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Evan KerivanSeptember 6, 20256 min read

Inventory Management Best Practices for Bars: From Chaos to Control

Ask any bar manager what keeps them up at night and you’ll hear it: inventory. Missing stock, over-ordering, wasted product — it’s the silent margin killer. Get it right and you free up cash, reduce waste, and run a tighter operation. Get it wrong and you’re literally pouring profits down the drain.

Why Inventory Management Matters

Drinks are high-margin — but only if you keep tight control. Without visibility, stock walks, bottles spoil, and your cost of goods skyrockets. Smart inventory practices protect margins, prevent theft, and give you the data to negotiate better with suppliers.

7 Best Practices Every Bar Should Follow

  • 1. Standardize Recipes & Pours
    Clear specs keep drinks consistent, reduce over-pours, and make stock forecasting reliable.
  • 2. Run Weekly Stocktakes
    Monthly counts aren’t enough. Weekly cycle counts catch errors early and reduce variance.
  • 3. Track Variance (Actual vs. Theoretical)
    Compare POS sales to actual usage. Variance above 3–5%? Time to dig into wastage, spillage, or theft.
  • 4. Rotate Stock (FIFO)
    First-in, first-out. Simple rule, huge impact on spoilage and expired product.
  • 5. Tighten Ordering
    Use par levels to avoid over-ordering. Extra cases tie up cash and crowd storage.
  • 6. Align with Sales Data
    Stock decisions should follow sales trends — not supplier reps pushing volume deals.
  • 7. Audit High-Value Items
    Premium spirits deserve tighter controls. Daily counts on your top-shelf bottles protect profits.

The Most Common Inventory Mistakes

– Relying on memory instead of accurate counts.

– Letting suppliers set your order sizes.

– Over-ordering “just in case” and losing product to spoilage.

– Tracking inventory in spreadsheets with no link to sales.

– Not training staff on pour standards and recipe consistency.

How Raise The Bar Streamlines Inventory

  • Smart stocktake tools
    Mobile-friendly forms pre-filled with your products. No more messy spreadsheets.

  • Variance tracking
    See the gap between expected and actual usage — with alerts when it spikes.

  • Ordering insights
    Automated par levels and order suggestions based on sales history.

  • Supplier benchmarking
    Check your pricing against other venues ordering the same products.

Inventory shouldn’t be guesswork... and it doesn’t have to be.

Book a 15-minute demo and we’ll show you how Raise The Bar takes the stress out of stock management while protecting your margins

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