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RLPSA Annual Conference Recap

RLPSA’s 43rd Annual Conference Leaves its Mark in Denver

By Amber Bradley

The Restaurant Loss Prevention and Security Association’s (RLPSA) 43rd Annual Restaurant conference has concluded with over 400 restaurant leaders and solutions providers from across the country. A record-setting number of executives from traditional restaurants, franchise operations, and solution providers gathered over the last 3 days for a one-of-a-kind Survivor-themed program that specifically addressed loss prevention, risk, safety, and future industry trends. Despite their unique offerings, they all have one thing in common: They are SURVIVORS! Out of crisis comes opportunity – Opening Keynote speaker John Beede, renown global adventurer, set the tone with 3 keys to success that quickly resonated with the attendees and solution providers alike. By the end of the session, the audience was ready to conquer Everest…and their fears.
 
To start the week, Franchisees gathered on Sunday for RLPSA’s first ever Franchise Focus Day with sessions curated specifically for franchise operators. Content focused on lessons-learned around safety, crime, and communications:

● Leadership Forum: Building the Foundation for Success for LP, Safety & Risk Programs
● From the Owner: The business case for a focus on safety
● Franchise Focus: Delivery or Not: Ensuring Your Drivers (Delivery AND others) and are Safe
● Franchise Focus: Lessons Learned from Solving the Drive Through Burglaries Across the Country
● Franchisee to Franchisor: Open Communication Best Practices
● Franchise Focus: Crisis Management: Two Executives, Two Approaches = One Result of Success

That evening attendees gathered together for a welcome reception sponsored by CBE, where many used the opportunity to connect and catch up, having been the first in-person RLPSA conference in two years.
Monday morning the conference was in full swing, officially kicking off the annual conference where restaurant leaders enjoyed over two full days of sessions capped by the event’s exciting Sole Survivor challenge where attendees had the opportunity to explore the exhibit hall and learn from solution providers in a search for the hidden Immunity Idol. Nobody was voted off the island, but lucky attendees survived another day with cash and prizes.

Sessions, like they do every year, really hit the mark. Attendees who didn’t claim a seat early risked taking notes standing up. The attendees truly knew the importance of the sessions as attendees translate the content into actionable strategies in their restaurants.

Featured Keynote speaker, FBI Special Agent in Charge, George Piro, was a highlight on Day 2 as he shared his five-month strategy in the interrogation of one of the world's most brutal dictators. Attendees were able to compare and contrast his story to some of their own investigative experiences, most of all – the value of preparation.

One of the biggest takeaways came on the final day of the conference. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion expert Dr. Beverly Stallings-Johnson, Vice President, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer for Wendy’s brought the attendees along on a journey where differences are celebrated and directly tied to superior results. Attendees and solutions providers alike, walked away with new tools to thrive in today’s workplace.

Finally, attendees were given the chance to share their key takeaways in a facilitated roundtable discussion. Highlights included:

● How the restaurant community will keep their customers and employees safer (not just feel safer).
● How to better listeners in their organizations
● Ways to leverage our collective experiences
● New focus on emotional wellness

Other educational highlights included discussions about:

● Lessons Learned from COVID and future planning / predictions
● Risk Management as a Profit Center: Creating Cost Saving Tools Utilizing Risk Finance, Transfer, and Mitigation Strategies.
● The Operational Value of Loss Prevention
● Overhauling Safety Programs in a Post-Covid, Budget Diminished Environment.

The conference wrapped up with the announcement of a new RLPSA president, Wendy Hans, Director of Fraud/Loss Control at AMC Theatres and new board members Jason Swanson, MOD Pizza, Heather Hearn, Wawa and Dan Lieberman, Southeast QSR, LLC Restaurants.

Store Owners Shutting Down Over Crime Surge
Op-Ed: Crime, not COVID, killed my retail business

Proposed legislation in D.C. would make it harder for thieves to profit off stolen goods.

When I first opened my shoe store last year, I thought that small businesses had made it through the worst. Both in Minnesota and across the nation, COVID-19 cases were starting to drop, and a sense of normalcy was slowly returning. But a new epidemic destroyed my business in just a few months: retail theft.

Despite investing thousands of dollars into my store in Little Canada — which included state-of-the-art security measures — I became victim to a spree of brazen burglaries that saddled my family with mounting debt.

Retail crime has become increasingly pervasive in my community and across the country. My store is not the only one impacted by these ruthless crime sprees, which are usually run by organized crime rings which can then peddle the stolen goods online. Research suggests that almost $70 billion is lost to retail crime every year.

