Restaurant Kitchen Security Cameras
Much of the food theft and mischief that occurs in restaurants happens in the kitchen, so there is no better way to monitor and maintain control of your restaurant than to watch the kitchens as well as other areas with 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. These cameras can also help to prevent mischief from occuring that could later lead to customer problems, sicknesses or even lawsuits. Kitchen restaurant security cameras can be used to provide visuals for the wait staff in larger restaurants as well so they can see when their orders are ready to serve.
Security Cameras for your Restaurant Kitchen
The kitchen of your restaurant houses much of the most expensive equipment as well as your valuable recipes and employees. The kitchen can easily make or break your restaurant, so it is important that you watch it carefully. When looking to install cameras into your kitchen you should consider all of the important areas. Many kitchens have rear entrances or exits that should be covered by cameras for security reasons, providing video 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 any wine cellars, food coolers, and preparation areas. You should also carefully weigh the importance of each of these locations against the budget for the restaurant 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, you should position your camera so that it will see the faces of employees as they walk into or out of the door, however with exit doors it is sometimes good to have the camera mounted at an angle from the door, this is because of the fact that during the daytime, the light behind the person that is entering will cause a shadow or backlight condition to occur, this can cause the image to appear dark across a person's face and it will make it very difficult to distinguish characteristics. A method to avoid this is to use a camera mounted directly above the exit door, to instead 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 and will deliver a great quailty image every time.
For chillers, coolers or wine cellar areas, the cooler temperatures and increased humidity can cause damage to any normal indoor style cameras, so security cameras that are designed for outdoor areas should be used. These outdoor cameras are sealed against the weather, so the cold temperatures or above average humidity levels will not be able to reach the electronics of the security cameras. The best cameras for these environments are generally bullet or armor dome style outdoor security cameras. Armor dome cameras are great for ceiling or sometimes wall mount installations, while the bullet cameras can be mounted on the ceiling or on the wall as well and usually have infrared IR capabilities for night vision.
The food prep area of your restaurant kitchen can also be covered by security cameras to help provide an added layer of quality control for the food that is served to your customers. This also allows you to monitor dish washers, bartenders and cooks to ensure that your employees are doing what they are supposed to be doing while they are working in the kitchen area. These cameras can also prevent retaliation from employees on customers, as well as provide evidence of theft of food or alcohol, which is unfortunately common in 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 be used to provide high resolution coverage and 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, managers and owners of these restaurants can easily make staffing decisions and ensure customers will receive the best quality of service throughout their visit by ensuring quality control of the food that is prepared.