A crowded outlet, long lines, and non-stop orders coming in.
As a restaurant or cafe owner, seeing this sight is certainly thrilling.
But wait… does the revenue hitting your bank account actually match the number of orders leaving the kitchen?
Many culinary business owners feel their business is safe simply because they see a constantly busy outlet.
However, behind the bustling crowd of customers, there might be a hidden leak draining your daily profits without you even realizing it!
The recent alleged "unclosed transaction" case that went viral in Malang is clear proof.
Learning from Cafe "L" in Malang: Losing Rp8.2 Million a Day
Source: https://www.instagram.com/esb.id
The F&B world was shocked by a case of alleged embezzlement that hit a well-known cafe in Malang.
This case opened the eyes of many owners that internal fraud is not always immediately visible on the surface.
Based on the investigation, two cashiers at the cafe were named suspects after being strongly suspected of manipulating transactions.
The financial loss was no joke. According to the suspects' confessions, one person could pocket Rp1.2 million per day, while the other reached Rp7 million per day.
In total, this profit leak hit Rp8.2 million a day.
If accumulated, the cafe potentially loses nearly Rp3 Billion a year.
A staggering number for a leak that has reportedly been ongoing since 2023.
Understanding What an "Unclosed Transaction" Is
What exactly is the "unclosed transaction" scheme? Simply put, an unclosed transaction is a condition where a customer's transaction is not completed or properly recorded in the POS system.
In practice, the customer still places an order and makes a payment. The kitchen also processes the order.
However, the transaction is not properly closed in the system, meaning the money that should be recorded as business revenue is at risk of not entering the official reports.
Operationally, everything looks completely normal. The customer gets their order. The kitchen keeps putting out food and drinks. The outlet remains busy. The cashier continues serving transactions.
But systemically, there are transactions that aren't fully recorded. This is what makes practices like unclosed transactions so dangerous—the impact isn't always visible on the same day.
If left undetected, the business will suffer a discrepancy between the revenue it should have received and the revenue actually recorded.
Furthermore, raw material stock will deplete without the corresponding sales records.
Why Can Unclosed Transactions Harm an F&B Business?
The risk of unclosed transactions isn't just about missing cash. In the culinary business, a single unrecorded transaction can ripple through multiple operational areas.
Here are some of the potential impacts:
1. Inaccurate Revenue Recording
Every order paid for by a customer should instantly reflect as revenue in the POS system.
However, due to the "unclosed transaction" practice, those transactions are never systemically finalized.
As a result, daily sales reports will show a lower revenue figure than the actual money that came in.
Ultimately, business performance appears stagnant or declining, even though the outlet has been serving crowds all day.
2. Mismatched Raw Material Stock
In an integrated restaurant ecosystem, every sold portion automatically deducts the raw material availability in the system.
When a transaction is left "unclosed," the ingredients are physically used but not systemically deducted.
This creates a discrepancy between physical stock and system stock, which inevitably harms restaurant operations.
3. COGS Becomes Hard to Control
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) is a crucial indicator for measuring raw material spending efficiency.
The "unclosed transaction" practice causes kitchen stock to continuously deplete without any corresponding revenue records.
This situation will cause your COGS percentage to spike, making it difficult for management to track exactly where the cost bloat is coming from.
4. Owners Struggle to Make Data-Driven Decisions
Healthy F&B business growth relies heavily on data analytics to determine strategic direction.
If daily sales and inventory data are already flawed due to unclosed transactions, owners run the risk of making misguided decisions.
5. Profit Leaks Can Pile Up Unnoticed
The biggest danger of the "unclosed transaction" scheme is that it acts like a silent killer.
The missing money per transaction might seem small, but if left unchecked, it becomes a daily operational loophole.
In the end, the net profit that should be used to grow the business will continue to erode without anyone noticing.
Why Are Practices Like This So Hard to Detect?
The "unclosed transaction" practice is often a dangerous blind spot for culinary business owners.
At a glance, daily operations might look like they are running smoothly, leaving management with no reason to be suspicious.
Here are the reasons why this practice is so hard to detect early on:
1. Owners Aren't Always at the Outlet
As a business grows, it becomes impossible for owners to constantly monitor cashier and kitchen operations directly at every branch.
Due to these time and physical presence constraints, owners generally rely on final recap reports.
Unfortunately, if the data in those reports has been manipulated, the owner will receive numbers that look perfectly fine and healthy—while in reality, profits are leaking.
2. Too Much Transaction Data to Check Manually
In a single day, a busy restaurant or cafe can process hundreds to thousands of transactions.
Matching every printed receipt with the kitchen's order logs is incredibly time-consuming.
Because of this high volume of data, audit checks are often only done through sampling or rough estimates.
As a result, specific transactions that are intentionally left "unclosed" can easily slip through the cracks.
3. No Alerts for Unusual Patterns
Many F&B businesses still use conventional POS systems that function merely as passive recording tools.
These basic systems lack the capability to analyze data or detect anomalies.
For example, a sudden spike in cancellations (voids) by a specific cashier, unusual discount applications, or transaction nominal discrepancies during peak hours.
Without a proactive early warning feature from the system, management will be late to realize fraud patterns like unclosed transactions.
How to Reduce the Risk of Profit Leaks in F&B Businesses
The risk of profit leaks cannot be eliminated entirely, but it can be minimized with more organized work systems, recording, and supervision.
