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Portion Control and POS Inventory Control Help Get the Most from Beverage Sales
reprinted from nightclub & bar
The scenarios are endless. The bartender knows a customer likes a stiff drink, so he pours in a little extra for a bigger tip. A cute girl comes in, and the bartender wants to make an impression on her, so he beefs up her Cosmo. A group of his friends comes in and he gives them a round of shots without ringing them up.
All of these situations happen nightly right under a bar owner’s nose, allowing the bartender, not the owner, to determine the profitability of the bar.
However, the current variety of pour control products and POS technologies can help operators hedge their bets and not only prevent such scenarios from happening, but also to increase profits dramatically.
Control the Challenges
Norm Plonski, owner of one of Cleveland’s most popular bars, Major Hoople’s, says keeping control of your bar can prove to be a difficult task.
He likens leaving your drinkery in the barkeep’s hands each evening to handing a wallet full of cash over to an acquaintance and asking him to keep an eye on the contents for you. “You’re giving somebody a register full of cash and a full supply of bottles and asking them, ‘Please, don’t steal from me’,” Plonski says.
To curb the potential loss and unnecessary stress and to put the control back in his hands, Plonski implemented a portion control system that keeps his inventory accurate, his employees honest, and his customers coming back.
Plonski uses the Posi-Pour model, a pour control system made by Magnuson Industries that uses a silver ball in the spout to measure and regulate how much liquor is poured with each shot.
When Plonski takes inventory each week with his computerized system, he can anticipate what each bottle should read. “Everything is accountable now, from start to finish,” he says. The system has resulted in keeping his bartenders honest, liquor costs down, and most importantly, regaining control of the profitability of his establishment. “It makes people accountable, and there are less options for mistakes,” he says.
Lower Costs, Better Margins
“About 25 percent of liquor stock loss is due to over-pouring by the bartender for various reasons,” says John Cammalleri, director of sales and marketing for the portion control and inventory system Scannabar. “This can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars to a large establishment.”
Peter Bretl, creative director for Precision Pours, says those three or four extra drinks the bar owner is losing due to over-pouring can add up to as much as $20 a bottle. “You should be able to get 30 shots out of a bottle, and therefore know how much money you’re going to make off of that bottle,” Bretl says.
Over-pouring has other drawbacks.
“If the bartender makes a stronger drink, the customer is only going to buy that one, instead of having another,” Bretl says.
Of course, if your staff is well-trained, and you have more faith in them, free-pour devices may be the best choice.
Trained in the speed of different 1-, 2-, 3- or 4-count pourers, bartenders can free-pour - using whatever specific model of free-pourer with which they feel comfortable. The Flair Bartending Association, for example, uses a particular 3-count pourer by Spill-Stop in its competitions. “The free-pourer is very economical if the bartender is well-trained,” says Bob Silverstein, owner of Spill-Stop.
Consider Your Options
There also are several options when it comes time to choose the right system for your establishment.
Scannabar offers an inventory system that uses bar codes and allows the proprietor to know where a bottle is at all times — and how much is in it.
The “rack and pour” or “pub rack” system racks the bottles upside down across the back of the bar with a dispensary system much like a fountain drink that measures each pour. The electrical system uses guns, similar to the mechanics used to dispense mixers, also measuring each pour. And the Berg system uses a ring, lever and cable system that connects the bottle to an electrical system that tells the bottle how much to pour. This system can connect to a POS system, and allows the bartender to generate reports on any given night.
Besides saving the bar owner money, precise pouring can keep the customers in your bar because they’re getting a consistent drink every time. Sherry Hoffman, manager of Wildcat Lanes in Verona, Wisc., says such consistency has been important in her customer return rate. “It’s a kind of service. We give the customer an exact drink every time,” she says.
Establish a Standard
Jeff Davies, part owner of the Mangy Moose in Jackson Hole, Wyo., wouldn’t think of operating without a pour control system. When he bought the bar in 2001, he immediately installed a system from Precision Pours. “I can watch the bartender without having to watch him,” he says. “I know what they’re pouring. My liquor cost went from about 23 percent to 21,” he says.
POSitively Profitable
As with pour control products, the goal of POS inventory systems in the beverage realm is to keep things measured and accounted for. With the latter, the trend toward convenience, with handheld and wireless equipment, continues.
One key technological advancement in the POS industry is the handheld wireless terminal, which brings the terminal to the customer’s table.
These little wireless wizards reduce the chance of error in taking a customer’s order, reduce the amount of labor involved in running the order and reduce the time it takes to fulfill a customer’s order, all giving you the opportunity to improve numbers in revenue.
“It’s amazing how much you can increase revenue just by changing the pattern of the cocktailer,” says Andre Nataf, accounts manager for Digital Dining. “Instead of wasting all that time running drinks, the cocktailer can take care of the customer. They never even have to leave the customer’s side.”
These little devices take the customer’s order and send them to the bar via a wireless connection. Many systems come with a few bells and whistles, such as handwriting recognition; card readers, allowing the server to take the customer’s payment right there at the customer’s side; and full menus that allow the server to look up any drink recipe, pinpoint which liquor brand, and even upsell the customer to a top-shelf liquor.
“This technology is really groundbreaking,” Chris Wright, director of marketing for ASI, says.
Increasing Efficiency
Gary Cocolin, owner of Wild Cards Sports Grille & Bar in Erie, Pa., can attest to the benefits of installing a wireless handheld system. He installed 17 handhelds last March and had immediate success with his system, he says.
“The order goes in immediately as you take the drink orders. It just makes it a lot easier on your kitchen, your servers — everything is just much more efficient,” Cocolin says. “It frees up the time of the server to really take care of your guest.”
These advanced systems are linked to the back office and can help you keep track of your inventory, another key to ensuring your profits are at their max.
“If you’re not controlling your inventory and keeping track of it, you’re not making as much money as you could,” says Dave Grimm, communications director for Accubar.
With a computerized system, labor savings, staff accountability and the opportunity for perpetual inventory makes you wonder where you’ve been without it. Inventory control now can be as easy as an employee scanning a bottle, prompting a picture to pop up on the scanner’s screen so the employee can touch to indicate the level of the amount of liquor left in the bottle.
With such a snappy system, the amount of time it takes to do weekly inventory is reduced dramatically, freeing up the employees to focus their energies on other things, and freeing up your pocketbook to spend on other things rather than labor costs. This also eliminates the mistakes that go with manual entry of inventory. Such accuracy also keeps track of any overpouring by your bartenders. “It’s all about staff accountability. It puts checks and balances on that,” Grimm says.
One example of the effectiveness of these hi-tech systems is Three Headed Productions, a Chicago-based parent company of six national bars. Its POS additions aim to get rid of stale inventory and make money on product that was just taking up space.
“It helped highlight how much product had just been sitting there for a long time, and we were able to special it out,” says employee Kim Bosse. “We were able to streamline our inventory.”