By SHELLEY OWENS July 6, 2007

When it comes to restaurant sales, liquor inventory turns are just as important as table turns, said Rich Britton.

But, for some establishments, liquor sales turn out to be a problem. Not because the liquor isn't turning. But because the turns aren't from sales. They're from shrinkage.

Shrinkage averages more than 20 percent of liquor revenues in most places. Britton, who started a local Bevinco liquor inventory franchise here in January of 2006, helps local restaurants and clubs reduce shrinkage to 4 percent to 5 percent.

And, so far, restaurant owners have been excited about the service.

"I think I'll probably use (Bevinco) forever," said David Lane, owner of Riverside Cafe in Vero Beach.

The average sports bar has liquor costs that are 25 percent of bar revenues, said Lane. "And that is high. A normal pour cost should be below 20 percent."

"We were at 29 percent," he said. "He brought us down below 20 percent."

Britton does it by weighing, counting, measuring and recording all of the liquor, beer and wine in the house. He uses Bevinco's computerized reporting system to compare the exact amount of liquor missing against the amount reported sold by the point-of-sale system.

It took Britton about an hour and a half to go through the 320 open bottles of wine and liquor that needed to be weighed at one local restaurant.

At the same time, his wife Chris inventoried the cooler and liquor closet.

Britton imported the sales for the week into his computer and combined that with today's inventory to produce a report for the owner.

"We show them what they are using every week so they don't over-buy and don't overspend," said Britton.

"The goal is to maximize sales on every ounce of liquor in the place," Britton said. "That is how we find the shrinkage and fix it."

Shrinkage can be from theft, he said. An employee or shoplifter knowingly walks out with a bottle. Or a bartender will slip a free drink to a friend or good customer.

But the biggest cause of shrinkage is pouring too much, Britton said.

"The standard drink contains 1.25 ounces of liquor," he said. "But, for example, look at this bottle of cognac."

"In one week, they may sell one glass of cognac. But two ounces are missing," he said, after weighing the bottle and comparing it to its weight the previous week.

That, he said, is a sign of pouring too much.

"We had a bar meeting last week and a bartender said to me 'I've been over-pouring for years and didn't even know it'," recounted Britton.

And he savors the feedback.

"I love it," he said. "And I love seeing the results. It's great when I compare the amount they were losing to the amount they are losing now."

If someone is paying 28 percent of their bar revenue to liquor purchase and I can get them down to 18 pecrent of revenues, that's a significant savings, he said.

And it's not unusual, he said.

Tara Carlen, who owns The Ashley Restaurant in Stuart, estimated her savings at about 8 percent to 10 percent of sales.

"If you don't have the time to do a count, it's a definite help, especially during season," said Carlen. "It really does put a stop to theft and over-pouring."

"Now, I can know exactly what I am using," she said.

"He pays for himself the first week you hire him," said Lane.

"He's already paid for himself for the whole year and he's only been doing our inventory for two months," said Lane.