By JIMMY SETTLE The Leaf-Chronicle
 Greg Williamson/The Leaf-Chronicle Jeff Walton scans the label on a bottle of liquor while weighing a bottle of Jack Daniel's at the Pinnacle bar. Walton has a unique business to help bar owners help keep bartenders from scamming the profits. |
The phrase "on the house" can be a bar owner's nightmare when it comes to measuring profits and losses from drink sales.
At Pinnacle Family Entertainment Center on Warfield Boulevard, they're keeping tabs on potential beverage "mismanagement," "waste," "shrinkage" or "theft" ... whatever you prefer to call it, through a unique beverage auditing system that uses an Ashland City-based franchise consultant of Bevinco Corp. - widely regarded as specialists in profit management for bars and eateries.
Jeff Walton, owner and operator of the local Bevinco franchise, said he's striving to break into the growing Clarksville market.
"We are a profit enhancement company," Walton said. "We help bars, restaurants and nightclubs increase their profit margins by holding bartenders accountable for every ounce of beer, wine or liquor they pour.
"Our audits basically compare what went over the bar to what actually was sold. It prevents things from happening, like maybe whole cases of beer 'walking' out the back door of the establishment, or over pouring drinks for certain customers. All of that gets really expensive for these businesses over time," he said.
Walton said every business struggles with identifying and managing this type of problem. However, studies have shown the hospitality industry suffers a "shrinkage" problem far exceeding any other business sector.
Thousands of beverage and food audits of bars, restaurants, hotels and clubs have revealed that these losses range from 15 to 35 percent.
Bevinco came to The Pinnacle lounge through a partnership it has with the Sysco food service supply company.
"We find that, on average, bars lose the profit from one out of about every four drinks it serves, for various reasons, including people giving it away," Walton said.
"Often, though, it's not the bartender's fault. Sometimes, it may just be a matter of the establishment needing to change its glass sizes, or even measuring the draft line when pouring a glass of beer."
The network of more than 250 independently owned Bevinco franchises has been around since 1986 and encompasses much of North America.
