Specialty retailer opts for DTT for 'better grasp'

LAS VEGAS—A Florida-based Edible Arrangements franchisee is the latest specialty retailer to move to DTT Surveillance, a manufacturer and integrator based here, for digital surveillance and managed loss prevention.

Edible Arrangements franchisee Dennis A. Jolicoeur said DTT's solution for his five Tampa Bay-area outlets allows him to have a “better grasp” on his overall operation, from point-of-sale surveillance to his employees' customer service and more. Apparently, he's not alone in his thinking.

“Our foray into specialty retail is happening a lot faster than we expected,” said DTT President and CEO Sam Naficy. A number of other new contracts will be announced soon, Naficy said. “We are significantly ahead of our goals.”

DTT announced last summer that it was expanding from its traditional hospitality industry customer-base to convenience stores and small-box retailers. The expansion included opening a corporate headquarters here and hiring 500 new employees.

“A number of other brands are starting to adopt our solution,” Naficy said. The pace of that has been surprising but it's understandable when retailers take into account that DTT has more than 30,000 hospitality clients whose issues, such as theft and shrinkage, are the same as theirs, he said.

Jolicoeur said having the system in place allays his concerns when, for example, he is away on vacation. “DTT's Loss Prevention team keeps a close eye on my staff and daily operations.  Additionally, I can log in anywhere to check all my stores on DTT's enterprise portal,” he said in a prepared statement.

The solution's audio component, combined with video, is also a big plus, and he plans to use it to retrain staff on customer service, he said.

All data points in a store should have video surveillance, Naficy said.

DTT's 100 LP auditors, as of now, provide “reactive monitoring” of some 35,000 sites. Alerts are sent to store managers.

One of Jolicoeur's stores was recently burglarized by a former employee. DTT quickly helped “our manager secure the video footage of the incident and provide this evidence to authorities,” he said in a statement.