Restaurants that sell alcoholic beverages in addition to food typically attribute 30% of total revenue to bar sales, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Alcoholic beverages are able to generate this revenue boost because of the notoriously high markups. In general, liquor can be marked up 400%, wine by the glass can be marked up between 200 – 600%, and beer can be marked up anywhere from 500 – 600%.
Since alcohol consumption shows no signs of slowing down, bars and restaurants can keep their alcohol profits high with the help of a POS system to track inventory, improve ordering accuracy, and make bartender’s jobs easier.
3 Benefits of Bar POS Systems
1. Inventory Tracking
It’s critical for bar managers to keep track of all liquor inventories to keep the alcohol’s profit margin high. One problem plaguing many bars is inaccuracy of bartenders’ pours and mistakes with ringing in drink orders.
For instance, if a bartender over pours your well vodka by 30 percent (1.62 fl oz instead of 1.25 fl oz), and a restaurant sells their drinks for $4.00 each, they would lose about $25 of profit per bottle.
And if your restaurant goes through 100 bottles of vodka per month that means you could lose $2,500 per month on over-pouring alone.
When managers are able to keep a close eye on actual inventory levels and compare those to the POS system’s tracked inventory levels, they can eliminate the potential revenue loss on account of their staff’s over-pouring or ordering mistakes.
2. More Accurate Ordering
Since a POS system is able to track sales along with inventory, managers can use long-term data to determine busy times of year and busy days of the week to help accurately order alcohol.
It’s a problem if restaurants constantly run out of ingredients for popular drinks and disappoint their loyal customers. Ultimately, under stocking can result in a loss of customers, which will have a negative effect on revenue.
Though frequent customers may only account for 15% of your customer base, they usually contribute to at least 1/3 of restaurant revenue.
3. Improve Bartender’s Experience
In a busy environment, the last thing a bartender wants to do is worry about having to manually input orders and deal with a primarily cash system.
A bar POS system can make their job easier and more efficient with buttons for each drink on the menu, and will improve the accuracy of inputting orders during high-volume hours.
Bars can lose up to 20-30% of inventory because of spills and unrecorded drinks. An easy-to-use POS system will limit loses due to accidental “on the house” drinks during peak bar times.
If bartenders’ consistently input orders correctly, inventory reports will be more accurate for ordering the right amounts of alcohol, and further reduce the potential for revenue loss.
5 Best POS Features
- Check Splitting- Make it easier to divide checks among large parties.
- Customization Capabilities- Easily track specific requests from patrons, improving customer experience.
- Menu Management- Update the specials for the day easily and without hassle.
- Suggested Tips- Increase tips received for your staff by suggesting tips.
- Mobile POS Software– Take orders on the go with mobile pos software.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, a POS system will help bars and restaurants cut down on revenue loses related to alcohol sales. Managers can stock the appropriate amount of alcohol to ensure the bar doesn’t run out of popular cocktails, beer and wine, and employees can complete orders and make drinks in a timely manner.
As a plus, customers will be more satisfied with their experience because they’ll receive drinks faster and be able to enjoy their time at the restaurant.
This positive experience may help bars and restaurants gain more loyal customers, who have a significant impact on restaurant profits – even as small as a 5% increase in customer retention can increase a restaurant’s profitability by 75%.
How does a POS system help to streamline your bar?
