Barry Chandler – The Bar Blogger

Today we’re bringing you another great guest post. This post is by Doug Fisher, a highly sought after management consultant based in Canada who we’re delighted to showcase on TheBarBlogger.com. You can find out more about Doug at http://www.fhgi.com

Co-Worker Scams To Look Out For Behind The Bar

Bartenders not only steal from their employers and customers, but have also been known to steal from their coworkers as well. Here are the four top ways:

1. Straight theft from the cash till is undetectable until the cash out is completed at the end of the night. If three bartenders are working and one steals $45 from the till prior to cashing out, management will ask all three to make it up. Each will put in $15, leaving the one who took the money $30 ahead. [...]

I had a great conversation with the legendary Bevinco Partner in Columbus, Ohio, Charles Deibel last week.

He was telling me a number of myths that he hears every day when working with Bar Owners assisting with their inventory control.

It never ceases to amaze him or me just how many different ways, ideas and myths exist around the calculation of selling prices, calculation of profit margins and the identification of theft. These are expensive myths. As much as 20% of profits is being lost because of an incorrectly held belief in a system!

As our conversation deepened we agreed that we had to share these myths, ideas and strategies on a webinar so that everyone could join in and find out for themselves if they are employing some of these tactics in their business and don’t realise it.

What would it mean to you to increase profits by 20%?

What would it mean knowing that you were getting the maximum profit from each drink served and that you could leave your bar in the hands of your managers knowing that you had a system to check their accuracy later?

We’ll cover all of this and more on our Webinar on Wednesday May 26th.

I think some of the Myths we’ve encountered are going to really surprise you.

In any case, we’ll have a solution to each myth on the webinar and you will leave the webinar armed with informaiton to increase your profits!

You will need to register to attend this online presentation which we promise to keep brief and informative!

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/718101264

I look forward to welcoming you to our presentation.

Title:           The Top 10 Myths That Cost Bar Owners 20% of Their Profits

Date:          Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Time:         4:00 PM EST

Due to a recent increase in crime in the Crosskeys Tavern in Chillicothe, Ohio, owner Susie Burke has decided to post CCTV footage of the offenders and acts on their Facebook and MySpace pages in the hope of identifying the suspects.

Bar patrons have reposted this footage and and other images to their own social media pages and the bar has reported success in identifying past offenders in the act.

Yet another reason to jump on the Social Media bandwagon. It’s not just for letting people know what you had for breakfast!

Full Story Here

Speaking to a nightclub owner recently who turns over $100,000+ per week in his busy city centre premises I learned that his weekly variance/stock loss is less than $200 at cost.

I know of other businesses taking in $6000 per week that have the same losses. So how does the nightclub owner do it? Its actually quite simple: He systemises his business and has implemented basic procedures to control stock from receipt to eventual sale:

1. Staff are assigned to a specific bar each shift and cannot work in other bars without management direction. This makes the staff members accountable for any stock losses/cash shortages.
2. Each bar (7 in total) is inventoried separately at the end of each night. This takes ten minutes per bar and identifies losses on the spot.
3. The owner has instructed vendors to separate stock deliveries according to the bar they are destined for within the club. This allows for seven individual inventories and isolation of potential problems swiftly.
4. Bottles transferred between bars are recorded on transfer dockets and used as part of the inventory.
5. Staff identified as working in bars with continuing losses are warned, warned again and then dismissed. (there are never more than three staff per bar)

So, the next time you look at your inventory results and wonder how to get them right or if there is indeed any light of the tunnel, remember that if an operation with that kind of turnover can get it right, so can you.

Its just a matter of systemising ALL aspects of your purchasing/sales function:

• Receiving
• Storage
• Issuing
• Transferring
• Lending/Borrowing
• Selling
• Cashing

It can be the difference between a profit margin of 65% instead of 60%. Wouldn’t that be a nice Christmas present?