For small businesses, even one robbery can result in store closure. In the last six months, I have filed five insurance claims for robbery. After this last incident, there simply is no coming back. I've even resorted to online fundraising with the hopes of covering my losses. I'm out of options. We need to consider how best to protect retailers from these brazen robberies.

Lawmakers in Washington are now considering legislation that aims to clamp down on retail theft by requiring online marketplaces to collect and verify basic seller information. It would make it increasingly more difficult for crime rings, such as the ones that pillaged my store, to sell stolen goods online. This is exactly the type of solution that would protect small businesses, and hopefully prevent them from seeing the same fate as my own.

Unfortunately, I'm far from the only storefront merchant closing up shop because of rampant, continuous theft. Across the country, headlines show just how pervasive and far-reaching this problem has gotten. From Minnesota to California and New York, store owners are shutting their doors because of violent thieves. It's about time that we have an honest conversation about retail theft. startribune.com

NYC's Shooting & Robbery Epidemic
Mayor Adams takes tough tone after violent night in NYC resulting in more than a dozen shootings
Mayor Adams on Wednesday took a tough tone on crime after a bloody night of shootings across the city, celebrating the arrest of the suspect in the Sunset Park subway shooting, but calling for New Yorkers to meet ongoing street violence with righteous indignation.

More than a dozen people were shot, two fatally, as Tuesday faded to Wednesday in the five boroughs, a stretch that the mayor said called for a consistent message: “Black Lives Matter.”

The mayor, whose comments seemed targeted in part at progressives who have criticized his public safety policies, added that protesters who demonstrated against police brutality in 2020 should also take to the streets over the wave of violence rattling the city.

During Adams’ first months in office, rates of violent crime in the city have continued to surge, eclipsing already elevated pandemic levels.

Based on crime statistics through last week, the city reported an 8% increase in shootings, a 41% surge in hate crimes and a 48% spike in robberies this year compared with the same point in 2021. An 11% drop in murders recorded by the NYPD has hardly soothed New Yorkers.

The mayor has rolled out an aggressive anti-crime platform, reinstating a controversial anti-gun NYPD unit, pushing — largely successfully — for bail reform changes in Albany and ordering sweeps to prevent homeless people from sheltering on the subway and in encampments above ground.

He has faced heat from critics on his right who are frustrated that crime appears to be worsening, and from critics on his left who are deeply skeptical of the police and see his policies as heavy-handed. nydailynews.com

Business Leaders Meet with NYC Mayor Over Crime Concerns
After meeting with CEOs, Adams faces another test on crime and recovery
On the heels of Tuesday’s shooting where at least 23 people were injured inside a subway in Brooklyn, Mayor Eric Adams faces questions about whether his signature campaign promise of reducing crime is slipping away from his grasp three months into his mayoralty. The attack has drawn national attention, with President Joe Biden expressing his condolences and offering full support for the city during an event in Iowa.

Overall, the spate of unsettling violent crime has unnerved New Yorkers and jeopardized the city’s economic comeback amid another surge in coronavirus cases. At nearly 8%, the city’s unemployment rate is the highest among major U.S. cities.

Citywide, shootings are up slightly — around 8% — compared to the same period last year. But transit crime, which had been an area of focus for the mayor, is up around 68% over the last year, according to crime statistics.

The reasons for crime tend to be multifaceted. Some experts have linked the rise in shootings to the pandemic, which is once again resurging due to the BA.2 subvariant of omicron. Because of the public health crisis and the broader protests around aggressive policing tactics, many experts have said that Adams faced a far tougher challenge than previous mayors in lowering crime.

In the first three months, Adams has ramped up police presence in the city, especially on subways and directed the police to crack down on quality-of-life crimes. The strategy has drawn criticisms from progressives and criminal justice advocates, who say the mayor is returning the city to a “broken windows” era of policing. gothamist.com

Baltimore 'Safe Streets' Program Under Fire
Review finds Safe Streets program lacks oversight; Baltimore mayor pledges $10 million to expand ‘violence intervention ecosystem’
An internal review of Baltimore’s Safe Streets anti-violence initiative found the program lacked oversight, and half of the workers described their training as inadequate. City officials announced the findings Wednesday, along with a $10 million investment to improve program operations and establish a “community violence intervention ecosystem.”

Experts have raised significant questions about whether Baltimore should rethink its approach to curbing gun violence after three Safe Streets workers were killed within about 18 months, with the most recent death in January. Researchers have also questioned whether the program model, which largely relies on people with knowledge of the streets and credibility in their communities to act as “violence interrupters” by de-escalating conflicts, is becoming outdated and needs to evolve.

