Frequently Asked Questions

About Bevinco Service & Solutions

My pour costs looks pretty good, so why would I consider hiring Bevinco?

Even though your pour cost might look pretty good, our clients have learned that it can almost always be even better. Unfortunately, pour cost analysis usually hides losses from over-pouring, mis-ringing or theft. The problem is that every drink you sell has a different ideal pour cost – from wells at 10%–14%, margaritas at 12%–15%, calls around 20%, many liqueurs/cognacs/scotches at 25%–40% with wine even higher – and you have no control over what drinks your customers order. The result is that it is almost impossible to know if your pour cost is as low as it really should be without matching up usage and sales on each brand.

But don’t just take our word for it. Your Bevinco representative will be happy to audit your bar for two or three weeks so that you can decide definitively whether or not your pour cost is too high – and exactly how much more money you should be making.

Won’t my problems be solved if I buy a “high-tech” pouring system?

Many of our clients have those systems and have had mixed results with them. In general, there are three things to consider before buying a pouring system:

• How will your customer react? Will they be bothered to know that the bartender is using a “device” to pour their drink? Some pouring systems are “hidden” from your customers’ direct view, but inevitably they find out – possibly from a disgruntled bartender.
• Every pouring system can be beaten. How will you audit the pouring system? A determined thief can defeat even the best systems by using magnets, toothpicks, creative ringing, jammed dispensers, etc. To make certain that your system is plugging all the holes, there is no substitute for taking physical inventories, ideally by weighing bottles for accuracy, and comparing the usage to the sales.
• Cost of pouring systems, and not just that of the initial installation. You must also factor in that all systems need maintenance and all systems will break down from time to time. How long will it take to get the system repaired and what will it cost?

You must also factor in the cost of management time in analyzing the reports or feedback from the pouring system. All in all, you can get a large number of Bevinco audits for the $15,000-$30,000 that a system will cost.

Why can’t I just use an “inventory-control program” and have my manager audit our bar?

Many of our clients have tried to do exactly that and ended up concluding that it was more profitable to use Bevinco’s service. There are several reasons why:

• Using Bevinco is more cost-effective. We audit for a living - every day. This means that we are more efficient and can audit your bar for a reasonable fee. Our proprietary software allows us to do a smarter, faster audit. But more importantly, our experience in solving bar problems and the time we take to solve these with you will result in less shrinkage. In many cases, you would be able to reduce shrinkage with your own system but you might have to settle for a slightly higher level of shrinkage (say 10% losses instead of the 4% you achieve using Bevinco). Our service pays for itself and our long time customers consider the fee an investment in their bar.
• There is never any danger of collusion or fixing the numbers because Bevinco works for you. We are completely independent of your bar’s management structure. The bar staff are not our friends or co-workers. Our only interest is in producing factual results and helping you make more money.
• Most inventory-control programs are based on "tenth-ing" a bottle to determine the inventory count. "Tenth-ing" is ultimately ineffective, however, when you need the ability to isolate an individual bartender to solve a chronic problem. Our clients sometimes ask us to audit their bar operation on a daily basis to determine exactly who is responsible for losses. This is easily accomplished when weighing bottles and kegs but impossible if "tenth-ing", simply because of the inherent margin of error involved. Even in the unlikely event that every bottle is "tenth-ed" perfectly, there is still a 10% margin of error, which amounts to 3.38 ounces of liquor per bottle in the USA and 4 ounces per bottle in Canada. Thus, a bartender can over-pour or even steal a shot and this theft would go completely undetected. Bevinco's ability to audit every day, if needed, to pinpoint a problem individual is ultimately the reason that we can help you convince your bar staff that they will be held accountable for what they do behind the bar.

If I hire Bevinco, won’t I lose some customers who are used to getting a “little extra”?

There is no doubt that you need to look after your “regulars” – something essential to the success of your business. Most Bevinco clients follow our advice to institute a “comp” policy to handle this promotional activity. If your bartenders are in the habit of routinely over-pouring, however, then the cost to you can be very high. Bevinco has found that the average over-pour is 25%.

A much better way to look after your regulars is to buy them a free drink every now and again. A liberal “comp” policy has many advantages over routine over-pouring:

• It will cost you a lot less money.
• Your regulars will place a much higher value on a free drink.
• Comping can be managed, meaning that you have some control over who gets looked after and how much you are giving away – something that is impossible by letting your bartenders decide who to over-pour and by how much.

Check out our coverage of this topic in a recent issue of BoozNooz, our quarterly newsletter that every Bevinco client receives.

I have video cameras in my bar. Why hire Bevinco?

Cameras can be useful tools, but only if you already suspect where your problems lie and want to confirm it. But in order to monitor your whole bar with cameras, to monitor a single 8-hour shift would require you to watch 8 hours of video for each camera you have installed. Most bar and restaurant proprietors don’t have this kind of time. If they did, they would use it to watch the staff directly! As an alternative, if you try to utilize a little spot-checking instead, your staff will quickly discover whether or not anybody is really watching.