Business Spotlight

Cinnamon Alley Cafe

Cinnamon Alley Cafe

BRIDGESTONE AWARD "Best in Ireland 2011, 2012 and 2013.

View Profile

Joyful Celebrant

Creating memories and bespoke ceremonies

View Profile

Lodge Service - Celebrating 50 Years

November 201318th

Articles

Lodge Service - Celebrating 50 Years

Operating in Ireland Since 1963

The Story – From Hot-Dog’s to Hand-Cuffs

Lodge Service was formed by John Lodge, a hot-dog vendor in America in 1919. John noticed when he hired a gentleman called George to run a second hot-dog stall it was not as profitable as the one he ran himself, so he got some friends to purchase hot-dogs from George at his second stand. John soon discovered George was not declaring all of his sales for the day to John, and was pocketing the cash for himself !  From this experience an idea was born to form a Test Purchasing company. John started providing people to visit grocery stores and report back to the owners on the transactions identifying dishonest or disinterested staff. To this day the principal remains the same, however technology is now a major part of our operation. (Last seen George was walking away in hand-cuffs!!)

John Lodge’s Great-Great-Grandson Stuart Lodge is now CEO of this family business some ninety four years later. The business now operates across the UK, Mainland Europe, South Africa and Ireland.

In Ireland Lodge Service has operated since 1963 and relocated its Irish Head Office from Dublin to Nenagh in 2005. The company also has satellite offices in Dublin, Cork, Galway & Belfast.

“The move to Nenagh for our company has been a very positive experience” says Liam Gleeson, Managing Director for Ireland. “Our client base is very diverse and we currently service stores across the whole country, so it made sense to locate our Head Office function as centrally as possible. We have reduced our overhead for running the Head Office considerably by being in Nenagh compared to Dublin where we had experienced considerable traffic delays in getting staff to work, extortionate rents and sky-high waste charges. We currently employ four local people at our Nenagh office and in addition a number of our security officers are also from the Nenagh area. In total we are probably one of the bigger employers working out of Nenagh with over 200 personnel employed across the country.”

We have also taken an active role in Nenagh and its community sponsoring our services for marshalling the “Nenagh Cycle” for the last two years, providing security officers to the “Nenagh Silent Film Festival” and running the security operation for “Relay for Life” in Toomevara each year.

Lodge Service in Ireland operates two main divisions, our Loss Prevention Department and our Manned Guarding Department known as Lodge Security.

Loss Prevention

Test Purchasing / Mystery Shopping
In a recent “Retail Times” survey of 800 stores, 39% had experienced staff theft. We would say in our experience it is probably one in every four staff that steal from their employer. The incidents of theft may be small such as giving a small unauthorized discount to a friend on a product, or taking a bar of chocolate from the shelf at lunchtime for themselves. However in a lot of cases it is far more serious. We also notice where the retailor is aware of small amounts of theft and doesn’t enforce their rules strongly that soon becomes much larger theft.

Internal theft by employees can be described as being like a parasite feeding on an unsuspecting host. It can go on for months or even years without the individual being identified.  An employee thief stealing stock relies on the fact that when the stock-take figure is down, the proprietor / manager will automatically presume external shoplifters were responsible.

Lodge Service is a Retail Profit Protection company. In conjunction with our clients we provide solutions to stopping loss from their stores of stock or cash.

To combat internal theft we offer :

  • Test Purchasing Services – Trained operatives posing as customers testing till integrity & staff adherence to store policy.
  • Covert Surveillance – Watching staff over a period of time to identify bad habits contributing to loss
  • Internal Infiltration – Our trained operatives posing as your employee working within your staff with a view to becoming part of any team in store that may be involved in theft from your company, gathering evidence for prosecution.
  • Covert CCTV – Installation of covert cctv to gather evidence of theft.
  • Loss Control Audits – Trained Inspectors carrying out audits on your behalf in your stores, unannounced, specifically regarding the recording of sales and cash, including till point and safe spot-checks.
  • Confidential Phone Line – A dedicated LoCall line to our control centre, for your staff to anonymously report theft by other employees, answered by professionals trained in extracting the relevant information. That information is then relayed back to you the retailor for investigation

Mystery Shopping is slightly different to test purchasing as it’s focus is not solely on theft but on actual customer service. If you as the proprietor have a number of stores, then you obviously cannot be in all the stores, all the time. When you are in a store your staff are fabulous, displaying friendliness, good product knowledge, up-selling and attending to your customers every need. What happens when you are not there? Are your customers getting the level of customer service you expect them to get? How do you know for sure?

Our Mystery Shopping programmes are designed in conjunction with our clients. We create scenarios giving your staff every opportunity to show off their customer service and sales skills. We then turn those scenarios into specific questionnaires that our undercover shoppers have to complete after they visit your store. These reports are weighted and scored using your criteria. The reports are on-line for you to view confidentially with your own password, within twenty four hours of the visit. If you have a number of stores, we can create league tables showing which stores in your group are performing best and worst allowing you to target your training where it is needed most.

