An alcohol inventory tracker that measures
Counting full bottles is bookkeeping. The money is in the open ones, and almost every tracker on the market asks a human to guess what is left in them.
Book a 15-minute demo See how it works
15 minutes, screen share, no install. A guided walkthrough of the software and straight answers on what it costs.
Tracking partial bottles is the whole problem
On a working back bar, most products are open. If your tracker records an estimate for each of them, it is a tidy database of guesses, and your variance report cannot distinguish a real loss from a rounding habit.
How the measurement works
A bar code runs down the height of the bottle. The handheld reads it at the liquid line, so the level is measured rather than estimated. One scan per bottle, open or sealed, with no arithmetic at the bar and nothing to write down.
What gets tracked
- Liquor by measured bottle level, down to the open bottles on the rail.
- Wine by cellar, cooler, bin and bottle position.
- Beer and kegs as full or empty units.
- Dry goods alongside the beverage stock.
- Every outlet separately, and every property, on one system.
What comes out of it
Variance against POS sales, usage by product and outlet, pour cost, and reorder points driven by what you actually used rather than what you think you used. Usage arrives from your point-of-sale system by CSV, by XML, or through a direct API written to the POS vendor’s published specification.
Spreadsheet, app, or measured system
| Spreadsheet | Inventory app | Measured system | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open bottle level | Estimated | Estimated, faster | Measured on the bottle |
| Repeatable between staff | No | No | Yes |
| Time for ~120 bottles | Hours, two people | Under an hour, still estimating | About 15 minutes, one person |
| Reconciles to POS | Manual | Usually | Yes, by CSV, XML or direct API |
| Wine granularity | Whatever you build | Product level | Cellar, cooler, bin, bottle position |
| Multi-property roll-up | No | Sometimes, per location | Yes, one system |
What it moves
Venues counting by estimate commonly run 20 to 30 percent shrinkage. Venues running a measured count typically sit at 1 to 3 percent, and beverage cost falls 25 to 50 percent within weeks of the first accurate variance report.
What operators say
Scannabar has saved us in excess of $15,000 per month.
Jan Harrold, Owner, The Club at Firestone, Orlando, Florida
We were very impressed with the accuracy of the system and the speed at which the inventory could be completed.
Murari Nambiar, Comptroller, Sailfish Club of Florida, Palm Beach, Florida
Questions operators ask
What makes this different from a bar inventory app?
Most apps are a faster way to record an estimate. You still decide that a bottle is six tenths full and the app stores six tenths. Scannabar measures the level on the bottle, so the number is read rather than judged.
Does it track wine as well as spirits?
Yes, and at a finer granularity: wine is tracked by cellar, cooler, bin and bottle position, which is how a wine programme is actually organised.
How does it handle kegs?
Beer is tracked as full or empty units. Scannabar does not claim to measure the remaining volume inside a part-poured keg.
Can it cover more than one property?
Yes. Multiple properties can run on one system, with roll-up reporting across them. That is the usual configuration for hotel groups and clubs with several outlets.
What does it need to run?
The back office is an installed Windows application: Windows, 8 GB of RAM and a 100 GB SSD. It runs on your own dedicated cloud instance or on a Scannabar server. Counting is done with a rugged handheld from Zebra or Motorola.
Book a 15-minute demo See how it works
15 minutes, screen share, no install. A guided walkthrough of the software and straight answers on what it costs.
Related: How to do a bar inventory count · Liquor inventory · Wine inventory
Scannabar has measured beverage inventory for bars, hotels, clubs and restaurants since 1998. Head office: 2001 University Street, Suite 1700, Montréal, Québec H3A 2A6. Call 1-800-939-8960 or email sales@scannabar.com.
