Built for Austin bars where the owner still does the count
If you run a bar in Austin, the count probably happens on a Sunday night or a Monday morning, by you or your bar manager, with a clipboard or a spreadsheet. Rotely is made for that bar. It's not built for groups with a corporate buying office.
The Texas rule that makes price checks matter
A Texas bar with a mixed beverage permit can only buy liquor from package stores in its own county that hold a local distributor's permit, not straight from a wholesaler or distillery (TABC). Beer and wine can come from distributors. So in Travis County, the same bottle of well vodka can cost you a different price at every store you buy from, and the price moves week to week.
Rotely reads every invoice, keeps the price you paid for each bottle at each store, and tells you when one of them has it cheaper or when a price goes up.
Pars for Austin's big weeks
ACL weekends, SXSW and UT home games can empty a back bar in two nights. Rotely drafts the order up to par before the rush, so you're not making a store run at 9 pm on a Friday. Set your pars with the par level calculator.
How it works at your bar
- The count comes filled in, in your shelf order. Anyone on the team can count, and you only fix what's different.
- Invoices from a photo or a forwarded email.
- Sales from your register's daily sales report. No register hookup.
- Price checks across every store you buy from, and a heads-up when any invoice price goes up.
- Orders drafted to par that you approve before anything is sent.
What it's worth at a real bar
At Rotely's first bar, a Texas bar that buys from several suppliers, the invoices showed about $1,860 a year paid above its cheaper supplier and $340 a year in price increases. Rotely estimates it can save about 490 hours a year of counting, ordering and invoice work. That's one bar, and yours will be different.
Texas drink math, with the tax in
Texas takes a 6.7% gross receipts tax on every drink with alcohol you sell, liquor, beer and wine, plus the ice and mixers that go in them, and you can't add it to the customer's price. The 8.25% mixed beverage sales tax is on top of that. You either add it to the menu price or build it in, but you pick one way and stick to it. This example adds it on top (Texas Comptroller). Here's a $9 well drink with a $1.80 pour:
| Per drink | |
|---|---|
| Menu price before sales tax | $9.00 |
| Gross receipts tax, 6.7% | $0.60 |
| Liquor in the glass | $1.80 |
| Left after liquor and that tax | $6.60 |
So a $1.80 pour on a $9 drink is a 20% pour cost on paper, but you keep closer to 73 cents of each dollar, not 80. Run your own drinks in the pour cost calculator.
Questions
Is there bar inventory software for Austin bars?
Yes. Rotely can work for any independent bar in Austin and Travis County. Setup is done by text and on the web.
Where can an Austin bar buy liquor?
A Texas bar with a mixed beverage permit buys liquor only from package stores in its own county. Beer and wine can come from distributors. Prices differ store to store, so it pays to compare.
Do I need to connect my register (POS)?
No. Rotely reads your register's daily sales report by item, so there's no login to hand over and no new hardware.
How much does it cost?
Holiday deal: $99 a month, regular $149, plus tax. Or $999 a year. No setup fee. Free until your first full count, up to two weeks. Cancel by emailing support@rotely.co.