Taking liquor inventory is one of the most thankless tasks performed by a bar. It can be tedious and annoying. To make matters worse, your inventory efforts may not even provide you with much in the way of valuable information, particularly if you are using an antiquated method such as a clipboard.

If you are still performing liquor inventory using a clipboard, you are not alone. Many bars still hold onto this outdated inventory method. What you may not realize is that the clipboard method leads to two serious problems:

• Very slow way to take inventory
• Raises as many questions as it answers regarding the performance of products sold at your bar

For this reason, many people responsible for this task feel it is a waste of time. Fortunately, there is a much better way to complete this important job.

Lower Your Liquor Cost by Upgrading to Modern Liquor Inventory Software

Modern liquor inventory software can significantly improve your ability to take inventory, and it provides you with much more detailed data that will help you run your bar more efficiently.

At Bar-i, the majority of our clients reduce their liquor cost by an average of 3% after implementing our liquor inventory software. However, the benefits do not stop there. There are essentially 5 main benefits you can expect to achieve when you switch to using liquor inventory software instead of a clipboard.

Improved Accuracy

The more accurate your data, the more effectively you will be able to make the changes necessary to maximize your bar’s profitability.

There are three main ways that liquor inventory software can improve the accuracy of your results:

• Objective measurements – When you take inventory with a clipboard, it is common to estimate how much liquor is left in the bottle. However, using your eyes to estimate that a bottle has one tenth or one quarter remaining is hardly an objective measurement. Bar-i’s system uses weight to measure your inventory. You can weigh a bottle in approximately 3 seconds using our liquor inventory software and the scale we provide you. Since anyone doing the weighing will achieve the same exact results, it represents the most objective way to measure your inventory.
   
• Automated error flags – There are many opportunities for human error to adversely impact your liquor inventory results. When you use liquor inventory software, automated error flags will help you catch strange results. Bar-i’s software uses a zone check system. Once you finish counting all the bottles in a zone (typically one shelf in your storeroom), the software will tell you how many bottles in total were in that particular zone. You can easily double-check this figure by physically counting the number of bottles in the entire zone to confirm that it matches the count recorded by our liquor inventory software.
   
• Data transfer errors – When you use a clipboard, the data collected must then be manually transferred to a spreadsheet. This creates many opportunities for human errors. Bar-i’s software eliminates this potential issue by entering all data directly into the liquor inventory spreadsheet.

To learn more about the benefits of using modern liquor inventory software, you can read Part 2 of this blog.

Please contact Bar-i today to schedule a free consultation. We provide services to bars nationwide from our offices in Denver, Colorado.