Tampa Restaurant Owner Confronts Dine-And-Dashers To Curb Theft
Don’t dine-and-dash at a Tampa restaurant. It’s NEVER cool to dine-and-dash. But some naughty customers get away with it all the time. However, the owner at Rick’s on the River has found a way to combat those who dine-and-dash.
It’s been a problem in the past at Rick’s on the River because criminals who want to eat and/or drink and then scoot out on their bill think they have an easy out. They park where they can make a quick getaway out of the parking lot at Rick’s, which is near downtown Tampa on Hillsborough River. Servers get busy. Rick’s is a loud, bustling place. What can you do?
Tampa Restaurant Owner Confronts Dine-And-Dash
Ken Brackins owns Rick’s on the River and grew up there. He called into the MJ Morning Show today when he heard us talking about his restaurant. The reason we were talking about the Tampa restaurant is because of the unique way in which they handle dine-and-dashers. Brackins set up 16 security cameras on the outside of establishment. He takes footage from the cameras of thieves and posts it to Facebook. That’s a nice way to point out and shame the criminals. This accomplishes two things. It allows him to find the dine-and-dashers. And of course, it is a good way to encourage potential diner-and-dashers from committing the crime at his restaurant. Oh, and by the way, the Facebook followers of the restaurant love it. It’s quite entertaining.
Ken told us today on the show that it’s been, “A little over a year since we started naming and shaming.” He added, “It’s a problem with every restaurant. Restaurateurs write it off as a cost of doing business.”
So look at the double win for Ken and Rick’s on the River. He’s creating web content and tracking down the perps.
He shared a story a woman who guzzled some beers and refused to pay. “She refused to pay her entire tab because she said the wind blew over her pitcher of beer. There were only a few ounces of beer on the deck. True story.” What an excuse!
Watch out and don’t let anyone get away with a dine-and-dash at a Tampa Bay area restaurant.
For more on this story, click here.
You can listen to our chat with Ken below.
Speaking of restaurants…Let’s look at some restaurants we WISH we could bring back. (And hopefully, they didn’t close because of theft!)