If you are a retailor and would like a confidential free consultation on Test Purchasing or Mystery Shopping then please contact us today.

Selling of Tobacco, Lottery or Alcohol to underage persons
In recent years the Gardai have become very pro-active in the use of teenagers to purchase tobacco or alcohol from retailors whilst being watched and supervised by an undercover member of the force. Prosecutions of retailors for this offence are on the rise and in some case stores have been ordered to close for a specific period of days as part of their punishment. Getting prosecuted for this offence does not do anything good for a stores image in the media either. In most cases that we are aware of, the store staff have been trained and instructed not to sell tobacco or alcohol to underage persons, but simply have not followed that instruction.

At Lodge Service we provide the same scenario as is being used by the Gardai, but to the retailor, sending in persons aged over 16 but under 18 to purchase alcohol or tobacco from your store, whilst being continuously supervised by an undercover adult operative. If they are successful in making the purchase from your staff, the adult supervisor immediately takes custody of the product. This service identifies to you the retailor, what staff members are not following instruction in this matter, and gets that problem rectified before you end up before the courts.

If you operate a licenced premises, public house, off-licence or supermarket and are interested in more information on this service then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Manned Guarding

Lodge Security
Lodge Security supply Retail Security Officers & Store Detectives to retail stores across Ireland. Their role being to protect stock, staff & customers from criminal actions. We currently provide retail security personnel to some of the best known brand names in the country including; Supervalu, Ted Baker, Warehouse, Superdrug, Sam McCauley Chemists, Halfords, Footlocker, Dealz, Ann Summers, O’Sullivan Chemists & Aldi to name but a few.

We also supply Corporate Security Officers to Government Offices, Power stations, Factories and to the  residences of high profile celebratory and business people.

Alarm Response and Key-Holding - Commercial
Locally in the Nenagh area we have an Alarm Response and Key-Holding service which we provide to business’s such as local factories, service stations, doctors surgeries, schools, public houses, shops, government offices and children’s services buildings.

If you own or run a business in Nenagh, what happens when your alarm on your premises activates at say 3am in the morning?

If you do not live at the premises (as most don’t) how long will it take you to get there?

When you eventually get there, how scared are you walking into that premises in the dark, not knowing if an intruder is still in the premises?

What are you going to do if an intruder confronts you?

Worse still, how will you feel if a member of your staff answers an alarm, and gets assaulted by an intruder? What impact would that have on your business?

The first thing you would probably do (or a member of your staff) when you get to your premises in the dark, is turn on the light…right???  WRONG.What if there is a water pipe burst and that is what has caused the alarm. Water running into a light-switch that you turn on, could very well lead to electrocution. What if it’s a gas leak?? Turn on the switch = Boom

Our Security officers responding to your alarms are trained in how to react to situations like the ones above. When faced with these situations they risk-assess, and through our 24 hour Control Room can summon the appropriate assistance from Emergency Services, to a Plumber, or just a Handy-Man to board-up a broken window.

Most alarm calls are False-Alarms thankfully. However if it is 3am, then you have to get out of your bed and maybe lose up to two hours or more of your night’s sleep sorting the false-alarm out. That is time you can’t get back and you still have to get up for work later that same morning. Our Officers are patrolling throughout the night, they answer alarms, investigate them and if it is a false alarm, they simply reset the system without contacting or disturbing you. The following morning at 9am you will be contacted by our Control Room to be told of the previous night’s activity.

If you have a business in Nenagh or the surrounding areas then contact us today for a free consultation on our Alarm Response & Key-Holding service.

Domestic – Security
In recent times, we hear all too often of criminals taking advantage of ordinary people targeting their homes when they are on holidays or attending funerals or weddings. We also hear of thugs gaining entry to un-occupied rental properties and not just looting them but ripping up copper piping causing extensive flooding if not dealt with quickly. Lodge Security can provide services, from Security Officers staying at a premises for a defined period of time to our Mobile Officers calling on properties at regular intervals. Our rates for service are very reasonable, so please call us for a quote.

Conference – Security
Many conferences now have high profile guest speakers that generate huge public interest. Some of these figures can be controversial causing protesters to try gain entry to the conference, whilst others can be the subject of adoration with fans trying to gain entry.

Our conference security team are very experienced in dealing with VIP guests from their personal security to the security of the attendees and the premises. Our team have provided protection in some of the most prestigious buildings in Ireland to, political rally type conferences, celebrity autograph signings and visits by foreign dignitaries.

Our service is professional, discreet & measured.

Other Services Available through our partner companies in Nenagh include :
Intruder Alarm & Fire Alarm Installation & Maintenance
CCTV Installation
Automatic Gates & Barrier Installation
Full Locksmith Service

“If I or any of my team can help you, then please do not hesitate to contact us” Liam Gleeson, Managing Director, Lodge Service

Click Here to View Our Business Profile >>

Share this: