The Bar Owner’S 5 Secrets To Reducing Liquor Costs

Which bar owner or restaurateur would not want to trim his liquor costs? Cutting your expenses on liquor fees is one way of boosting your overall profit. Find out how you could do this with the help of Bevcheck, a hand-held liquor inventory system. You could also consider the following guidelines to drink your way to a healthier cash register.
1. The key to cutting down on liquor costs is to set a fixed system and process of taking liquor inventories to be performed strictly on a regular basis. This will help you assess your bar’s actual liquor usage. Ideally, a bar inventory should be performed on a weekly or a bi-weekly basis. You may opt to do you pour inventories monthly but this provides little room for damage control and addressing problems.

Using the Bevcheck hand-held inventory system can assist you perform this task quickly and accurately. It is user-friendly and simple to use and understand. Bevcheck will provide information on your actual product usage fast and easy. It prevents theft, too.
2. Specify pars for all your bar and liquor repositories. A fixed par system is sets the amount of the products you need to carry on with business for a certain period of time. Simply put, it is your establishment’s to-order-up-to level.

For storerooms, your par should comply with your needs for your most busy workweek in any season. The amount, generated through your regular bar inventory, should be enough until you make your next order. For location-specific pars, i.e. the main bar, levels should be considerate of a particular week’s busiest day. Bar owners commonly set different pars for different seasons as well as for different bar stations. Inform of your staff of your pars by posting them in each station. This will serve as reminders to your bartenders and managers for what they should have in their specific stations.
Bevcheck helps you set and comply with your pars. The manufacturer acknowledges that pars are important because: (a) they serve as guidelines for ordering liquor products; (b) they make sure that you do not face any shortage at any time; (3) they are location-specific so it is easier for you to pinpoint in which bar station you lost something; and (4) they help new staff members do their jobs when you are not around.
3. Make an investment on an advanced point-of-sale tracking system to monitor your sales, comps, and voids by item, employee, and time.

4. Another effective way to minimize your liquor costs is through tracking and monitoring all the orders that come in. Decide for yourself on your orders and if possible, do not depend on a salesperson or the bartender to make the decision for you. If you do not place your orders yourself, make sure that the same person makes the order every week.

5. Keep track of your weekly liquor consumption and look out for season- or day-specific trends. Make it a habit to practice “just in time” liquor inventory control and order only what you need for a week. Online-based Bevcheck helps you place orders automatically based on your pre-set par levels.