Liquor Inventory Experts

Taking Control of your bar inventory management

If you have recently made the purchase of a bar inventory management system, you must now understand how the features and benefits your system offers are best suited to your business.

The first thing you must decide on is the frequency at which you will be taking liquor inventory, beer inventory and wine inventory. One thing that cannot be dismissed is the fact the smaller the intervals between inventory periods, the more effective your bar inventory management system can be.

If you own a restaurant, bistro or country club and your liquor, beer and wine sales represent less than 50% of your sales, inventory periods can weekly, bi weekly and potentially monthly.

But if your liquor, beer and wine sales representative a majority of your sales, taking weekly if not daily inventory of your most prized assets should be an automatic. Consider the following; you would be ready to pay a cook and a dishwasher for a full eight hour shift to cook a single hamburger and French fries on a slow business day.

Doesn’t it make sense to pay an employee eight hours to count how much liquor was used from your bar so you can compare this figure to sales and determine if there are any losses? Once you have the information in front of you that is when the real bar inventory management begins.

You can analyze what sells more, are we pouring top shelf and ringing up call brands? Do I have a vodka crowd? Do we have a whisky crowd? Information is gold and proper bar inventory management will give you the edge you need.

Inventory count

An inventory count can be best described as a  physical inventory of what is currently in stock in the storage areas, comparing that count to what the liquor, beer and wine inventory count software thinks is in stock, and making any necessary adjustments to get the liquor, beer and wine inventory count software to match the storage area counts.

Taking an inventory count on a regular basis will not only help us have a tighter control over our liquor, beer and wine inventory but also flag us of any discrepancies. Some inventory count software will also make you aware of any product that may have gone missing like a bottle of wine or liquor. Inventory counts will also help you better asses if you are potentially carry to much inventory that can expose you to shrinkage and tie up valuable cash flow.

Inventory counts can also be indicators of low stock levels that could lead to customer dissatisfaction and lost sales. It is important that inventory counts are performed on a regular basis. Precise inventory counts can you give you the valuable information you may need to make some decisions in your business that you may otherwise not have taken.

A perfect example can be volume rebate purchases; if you are inventory count show you are carrying too much of a certain product already, it may be prudent not pursuing a special deal, on the other end of the spectrum, an update inventory count may actually encourage a large volume purchase due to the product popularity and the need to replenish low stock level.

 If you are on the market for a bar inventory system or considering a bar inventory system to begin a better control of your liquid assets, it is best you begin to understand why you are in need of a bar inventory system. There are many bar systems out there and a simple search on the internet will bring up many.

Bar inventory systems vary in the ways they perform, but in the end, the best bar inventory system is the one that best fits the needs of your bar and the objectives you are looking to attain.

1. How often to I plan to take a complete bar inventory?
2. Am I taking a bar audit to keep my staff accountable daily, weekly, by shift?
3. If I take weekly inventory of my liquor, beer and wine, what will I do with the information I gather?
4. Can I afford a bar inventory system from a purchase perspective and do I have the internal resources to maintain it?

The purchase of a bar inventory system entails many facets and what one must realize early on is that liquor, beer and wine inventory is not a band aid on a wound, but it must become long term and relentless part of the business management for it to be successful. Once you know what your needs out, reach out to the different suppliers and ask as many questions as possible as this can be a decision that can have an extremely positive impact on your company bottom line.