Tips To Prevent Theft At Your Farm Market
June 1, 2015 
Christina Herrick
Last fall, Mark Ruben and his employees at Gilcrease Orchard in Las Vegas, NV, were robbed at gunpoint by two young men. The crime occurred toward the end of the day, minutes before making the drop for the daily deposit. It’s a day Ruben will never forget, and also one he never expected.
Since that day last October, Ruben has been proactive in protecting his employees and his business. He hired armed security and installed cameras to monitor his facility.
“A robbery had never happened here. So no one was even thinking about it,” he says.
The biggest mistake you may be making is thinking this can’t happen to you. If you’re prepared in advance, there’s a chance you can prevent becoming a victim. Here’s some advice from farm market owners on how to not be the next victim.
What You Say Could Hurt You — Tom Tweite of Tweite’s Family Farm in Byron, MN, has his employees sign a non-disclosure agreement, which is designed to keep vital information such as ticket sales, money made at the register, etc., on the farm.
Imagine employees going out to dinner and talking about the day’s sales. It would be easy for someone to overhear or even mishear figures.
An employee might say “‘Today I sold 502 tickets and they’re charging $10 and that’s a lot of money.’”
Although it might just be said to a fellow employee, it’s quite possible someone else overhearing that could come and rob the farm or pass that information along to someone else who would.
Work With Law Enforcement — Although there may be some hesitation to work with law enforcement or the fire department for fear of opening the farm to extra scrutiny, these officials can offer valuable insight into how you should organize your facility Tweite says.
Use A Safe Word — At Jeff Probst’s farm market — Blooms and Berries Farm Market in Loveland, OH — his employees have a word they can use to alert him via phone call of any issues that may arise when he isn’t at that particular market. He suggests using something that isn’t said every day but could easily be worked into a conversation without sounding too out of place.
“They feel like they can get help pretty quickly from us [using the safe word] and they know they can call 911 if they need to,” Probst says. “Sometimes they need another person on site or knowing that help is on the way if it does get to that.”
Train Your Staff To Remember Details — Probst says he and his family encourage staff to remain calm in the event of an incident, making an effort to remember everything, and taking notes when possible. Consciously trying to remember details gives your staff some feeling of control and something to focus on when they might otherwise feel helpless.
“[We ask them to try and notice] everything from the vehicle year, age, make and model, to the persons themselves – what is their build, eye color, hair color, size? If you’re not thinking you need to be remembering that stuff ahead of time, it comes and goes. If you don’t actually actively think you need to take notes, it will never happen,” he says.
Are You Actually Encouraging Theft? — Think about the placement of your registers, products, etc. Make sure that you have some distance between your products and your registers, and some distance between your registers and your exit.
“We’re putting a lot of product down really low like candy and smaller items that are for kids because we want to market to kids and we want them to walk out with it. But, we want the parents to realize that they grabbed it and they need to pay for it before it does walk out,” Probst says.
Tweite says there is about 100 feet to the nearest parking space and there is only one way to get in and one way to get out of their operation.
“All of our sales areas are very visible to the entire group of people who may be there at any given time throughout the day,” he says.
Keep Your Routine Unpredictable — Ruben suspects the people who robbed him knew his routine because he was two minutes from going to the bank. They also knew the building the money was counted in.
The person with the money should not be the last to leave. He now has one employee stay behind, open the gate for the person taking the drop to the bank, and then lock up.
This Could Happen To You — Ruben says above all, make sure your employees understand that something could happen at your farm. Train your staff to recognize when things are unusual and pay attention to the details.
Tweite has his employees write down license plate numbers of any cars found circling the parking lot more than three times. They make it very obvious they’re doing it, too.
“If it’s somebody that’s just looking for a parking spot, they’re not even going to think twice of it. But, if it’s a person that is either trying to do you harm or take something away from you, you’ve just made it very aware to them that you know they are doing something they shouldn’t,” he says.
Taking some proactive steps and working with local law enforcement could help prevent any future harm to you, your visitors, or your employees. Most importantly, though, take time to realize that although it hasn’t happened to your farm, you still may be susceptible to a robbery or other theft.
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