based DVR systems are also more easily expandable for future, as well as upgradable to hybrid DVR Systems that are compatible with newer megapixel IP cameras.
Restaurant PC-Based DVR Cards and Systems

Restaurant Security Cameras

Restaurant Security Cameras are popular to provide coverage of 5 main areas of your restaurant: the customer area, the kitchen, the cash register, the storage rooms and the parking lot area. Each area has specific needs that can affect the type of security camera that is selected. That is why we have broken down each of these areas of the restaurant seperately, to provide better coverage and understanding of your restaurant's specific needs.

Restaurant Customer Area Security Cameras

Restaurant Kitchen Security Cameras

Restaurant Cash Register Security Cameras

Restaurant Parking Security Cameras

Restaurant Kitchen Security Cameras

Much of the product theft and mischief that occurs in restaurants happens in the kitchen, so what better way to monitor and maintain control of your restaurant than to watch it on security cameras. Cameras in the kitchen area can be used by managers to ensure quality control in the kitchen, monitor staff, watch the food in the freezers and more. Kitchen restaurant security cameras can also be used to provide visuals for the wait staff in larger restaurants so they can see when their orders are ready to serve.

Kitchen Security Cameras for your Restaurant

The kitchen of a restaurant should be covered by security cameras to ensure quality of food preparation and storage as well as preventing theft. When placing security cameras in the kitchen area of your restaurant, keep in mind the important areas. Many kitchens have back entrances or exits that should be covered for security reasons, providing ample footage of anyone entering or exiting and anything they take with them. When positioning the camera, it is a good idea to ensure that the camera is not going to be washed out by backlight when the door is opened during the daytime hours. Other important areas of the kitchens might include wine cellars, coolers, and food preparation areas. When planning out a camera system for your restaurant, you should carefully weigh the importance of each of these locations against the budget for the restaurant security camera system. Below we will discuss each of the possible kitchen security camera locations as well as things to keep in mind during the installation of these security cameras.

For entry and exit doors in the kitchen, it is important that the camera is positioned so that it will see the faces of employees as they walk into or out of the door, however with these exit doors it is sometimes good to have the camera mounted at an angle from the entry door, because during the daylight hours, the daylight behind the person can cause a shadow or backlight condition to occur, causing the image to appear dark and difficult to distinguish characteristics. Another method to avoid this is to use a camera mounted directly above the exit door, to catch people as they are exiting. With a camera in this configuration, it will use the light from outside instead of it causing a backlight condition.

The wine cellar of your restaurant might house thousands of dollars of valuable product, protecting it with cameras can help reduce losses due to theft from employees. For chillers, coolers or wine cellar areas, the cooler temperatures and increased humidity can cause damage to indoor style cameras, so exterior security cameras should be used. These outdoor style cameras are sealed against the elements, so the cold temperatures or above average humidity levels will not be able to reach the sensitive electronics of the restaurant kitchen security cameras. There are many different outdoor security cameras to choose from, but they generally boil down to armor dome style or bullet style cameras. Armor dome cameras are great for ceiling mount security cameras, while the bullet cameras can be mounted on the ceiling or on the wall and usually have infrared capabilities for night vision.

Are your kitchen staff members always doing what they should? Kitchen security cameras can help you answer this question. The food preparation areas of the restaurant kitchen can also be covered by security cameras to help provide quality control of food in the kitchen, as well as monitoring dish washers, bartenders and cooks to ensure that your employees are doing what they are supposed to be doing while in the kitchen. These cameras can also help to prevent retaliation from employees on customers, as well as provide evidence of theft of food or alcohol, which is unfortunately common in restaurant kitchens. These cameras can also be used to alert necessary wait staff that orders are ready, by placing cameras overlooking food pickup locations, then placing monitors at wait stations throughout the restaurant.

The Kitchen area of a restaurant is a great place for restaurant security cameras, as it can provide high resolution coverage and video recording for managers or employees to be able to watch for theft, as well as monitor the productivity and accuracy of order fulfillment. With this additional information stream, managers of the restaurant can more easily make staffing decisions and ensure customers will receive the highest quality of service throughout their visit by ensuring quality control of the food that is prepared.