Any business that takes cash carries a risk that businesses which do not, simply do not have. Most of the harm is preventable, and almost all of the prevention is routine rather than expensive.
Reduce how much cash is there
The single most effective control. Bank more often, keep a float rather than a day's takings in the till, and use a drop safe that staff can add to but not open.
Card and instant payment options reduce it further, and the fee is frequently less than the cost of the risk it removes — worth working out rather than assuming.
Vary the routine
Cash-in-transit incidents are usually planned, and the planning depends on knowing when the money moves. Same person, same car, same time, same route, every Friday, is the pattern to break.
Vary times and routes. Do not carry cash in anything that looks like a cash bag. Where the amounts justify it, use a collection service rather than doing it yourself — and be honest about the threshold at which that becomes the sensible answer.
Separate who handles from who counts
Internal loss is more common than robbery and much quieter. The control is separation: the person who takes the money should not be the only person who counts it and reconciles it.
In a very small business that is not always possible, in which case the owner reconciles — every day, not weekly. A daily reconciliation catches a discrepancy while it is still one transaction; a monthly one catches a pattern after it has become expensive.
Count where it cannot be seen
Not at the counter, not in view of a window, not with the door open. It sounds obvious and it is routinely ignored at closing time when everybody is tired.
Tell staff what to do in a robbery
Comply. Hand it over. Do not resist, do not chase, do not be a witness who gets hurt.
Say this explicitly, in advance, and mean it — because staff who have not been told sometimes try to protect the takings, and no float is worth an injury. Then look after them afterwards: this is a traumatic event and treating it as an inventory problem is how you lose good people.
Check the insurance actually covers it
Cash cover is usually a specific item with its own limit, and there are frequently conditions — about safes, about how much may be in the till, about how cash is transported. A claim declined because a condition was not met is a common and avoidable outcome.
Read those conditions once, and make sure the routine you actually follow matches them.
General guidance, not security, insurance or legal advice. Policy conditions vary; confirm what your own cover requires.