Before you count
Count at the same time every week, before you open. Have last week's count, this week's invoices and the sales report for the same days in front of you.
The checklist
- Check deliveries against the invoice. Count every case, check the sizes, and write any shorts or broken bottles on the invoice before the driver leaves.
- Count in shelf order. Start at the same spot every week and go left to right, top to bottom, the same way every time.
- Count open bottles in tenths. Hold the bottle level and call it. A bottle a little over half full is 0.6.
- Compare to what should be there. Last count, plus deliveries, minus what you sold. Anything off by more than a bottle gets a second look.
- Write down breakage, spills and comps. What got dropped, poured out or given away, so it isn't counted as missing.
- Update your pars. If a bottle ran out before the next delivery, raise its par. If it sat untouched, lower it.
- Draft the order. Order back to par, then look it over before it goes to your rep.
A worked example
Example, with made-up round numbers. Last week you had 5 bottles of your well bourbon. 6 came in on the invoice. The sales report works out to 4 bottles poured. That's 7 that should be on the shelf.
You count 6.4. That's 0.6 short, a little over half a bottle, so check the comp sheet and ask about spills before you call it missing. Your par is 8, so order 2.
Tips that save time
- Two people go faster: one counts, one writes.
- Keep the sheet in shelf order, so you never hunt for a line.
- Count sealed backstock by the case, not by the bottle.
- If you're short on time, count the bottles that cost the most first.
Need a sheet to write on? Use the free bar inventory count sheet.