How to spot discount, comp and void problems
Four ways a sale gets smaller, which ones carry risk, and a weekly routine that takes fifteen minutes.
Four different things
- Discount: the price is reduced at the sale — a promotion, a coupon, an employee meal.
- Comp: an item is given away, usually to fix a guest problem, on a manager's call.
- Void: an item is removed from an order. Before payment, it's usually a correction.
- Refund: money goes back after payment.
Patterns worth a closer look
None of these proves anything on its own. Each is a reason to look at the detail.
- Voids after a check was paid.
- Refunds to cash rather than to the original card.
- One login carrying most of a store's voids or comps.
- Discounts clustered on a few shifts, or a discount type nobody launched.
- Drawer opens with no sale.
A fifteen-minute weekly routine
- Pull the discount, void and refund reports in your POS for the week.
- Sort each by employee and compare each person's share with their share of sales.
- Read post-payment voids and cash refunds line by line. There are usually few.
- Compare the store's rate with its own normal range, not just last week. A rate that wobbles will beat last week about half the time.
Controls that help
Manager approval with a personal code that's never shared, a reason on every void and comp, and a GM who knows the reports are read weekly. Where you use cameras, follow local notice and privacy rules. If something looks wrong, follow your HR process and get advice before acting — and don't deduct shortages from anyone's pay, which many states restrict or prohibit.
Where Franlever fits
Franlever measures each store's discount and void rates against that store's own normal range and flags a week only when it clears the top of it, so GMs aren't sent chasing ordinary wobble.
Common questions
- What is the difference between a comp and a void?
- A comp gives an item away, usually to fix a guest problem. A void removes an item from an order, normally before payment as a correction.
- How often should I review voids and discounts?
- Weekly. A short review of the POS reports by employee catches mistakes and misuse while they are small.
General information for restaurant and franchise operators, not legal, tax, accounting or financial advice. Figures in examples are illustrations, not predictions or promises of results. Laws and platform policies change and differ by location, so check the current rules and talk to a qualified advisor about your situation.