Running a Bar or Liquor Outlet: Stock, Pour Cost and Shift Cash

• 01Stock is counted rarely and by eye. The gap between what should be left and what is on the shelf appears as a surprise at month end, with no shift or person attached.
• 02Pours vary by bartender and by crowd, and with no house measure noted, the same bottle gives a different number of drinks on different nights.
• 03Cash and card are collected at the bar by several people in a shift, and the closing count is done in a hurry, so a shortfall has no owner and repeats.
• 04Event, match and DJ nights bring crowds and cost, with extra staff, music and décor, but the night is judged on bar sales and not on what it left.
• 05Food, if served, is run as an add-on with its own supplier and wastage, and its cost is merged into the bar sheet.

• Pour cost by category

  Stock used at cost (opening plus purchases less closing) divided by sales, category by category.

• Stock variance by shift

  Drinks sold according to billing less drinks the bottle count says left the shelf, for each shift.

• Cash difference per shift

  Closing cash counted less (opening float plus cash sales less expenses paid out).

• Event night contribution

  Sales on the night less stock used, extra staff, entertainment and décor.

Beer takes the largest share of cost against sales. A pricing or stock-holding question for beer will move the total more than a change to cocktails.

• 01Counting stock once a month, so variance by category cannot be traced to a shift, a person or a night.
• 02Leaving the house pour unwritten, so pour cost per category moves with whoever is behind the bar.
• 03Judging an event night by bar sales alone, without the contribution after extra staff, entertainment and décor.

• 01A bottle-level stock count at open and close, with a named counter and a second signature.
• 02A pour cost sheet comparing stock used at cost with sales, by category.
• 03A house pour note for each category and a monthly check against it.
• 04A shift cash reconciliation: opening float, sales by mode, expenses paid out and closing count.
• 05An event night sheet with extra staff, entertainment and décor cost against the sales of that night.
• 06A supplier and purchase log with dates and bill numbers.
• 07A breakage, spill and complimentary drinks log with who approved.

1. Pick your five top-selling bottles and count them at opening and closing for a week. Write the pours sold from the billing system next to the count.
2. Hypothetical example: a 750 ml bottle at a house pour of 30 ml gives 25 drinks. If a bartender pours 37.5 ml, it gives 20. At ₹200 a drink the bottle brings ₹5,000 or ₹4,000. If the bottle cost ₹1,500, that is 30% or 37.5% of sales.
3. Write down who counts cash at closing, who checks, and where the difference is recorded.

1. First call: you describe the business and the numbers you already track.
2. Your first sheet: the one described under What you get, built from your own books.
3. The rhythm: a regular review of pour cost by category, stock variance by shift, cash difference per shift, event night contribution.
4. What you hold at the end: a written sheet and a named owner for each number.

• SOP Writing & Process Ownership

  We write one-page SOPs with the people who do the work, test each with someone new to the task, and name an owner and a review date for every process.

• Business Process

  SOP Writing & Process Ownership is part of Business Process. See the full service if the problem is wider than one piece.

• My team is busy, but nobody takes accountability

  Everyone looks occupied, yet deadlines slip and results lag. See how unclear roles, targets and reviews cause it, and how to build real ownership.

• I cannot see how my business is really performing

  If you steer by bank balance and gut feel, you are driving blind. See how a few trusted numbers, a monthly report and a review meeting fix that.

• How this differs from Restaurants

  A restaurant is read by food cost and covers; a bar or liquor outlet is read by bottle-level stock, pour cost and shift cash.