As any “ trained” manager would say: “It is not that hard, just count”, and they couldn’t be more wrong!
We put together some generalities on how to actually train and make an inventory system and you can find it here.
One more thing that we should add there is how important is to train your staff. Explain how this works, tell them how important consistency is and be open if they have different ideas.
Liquor bottle counting
I heard so many ways to do this, like weighing the empty bottle and having a base weight and doing the same to the bottle that is opened. Calculating like this the liquid inside. In my opinion this is as reliable as the eyeballing method. The manufacturer can change the composition of the bottles, they may differ in weight and it also takes way too long to do this. It can also happen that you change suppliers and you will not be using the same label of booze.
I still consider the “eye” method the best and the fastest. To add to it you can mark with a permanent marker on the bottle. This will get better and faster the more you do it. You can split the bottle in 10 equal parts to make it easier for you.
Do not pour the liquid in a measuring cup and then pour it back in the bottle! If you do not know why this is a bad thing you should train some more or switch careers.
Wine inventory – open bottles
The difference between the wine and the hard booze is that the first one goes bad way faster.
To make sure we do not serve spoiled wine we always need to write the date when we open the drink.
Once the wine approaches the date of no return, start promoting better or if you have a kitchen, make something special with it. If that is not a possibility, create a cocktail with it, something new that people will like.
Otherwise, the method for counting open wine is the same, use your eyes.
For kegs
The best way to measure this is with a scale. It is labor intensive and time consuming. You should weigh each full keg when you receive it and note it down(this way you create a database in case your suppliers change). Once you are having the inventory you are putting the “then in use” keg on the scale and sdo some math.
You can also lift it and approximate but I do not consider this accurate.
Your Bar Concept 