Quality. Results. Profit

With stiffer laws and penalties for DUI (Driving Under The Influence), many bars and restaurants are noticing a decline in patronage. If that is not enough to get your attention, the wholesale cost of alcohol continues to increase too. Is every drink being paid and/or accounted for? Raising prices across the board is not the answer.
 
First start out by conducting and maintaining a weekly beverage inventory control system. If you do not have one, you need to set one up now. The cost is minimal, and it will give you a quick picture of what your overall pouring costs are. You set the level, monitor it weekly, and then hold your employees accountable to it.
 
A physical inventory of alcohol on hand, purchased and consumed; along with receipts for the period will prove very beneficial in determining where you establishment is at any given week. This system is easy to set up, and inexpensive to maintain. If you have implemented this system, and still have high pouring costs, there is one more step.
 
If the cost of your drinks range from lets say $2.00 to $7.00, and the wholesale cost of these products varies too; some pouring costs may be low, others may be ok; however there may be several that are quite high. Lumping them together will give you an average of all; however this will not help you identify the ones that are out of line.
 
You will need to conduct a one-time analysis of each drink price (Happy Hour, Regular and Late Night) to get a true pouring cost. With this you will see first hand which one(s) are helping or hurting your efforts. The next step is to identify those that are driving your profits down, re-calculate a fair price, and watch your profit margin increase.
 
Some companies will say, “We can’t afford it”. My response is, “You can’t afford to not have it” .If you don’t have the time or resources, consider utilizing an outside consultant to assist your team, or perform this for you, so that you can focus on what’s most important to you – your customers.