Scott Krueger, owner of Bevinco of the Fox Valley, uses a scale and Bevinco software to measure the usage of each bottle of alcohol Monday at the bar inside the Best Western Bridgewood Resort Hotel in Neenah. Post-Crescent photo by Dan Powers

Scott Krueger frequents bars after-hours a lot.

It's his job.

The hours after 2 a.m. provide a window within which the owner/operator of Bevinco of the Fox Valley conducts "silent" audits of a bar's beer and liquor supplies. Three behind-the-scenes, after-hours trips provide the usual first step in a program that involves monitoring inventory to check for losses.

When one's workplace is a bar, the employer has a vested interest in making sure the folks tapping the beer and serving the liquor aren't tapping the profit margin besides by serving themselves.

Toronto-based Bevinco estimates that more than 20 percent of a typical bar inventory is lost to "shrinkage" due to problems like sloppy bartending, breakage, over pouring, free drinks and even theft.

"Our industry is the only one where a 21-year-old or younger can come and run the place, and decide how much to put in the glass, what to put in the glass, how much to charge for it and ultimately how much to put in the till because they're unsupervised," Krueger said. "Some people have cameras but it's very difficult to spot shifty characters."

Krueger kept tabs on 148 open bottles the other day at the Ground Round, the restaurant-bar that's part of the Best Western Bridgewood Resort Hotel in Neenah. He weighed them using an electronic scale accurate to 1/100th of an ounce. The scale is connected to a laptop running proprietary Bevinco software. The weekly tally is then checked against the weekly sales to pinpoint any discrepancies.

"It's a good investment," said Rich Batley, operating partner at the hotel who said the firm began the arrangement in January.

Batley said the Ground Round fares pretty well.

"It's helped open our eyes and our management team, to see it," Batley said. "I think part of the secret is bringing in the whole staff and meeting with the whole staff after the initial three behind-the-scenes (visits) and explaining why you're doing it. It's for the betterment of everybody. I think the staff has really bought in(to) it and they're trying to reach that Bevinco goal of97 percent" (accuracy).

Batley declined to provide his organization's cost for the Bevinco service. But he said the tab is negotiated to reflect Bevinco's provision of services to other corporate facilities in Green Bay and Waupaca. Krueger said Bevinco strives to bring the loss down to an average of 3 percent.

The company is not the only inventory control service available.

Many establishments prefer to do their own monitoring, like Spectators Bar & Grillin Greenville.

Owner Kevin Geurts performs the checks by comparing empty bottles,which are disposed of in a separate bin, against sales receipts.

"It's not as exact of a science, but we get a rough idea," he said. "It's pretty easy to tell if a bartender is over pouring significantly."

Batley said he approached Bevinco a year ago and wishes he signed up earlier.

"It's a peace-of-mind thing as an owner," he said.