Doing liquor inventory is a problem as old as bars themselves. From when to do it, how to do it, and even sometimes where to do it, it can be a major hurdle for operations and bottom line. It can get in the way of your customer experience, make life much harder and more tedious for your staff, and lost or stolen inventory can seriously damage your bottom line numbers. What is the solution for these unwanted side effects? Well, there are a few different ways to handle it.
Some places use a bi-weekly inventory system. Typically done in bars or restaurants that don’t see too much money spent on cocktails by their customers. Family style restaurants, or small locations that don’t get too busy on weekend nights. A bi-weekly system seems like a viable option for them, because there might not be much in use (at least not enough to badly hurt the bottom line). The problem with bi-weekly inventory is in the name. Doing inventory every two weeks leaves a lot of room for error. When there is that big of a gap in time between counts, mistakes can be made and whoever is counting may not realize some things are missing. Because of these issues, most owners and operators opt for the most common method, weekly counts.
Weekly counts with pen and paper are the current industry standard. They’re more accurate than bi-weekly, and can give owners a better snapshot of their inventory. Although weekly counts are the standard, it is also a flawed system. In doing inventory every week, it takes more of your employees’ time. It is a long and tedious process with pen and paper, and can take up to two hours to do it properly. This can disrupt your operations and distract your employees, and prevent your business from really providing a consistent customer experience. So, if bi-weekly and weekly inventory aren’t great ways to solve the problem, what is?
BarMinder. BarMinder is a comprehensive digital liquor inventory management system designed to withstand the demanding environment associated with bars. Combining automatic counts of bottles in storage with wireless free pour-like spouts that accurately measure pours to provide a complete, real-time picture of what’s happening in your bar, it does the tedious work for you and leaves management with more time to spend on the most important aspects of running a bar.
The BarMinder system is leading the way of the new era of digital liquor inventory management. In the 21st century, inventory should not be this hard. We have phones that can talk to space, why are you still walking around with pen and paper counting bottles? Liquor inventory should be easy, in real time, increase profits, and be able to be accessed anytime from anywhere. The BarMinder system does just that. By reducing shrinkage levels and eliminating the labor involved with inventory, staff can focus on the things that matter. Enhancing the guest experience is vital to success in the bar industry. BarMinder makes it happen.
