How Your Bar Could be Losing Money

The bar and lounge business can be very exciting and gratifying. You provide the backdrop for your customers as they come in to catch-up with old friends and to celebrate milestones in their lives, whether it’s birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and more. On the other hand, there are many factors you need to control as a bar manager or owner in order to efficiently manage your bottom-line.

Below are some tips to consider that could be hurting your bar or lounge’s revenue. Implementing a few simple changes to your business operations structure could help drastically cut inventory loss and increase revenue in your bar.

Unproductive Staff

In order to measure the productivity of your staff, you look at the number of drinks and appetizers sold at the bar divided by the number of hours each bar staff member has worked. Make sure, though, that you consider which staff are working busy periods, as this will surely affect their sales per hour. When comparing, you will begin to see who your most efficient sellers are and perhaps which members of staff need further training to improve their mixing speed, etc.

Failing to Interest Customers

Just as in a restaurant, you need to shake up the menu every now and then to keep your regulars coming back for more, and draw in new crowds. Consider running special seasonal bar items, and even adding a promotion, like a Ladies’ Night or a drinks and appetizer combo night to draw in new customers on typically slower nights.

Inefficient Inventory Tracking

Tracking inventory in your bar is something that must be done on a regular basis – both on the part of the management staff and the bartending staff. While managers must know how much inventory you have of each product at any given time and when things need to be restocked, the bartending staff must also have adequate and clear tracking practices in place to contribute to the overall efficient functioning of your bar inventory system.

There must be systems in place for bar staff to report spills, broken bottles, take inventory and identify missing product. There should also be clear and precise instructions to follow in terms of mixing drinks. If certain bartenders are using more product than outlined for certain drinks, this can drastically affect your pour costs over time.

Optimum Control is a complete food and liquor costing and restaurant inventory control software for bars, restaurants and the hospitality industry. Optimum Control software offers unique bar and lounge inventory solutions that allow you to better control inventory, purchasing and ordering, recipe costing, reporting and theoretical versus actual usage. Learn more today!

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