Inventory Control: The Bedrock of Beverage Profitability

Inventory levels of liquor, beer and wine change with every flick of your bartenders' wrists. Realizing the necessary return on the working capital that you've invested is vitally important. Ensuring that the inventory is being depleted profitably is a matter of exercising control.

Managing your inventory involves knowing precisely what you have, what you paid for it, where it is and when you sold it. Obtaining this information requires accurately monitoring your inventory from the moment it comes through the back door until the end of the accounting period when it is depleted.

In bar management jargon it's called "cradle-to-grave" accounting and it requires putting in place a series of overlapping internal systems that in concert track every product through the inventory cycle. While uncomplicated, the key to the system is ensuring that all of the components are in place and used