Business Espionage: The Cruffin Caper (and 230 other recipes swiped)

It takes three days to make a cruffin, a muffin-croissant hybrid that is the signature of Ry Stephen, a 28-year-old pastry chef. His shop, Mr Holmes Bakehouse, has been open three months and inspired a wild following, with customers lining up early to buy the ice-cream-cone-shaped cruffins, which reliably sell out before the line is gone...

Now, the tempting sweet may have inspired a crime. Overnight last week, a thief stole the recipe for cruffins, and Mr. Stephen’s 230 other recipes, from binders in the bakery’s kitchen. Nothing else in the store was touched: not money, valuable baking equipment, an iPad or other computers...

Mr. Stephen does not think it was an inside job. He said he trusts his employees and has told them, “You can have any recipe you want, provided you know how to execute it.” Plus a new surveillance system had been installed, but was not yet operational, although the employees did not know that. more

This is a cautionary tale with important points for your business...

1. Secure your proprietary information and business secrets. Keeping them in your "locked" office, on a shelf, where everyone knows where they are, is not adequate.

2. Use top notch security to protect your business secrets. Hire an independent security consultant to assist you with this. Periodically double-check to make sure your security systems are 100% operational.

Expect to see cruffins everywhere, soon.