Guide to Bar Liquor and Drinks Inventory

Making the proper paper trails to assure the payment exactly for in return of the purchase and not hurting bars business with short orders and back orders is the next step after going from purchase procedure of liquors. All orders, even the verbal ones should have a paper record including the following information:

Date of the order, name of the supplier, name of the salesperson, supplier phone number, anticipated date and time of delivery, items, brands and vintages ordered, sizes of the containers (bottle and case) , number of bottles or cases, unit prices (price per bottle for each item) and name of the person placing the order.

Why is there a need for this information? When liquor, beer and wine inventory is due to be delivered, one can schedule the right people in place to properly receive, verify and place the order into inventory. Once the order has been stored, accounting can verify if what is agreed on and what was delivered are in line, key members of the management team (bar & store room managers) have access to data they may need to better manage their respective departments.

To help minimize risks, good inventory control software can help better manage purchases and go to the extent of actually preparing order for electronically thus reducing the opportunity for error and saving time and money. Whatever it means of placing an order, small or large, assure each order received from supplier has a PO # (purchase order number) that can be use to cross reference a packing slip, invoice and receiving report generated by liquor, beer and wine software management system.

By following the above steps, bar business owners will help the bar business in its efforts to control costs. Controlled purchasing procedures will also satisfy bar customer’s need for a quality product, served by a qualified staff in an enjoyable drinking environment. With today’s technology, a task that may have been time and money consuming in the past can be easily and quickly generated in minutes versus hours with superior results.