Here are several steps you can take:
1. Use a POS System Integrated with Operations
Avoid using standalone conventional cash registers. Switch to a POS application that is fully integrated with all operational lines, from table management to online ordering platforms, all connected and recorded in real-time across divisions.
This transparency will close the window of opportunity for rogue cashiers to manipulate or leave transactions "unclosed."
2. Monitor Voids, Discounts, and Cancellations
Fund leaks often hide behind canceled orders (voids) or fictitious discounts.
Therefore, make sure your recording system has layered security and authorization features.
3. Reconcile Sales Data with Raw Material Stock
Use a back-office operational management system capable of automatically syncing cashier sales data with warehouse raw material stock.
Ideally, every time a menu item is sold, the system should instantly deduct its ingredient availability.
If a suspicious discrepancy is found at any time, you can immediately trace where the leak originated.
4. Create Clear SOPs for Cashiers and Outlet Teams
Establish strict Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) regarding the flow of receiving cash and shift handovers.
Make it mandatory for cashiers to always provide a receipt to the customer as valid proof.
5. Use Data to Spot Unusual Patterns
Instead of wasting time manually checking thousands of rows of data, you can leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) specifically designed for F&B business analytics.
A smart system can process historical data and monitor daily transaction behaviors automatically.
If the system detects any unusual activity, this digital assistant will instantly send an early warning (alert).
This allows owners to conduct immediate investigations and prevent losses before they swell.
The Role of Technology in Reducing Operational Fraud Risks
As a culinary business grows, the need for supervision becomes more complex.
Owners cannot solely rely on manual checks or month-end reports.
A system capable of helping to read operational data faster and in a more structured way is required.
This is where technologies like POS, ERP, and business analytics become crucial.
The POS system helps secure the recording of every transaction at the cashier area, while the ERP system automatically syncs that sales data with stock availability.
Impressively, the entire data record from these two integrated systems will flow into and be analyzed directly by the AI of OLIN by ESB. As a smart analytical assistant, OLIN is tasked with reading transaction patterns, providing operational insights, and detecting anomalies early on.
OLIN by ESB: Helping You Read Business Anomalies
In F&B operations, not all problems are immediately visible in daily sales reports.
Some issues only appear when data is analyzed deeper. For example, an increasing void pattern, unusual discount usage, recurring stock discrepancies, or margin changes that don't align with sales performance.
OLIN by ESB is here to help businesses read operational data far more practically.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/esb.id
Here are 5 crucial things OLIN can help you with:
1. Helps Identify Potential Anomalies
OLIN automatically reads suspicious transaction and operational patterns. You can immediately investigate potential fraud or leaks without having to wait for surprises in the month-end report.
2. Helps Read Sales Performance
Provides instant insights regarding the performance of each outlet, menu, down to specific time periods, so business performance evaluations can be done much faster.
3. Helps Evaluate Promo Usage
Don't let promos burn your money instead. OLIN analyzes data to ensure whether a promotion is genuinely boosting sales or merely burdening margins.
4. Helps Understand COGS and Operational Costs
Simplifies complex data to make it easier to monitor vulnerable points, such as spikes in raw material costs, margin movements, to operational inefficiencies.
5. Helps Owners Make Faster Decisions
With neat and easy-to-understand data presentations, owners can make strategic decisions with more confidence—from menu evaluations and stock management to cost efficiency.
FAQ About Unclosed Transactions and F&B Profit Leaks
1. What is an "Unclosed Transaction" in the Restaurant Business?
An unclosed transaction is a fraudulent practice where a cashier serves an order and receives payment from a customer, but does not complete or close that transaction within the POS system.
2. Why Do Owners Often Not Realize "Unclosed Transactions" Are Happening at Their Outlets?
This practice is hard to detect because, physically, operations look normal. Customers get their food, and the outlet remains busy.
Business owners usually only check the total daily sales reports. If the data wasn't recorded (unclosed) in the system from the start, the reports will look like everything is "fine."
3. Besides Lost Money, What Are Other Negative Impacts of Unclosed Transactions?
The impact spreads throughout the entire operation. Because food is served but not recorded as sold in the system, physical raw material stock will run out faster than the system data shows.
This causes COGS to inflate for no apparent reason and leads owners to make poor business decisions.
4. Can a Regular Cash Register Prevent "Unclosed Transactions"?
It's not enough. A conventional, standalone cash register only functions as a passive recorder.
To prevent leaks, you need an integrated ecosystem (like ESB POS connected to ESB Core) that has a layered authorization system for void and discount actions.
5. How Does OLIN by ESB's AI Technology Prevent Fraud?
Instead of manually checking thousands of transactions, OLIN by ESB acts as an AI assistant that analyzes all your operational data automatically 24/7.
If OLIN detects an unusual pattern (like recurring stock discrepancies), the system will immediately send an early warning (alert) so owners can quickly investigate before the losses multiply.
Conclusion
The "unclosed transaction" case is a harsh reminder that a busy outlet is not a guarantee that your F&B business is healthy.
Ultimately, business success doesn't just depend on a crowd of customers, but on strong operational control and accurate data-driven decisions.
Through the integrated digital ecosystem of ESB POS, ESB Core, and OLIN by ESB's smart analytics, you can secure all operations transparently.
Don't let your profits evaporate unnoticed. Contact the ESB Team today for a consultation and find the right operational solution for your business!
