Liquor Inventory Experts

Selecting the right Beer Inventory System

Beer systemBeer systems need to be broken down in two sections, bottled beer and draft.

There are some beer systems that will take away the pen and pencil and help you count how much bottled beer is received and update your beer inventory value.

Help you manage how much bottled beer is moved from storage to the bars and finally help you count how much beer the bar started and ended with. Bottled beer systems that offer all of these features will speed up what can be a long and tedious process and in turn increase both accountability and profitability.

Draft beer systems on the other hand can be more mechanical and designed to measure the exact quantity of draft beer being poured at the taps. Draft beer systems come in several varieties: weighing kegs, flow meters, stoppers in the tap head.

What is very important to understand here is that some beer systems will only count the flow of beer through the lines while other will actually portion control the quantity of beer poured in the mug or glass.  Beer systems also vary in costs and maintenance.

There are some draft beer control systems that are relatively maintenance free and quite affordable and offer many of the features needed to better manage our "golden" liquid assets.

Whichever of the beer systems that are available on the market, it is important you begin by pin pointing the needs and the compatibility of the systems your are considering to both the business environment and the existing technology that may already be in place.

Topics: beer inventory, beer system, beer

Alcohol Inventory Cost vs Pricing

The relationship between cost and priceliquor inventory cost

 A question we often ask ourselves and our liquor, beer and wine inventory consultants is; what should my pour cost percentage be? The answer can be quite simply calculated if we understand and adopt the proper formula.

To start, we need to establish the net cost of our product and divide this by the selling price of the item in our business. The cost percentage portion pays for the ingredients needed to make the drink and the profit percentage is the gross margin we make when a drink is sold. The cost percentage should be in line with the beverage cost percentage that has been established in our budget. Generally, liquor costs run at 20%-25%, while wine and beer can run anywhere from 32% to 50%. Please keep in mind this may not be the right cost percentages for your business. If your establishment is in a high tourism area and you can sell your drinks at a higher price, your pour cost percentage should be lower. Another factor that will have an impact is your cost of goods sold. If you purchase in higher volumes than your typical bar, hotel or restaurant, you may benefit from reduced pricing which will in turn reduce your pour cost percentage.

Here is an examples on how to make sure our selling price and cost percentages are in line with our budgeted expectations.

Selling Price:  Cost divided by Cost % = sales price

                          1.5 oz vodka cost $0.95/15% = $6.35              

When it comes to price mixed drinks, the easiest and most widely used method is using the cost of the prime ingredient. This of course is not as accurate as costing out the whole recipe, but to arrive to a sound price structure, we must look at each drink by itself to establish a cost/price relationship in line with the overall price structure of our business.

Topics: alcohol cost, pricing drinks, beer, liquor, wine