Bar Stock Control & Stocktaking

Every bar in the world looses stock, how much stock a bar looses can be the difference between success & failure. 

The common mistake the majority of bars make is they over complicate their stock control procedures, making the bar manager or supervisor waste meaningless hours creating paperwork to tell them the problem without actually ever looking for a solution.

They then tell all the staff in a monthly meeting about the stock problems, but when the problems are actually happen in service they aren’t around or are just so tired from doing so much paperwork they don’t see what’s actually causing the problem.

If a football team looses a game the coach doesn’t sit in the office all week reading meaningless stats, he looks at key stats & then trains his team to fix it, because he was watching the game he normally won’t even needs stats except to tell certain team members you made this many mistakes. He will focus on the key items he needs to fix & keep it simple.

In some cases in the modern bar the manager is in the office studying paperwork so much that he is never actually on the bar or watching his bartenders & the bars stock problems worsen. The bar then spends thousands of dollars on a stocktaking system that yes tells them exactly what stock is going missing but creates more work for the bar manager making him more tired & spending less time with his team, so in short the bar looses more money. In some cases the bar also has to promote its best bartenders to become supervisors so the service on the bar decreases & the bar ends up with to many chiefs & not enough Indians. 

So what do I really need to know in short how much stock have I sold, how much stock have I lost (In short how many dollars have I made & lost). Is the stock I have lost an acceptable budgeted percentage.

A bar fixes its stock control procedures by simplifying your stocktaking to focus on the end result how much stock have I sold, how much stock have I lost. Does every little product matter, in short no.

An example is Earth Bar recently consulted on a night club with the most modern stock control systems, the bar manager was convinced that one of his staff was stealing Chambord within 3 hours of service we had established that 3 regulars drank cosmopolitans like water with chambord instead of cointreau & yes the cointreau stock was up by almost the same amount as the chambord was down. If the bar manager just had more time to spend around the bar.

In other bars that the stock was out it has been because bartenders are over pouring the jigger or just have poor free pouring skills costing the bar 5mls every round, so the first solution for these bars was to spend thousands on state of the art software & stock monitoring equipment that tell them they have a problem without fixing the problem. In most cases a bars stock control problems can be fixed with a well constructed training program & the bar manager spending more time with his team.

In many cases it is also essential to have an expert work with the bar manager to help them not only identify problems but find solutions.

The old saying keep it simple stupid is the secret to an effective stock control system, It need to be simple, accurate & time efficient. Saving your bar man hours & in the case of most over worked bar managers reducing their work load & stress.

Most importantly we can give your bars managers or supervisors more time in the bar instead of the office, identifying & solving problem.

The best news is that with a simpler stocktaking system Earth Bar can also simplify your till system & reduce the time spent at the till by over 50%. Giving your bartenders more time to serve more guests boosting profits, making them more tips & providing better customer service, making your bar more money & greater customer loyalty.

Earth Bar can simplify your stock control procedures, consult with your managers & supervisors of potential problem areas, do a review of your bartenders & evaluate where your bar may be loosing money, help to simplify your till system giving your bar a more cost productive system all for a fraction of the price of the latest software. Making & saving you money.

If you require help with your bars stock control systems please contact us