The new additions will include more intensive outreach and services for gunshot victims, including hospital-based interventions, and life coaching for people likely to become involved in violence. The stakes are high, Scott said, because the city has recorded more than 300 annual homicides for the past seven years. baltimoresun.com

From 'Defund' to 'Refund'
Democrats retreat on crime and police reform amid violence surge

If 2020 was the year the left reordered the traditional politics of crime and policing, 2022 looks like the year centrists regained their footing and nullified those gains.

President Joe Biden is proclaiming that it’s time to “fund the police” and pouring more money into law enforcement in his budget plan. Democratic mayors in deep-blue cities are promising to hire hundreds more cops. Even in liberal bastions like Los Angeles, candidates are sprinting to claim the tough-on-crime mantle.

If 2020 was the year progressives reordered the traditional politics of crime and policing, 2022 looks like the year centrists are regaining their footing and nullifying those gains.

Two years ago, the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked calls from progressive activists to strip funding from cops, eliminate cash bail and make other sweeping changes to criminal justice policy. Black Lives Matter protesters succeeded in pushing the conversation leftward, leading cities to flatten or even reduce resources for police.

Now, an uptick in homicides across the country is upending those advances, representing a setback for the left in the ongoing war between the Democratic Party’s centrist and progressive wings. politico.com

Voters Want More Police Officers to Fight Crime Wave
Seattle mulls hiring more cops amid survey that found crime is a top concern
The Seattle City Council continued its discussions Tuesday about hiring more police officers, which followed the release of a new survey by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce that showed a distrust that voters have of the city's elected leaders on law enforcement matters.

"It's not a surprise to me based upon the election results of our most recent elections in the city of Seattle," said Sean Goode, executive director of Choose 180, a King County-based group that works with youth, some whom are facing criminal charges. "It’s clear that the voting public has a particular leaning and has reached a point of frustration where the appetite for more progressive alternatives is beginning to diminish."

Goode referred to info that shows 77 percent of voters want to see strong reforms in policing, but they also want to see more officers hired. That is in contrast to the 23 percent who wanted to defund the police and de-criminalize non-violent misdemeanors. komonews.com

NYC subway shooting fits a pattern of mass shootings, crime researcher says

US: 82.1M Cases - 1M Dead - 80M Recovered
Worldwide: 502.2M Cases - 6.2M Dead - 452.4M Recovered

Former Senior Loss Prevention Executive
Know of any fallen LP exec? Let's remember & recognize.

Private Industry Security Guard Deaths: 354  
Law Enforcement Officer Deaths: 754
*Red indicates change in total deaths

COVID Cases Remain Low All Across the Country

COVID Deaths Hit Two-Year Low
WHO says Covid still a global public health emergency even as deaths fall to lowest level in two years
The World Health Organization on Wednesday said Covid-19 remains a global public health emergency despite the fact that deaths from the virus have fallen to their lowest level since the early days of the pandemic.

The world recorded more than 22,000 deaths from Covid during the week ended April 10, the lowest level since March 30, 2020, according to WHO data. The organization first declared Covid a global health emergency on Jan. 30, 2020, just over a month after the virus emerged in Wuhan, China.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said declining Covid deaths is good news, but some countries are still experiencing a spike in cases. Tedros said a WHO committee this week unanimously agreed that Covid remains a public health emergency. cnbc.com

Companies Struggle to Get Employees Back Into the Office
'Welcome Back to the Office. Isn’t This Fun?'

Tech companies really want their employees to be happy — or at least less annoyed — about returning. So they’re providing concerts, food trucks and other perks.

After two years of video meetings and Slack chats, many companies are eager to get employees back to their desks. The employees, however, may be not be so eager for a return to morning commutes, communal bathrooms and daytime outfits that are not athletic wear.

So tech companies with money to burn and offices to fill are rolling out the fun wagon, even as they make clear that in many cases returning to the office — at least a few days a week — is mandatory.

Lizzo will perform for Google employees this month at an amphitheater near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. When Microsoft reopened its offices in Redmond, Wash., in late February, employees were treated to music from local bands, beer and wine tasting, and even classes for making terrariums.

“These celebrations and perks are a recognition by companies that they know employees don’t want to come back to the office, certainly not as frequently as before,” said Adam Galinsky, a professor at Columbia University’s business school. At least for now, he added, companies are opting for the carrot over the stick: rewarding workers for coming into the office rather than punishing them for staying home. nytimes.com

Vaccine Protesters Gather in LA
Thousands rally in LA to oppose COVID-19 vaccine mandates
Thousands of people including truckers and firefighters from across the country gathered Sunday outside Los Angeles City Hall to protest vaccination mandates designed to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Los Angeles County and the city require their workers, including firefighters and police and sheriff’s deputies, to be fully vaccinated or to have medical or religious exemptions. Relatively few have faced disciplinary action.

