We recently posted a blog providing tips to help speed up the inventory counting process. Some of these tips were general and apply to all bars, regardless of the inventory system they use. Others were more specific to using Bar-i’s software.

One item that makes Bar-i’s inventory system unique is the mapping system we use for counting inventory. This mapping system syncs up with the order of products on our inventory spreadsheets to provide a seamless counting process.

When evaluating our inventory system, it’s important for you to understand some basic principles associated with the way our spreadsheets are organized. We’ve found that this organizational structure is crucial to our ability to count with the highest levels of speed and accuracy.

The Bar-i Mapping System, Product Positions and Our Spreadsheet Organization Process

Bar-i’s mapping system creates a map of your entire bar to ensure products are always counted in the same order. There are two fundamental elements to the success of this mapping system:

• Zones are utilized as an organizational tool
• Each item that needs to be counted gets its own line on the spreadsheet

A line in our counting software represents either:

• One product (keg or bottle) that has to be weighed (these are the partially full items currently in use) – We weigh these items to get the most precise measurement (accurate to the hundredth of an ounce) of how much product is left in the bottle
  
• Whole products (typically kept in the storage/backup area) – These lines will be used to list the total number of full bottles or cases you have on-hand for a particular product

Each time a line is used to record the weight of a partial bottle or the total number of full bottles on-hand, it represents one product position on our spreadsheet. Therefore, you will typically have two times as many product positions on our spreadsheet as you have products served at your bar. In some instances, this ratio may be slightly larger than 2:1 if there are multiple bars in your establishment. In these situations, the products served at each bar will have their own product position and there will be an additional product position for the items in your storage room.

On average, most of our bars carry approximately 200 products, which means they often require 400-600 product positions in our spreadsheet. In general, most of our bars have under 800 product positions; however, some of our largest clients have almost 2,000 product positions. This would represent the upper limit of what can realistically be counted in one day.

When using Bar-i’s software, you can reasonably expect to count 300 lines per hour. Therefore, if you have 400-800 product positions to count, you should be able to complete the counting process in 2-3 hours. If you’re spending more than this amount of time counting, you should look for ways to speed up the process.