As of last month, about two dozen employees, including a dozen fire department workers and several police officers, had been fired for violating vaccine mandate rules. The city has successfully fought anti-mandate lawsuits filed on behalf of firefighters and police department workers.

Organizers of the protest are opposing several COVID-19-related bills that have been proposed in the Legislature, although the broadest has been put on hold. Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, shelved her measure that would have required all public or private employees or independent contractors to be vaccinated. Wicks cited easing pandemic conditions and opposition from public safety unions. apnews.com
 
US likely 'dramatically undercounting' current COVID-19 resurgence, experts say

Airlines that dropped mask requirements suffering staff shortages due to COVID-19

50K Store Closures Over Next 5 Years
UBS expects 50K store closures in U.S. over next 5 years after pandemic pause

UBS is now projecting between 40,000 to 50,000 retail stores in the United States closing over the next five years, down from the 80,000 closures it previously forecasted.

A pandemic shakeup in 2020 led to a surge in store closures, coupled with dozens retailers filing for bankruptcy, which emptied out shopping malls and left vacancies scattered along the streets major markets including New York City.

The aftermath, though, was a temporary relief from closures, as companies took the chance in 2020 to quickly slim down their store counts when consumers were holed up at home. In fact, in 2021, retailers reported net store openings, marking a sudden reversal from years of net declines. Companies seized the opportunity to take advantage of cheap rents and an eagerness among Americans to get out and shop again.

While analysts at UBS see more pain ahead, it’s not as many closures as the investment bank had initially projected about a year ago.

Brick-and-mortar shops have proven to serve a critical role for retailers’ businesses during the Covid pandemic, the bank said in a new report on Wednesday, and retail sales growth has remained strong, in part due to rising inflation. This all bodes well for the future of physical stores, according to UBS retail analyst Michael Lasser.

UBS is now projecting between 40,000 to 50,000 retail stores in the United States closing over the next five years, down from the 80,000 closures it previously forecasted. That’s out of about 880,000 total retail stores that the firm tracks nationwide, excluding gas stations.

This estimate assumes that U.S. retail sales grow about 4% annually, moving forward, and that e-commerce sales as a percentage of total retail sales grows to 25% by 2026, from 18% in 2021, Lasser said in the report. UBS sees the most closures shaking out among clothing and accessories retailers, consumer electronics businesses and home furnishing chains, or about 23,500 cumulatively within these categories by 2026. cnbc.com

Retail Sales Up 0.6% in March
Retail Spending Advanced in March as Inflation Surged, Economists Estimate

Consumers are spending more on essentials like gasoline and food, cutting back on optional big-ticket purchases

American shoppers kept opening their wallets in March as rapidly rising prices for gasoline, food and goods took up more of their spending, economists say.

Consumers are estimated to have increased their retail and restaurant spending by 0.6% in March compared with the previous month, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. That would be a slight bump up from the modest monthly increase of 0.3% in February, according to the Commerce Department. The department will release its March retail-sales figures on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET.

Retail sales aren’t adjusted for inflation. Consumer inflation surged to a new four-decade high of 8.5% in March from the same month a year ago, the Labor Department said Tuesday. wsj.com

NRF: March Retail Sales Grew Despite Higher Inflation

The Never-Ending Retail Supply Chain Crisis
Climate change is going to screw up the supply chain even worse than COVID has
Over the past two years, we have witnessed pandemic-driven shortages of everything from lumber to fertilizer to semiconductors, which have resulted in price hikes for everything from homes to cars to chicken wings. The Russian war in Ukraine has only exacerbated these supply gaps, scrambling the global markets for oil and wheat. And despite promises in 2021 from experts like Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell that supply-chain disruptions and the inflation they caused would be "transitory," the kinks in the system have yet to work themselves out, and those same experts are now scrambling to tackle red-hot price hikes.

There's no telling when the pandemic supply crunches will ease up, but even when they do, the era of shortages and stockouts will not be over. That's because climate change has begun to disrupt the supply chain, making it more difficult to produce essential commodities and more dangerous to move those commodities around the world.

We're already seeing climate disasters such as extreme precipitation, drought, and heat add to the inflation of the past few years. These climate disruptions have flown under the radar thanks to the pandemic, but they won't stay invisible forever. As acute disasters worsen and more parts of the world come under chronic climate stress, Americans will see more of the interruptions and price increases we've grown accustomed to during the pandemic. businessinsider.com

Retailers and restaurants woo consumers who are feeling pain at the pump
Krispy Kreme, Bojangles and Walmart-owned Sam’s Club are among the companies that are picking up on Americans’ pain at the pump.

List of grocery stores and retailers closed on Easter 2022