I can’t seem to get our liquor costs under budget.  What is the best control for measuring the bartender’s pours?

Good question!  There are a few different methods for pouring alcohol such as free pour, jigger, or measured spout.  Which one works best depends on your bar. 

Typical lobby lounge – If your bar is typically slow, usually a measured jigger works best.  Just be sure to have plenty of jiggers on hand so the bartender always has one within reach.  We like the measured jigger because it is easy for your supervisors to monitor from across the bar.  Also, customers are accepting of a jigger in most cases.  Of course, the down side is that it is easy for the bartender to overpour using the jigger.  Most bartenders we see using a jigger like to run a tail with each pour.  Here is a good video on basic jigger techniques:

High volume bar – If your bar gets pretty busy and the bartenders need to crank out drinks fast, we like the measured spout.  The ball bearings in the spout automatically pour the exact amount and then stop.  The bartender would have to tilt the bottle back a second time to be able to overpour with these spouts.  Here is a good video of how the Precision Pours work:

We really do not like any bars to use the free pour method.  It is both dangerous to your profits and to your customers.  Our mystery shoppers have reported time after time instances where they were poured a drink that had over 4 ounces of alcohol when a bartender free poured.  You can easily see how pouring 3 times the correct amount can be very dangerous.

I am a food and beverage manager at a hotel with two bars.  Can you tell me some ways that we can increase our revenues?  We are obviously a little bit slower lately, but is there anything that we can do to help?

The selling area of a bartender’s service is always overlooked. These selling standards are extremely important to generating higher revenues. Bartenders can come across as uncaring and unfriendly if they just approach and ask guests, “What can I get for you?” They also will not sell much more than the minimum guest order. Most hotel bars are not like the bars or nightclubs that stand alone. People usually expect more from a hotel bar. The service of a bartender should be similar to that provided by servers to a table of guests that are eating. There are many selling standards that should be in place for each time a guest arrives at the bar. This includes practices such as offering your drink menu to guests whether they know what they want or not, providing a food menu, suggesting any specialty drinks, offering more beverages, and offering bar snacks. Each of these practices has its own effect and benefit on your bartender’s guest service as well as revenues. Here is a breakdown.

Providing Food or Drink Menus

Having a menu in front of a guest makes it more likely that he or she will order something in addition to their normal order. Something on your menu may catch their eye and the guest might try it, giving you more revenues. They may not have been extremely hungry at the time, but just hungry enough to order that shrimp cocktail appetizer. They would not have known about it if a menu was not given to them. This can be done by simply asking the guest if he or she will be eating and providing them with a menu regardless of their answer. It is surprising how few bartenders do this even if the guests are sitting next to other guests that are eating. You cannot wait for a guest to ask for a menu.

Suggesting Specialty Drinks

Most hotel bars have their own special drink creations. Usually, by placing these drinks on your menu, you feel that they are tasty and charge a premium for them. Why then, would bartenders not try to sell them? In addition to providing a menu upon greeting the guest, bartenders need to offer a specialty drink or two by name. Most guests have their own predetermined drinks, but may try certain things on a bartender’s suggestion and recommendation. Why let the guest order an $8 vodka tonic when you can attempt to pour them a $13 special martini. This makes the bar more revenues and the bartender higher tips.

Offering Bar Snacks

Offering bar snacks to the guests will show that you are being attentive to them. There has been many times where our mystery shoppers sit at the bar and watch other guests eat their bar snacks without being offered any. Yes, most guests will ask for them but why make your guests ask. Provide them along with every drink that is served. Bar snacks also make your guests a little thirstier and can make them order more drinks. It is a small cost to pay to make your guests stay at your bar longer and order more drinks.

Up-selling To Premium Liquor

Many bartenders will just pour the bar’s well liquor if a guest asks for a generic beverage such as a vodka tonic. It only takes an extra second to ask if the guest would like Grey Goose, Belvedere, or Ketel One. This provides a choice of premium vodkas to the guest, earning your bar those extra few dollars in revenue. Instead of making your well brands the standard, why not make your premiums the standard and your well brands a second choice? If the guest asks what other vodkas your bar has, then you can tell them all your brands. It is pretty uncommon for bar guests to ask directly for the cheapest vodka you have.

Offering a Second (or Third) Drink

Before the guest is finished with the beverage in front of them, make sure that your bartender is offering them another one.  By doing so, you are attempting to keep the guest there longer and ordering more drinks.  They may not have stayed but by asking if the guest wants another beverage frequently causes the guest to quickly finish up their current one and agree to another one.  Everyone knows why guests go to your bar, so you have got to keep them ordering before they think they have had enough.  Obviously, remember your TIPS training and do not overdo it.

To make sure that your bartenders are consistently hitting these selling standards, continue to do regular mystery shopping.  You will see your revenues start to climb up in no time.

Have any tips of your own?  Post them below!  Have a question that you would like answered?  Post it below or send it to us via the contact page.

1.  Position the POS terminal so that customers can see transactions rung up. Most bars have the POS screen positioned towards the bar so that the bartender must turn their backs to use the register. This helps on two fronts; first, all guests can see their transactions rung up and second, it is tougher for the bartender to see who is watching him or her ring up the transaction, making it less likely that they will risk using POS manipulation. If your bar design does not allow the terminal to be placed this way, consider installing a display arm that can be positioned to face the guest similar to ones in retail stores.

2.  Ensure that it is your bar’s standard to have alcohol poured first when preparing mixed beverages. Pouring the mixer into the glass before the alcohol can only mean one thing; your bartender is attempting to adjust the perceived alcoholic strength of the beverage. This is a good indicator that your bartender may be pouring less per drink to steal so that it will not throw inventory levels off.

3.  Require the bartender to give a receipt after each transaction. This is one of the simplest standards to use yet many bars obviously do not require the bartender to give one. Make sure that your bartender knows that if a guest pays cash, it is not some secret code for, “I do not want a receipt.” Even if most of the guests throw the receipts away, at least your bartender gave them one and hopefully rang up the transaction.  Check out our article on how bartenders split and re-present checks with the POS.

4.  Have your bartender request some sort of payment or tab from each guest immediately after serving drinks. This can be as simple as placing a receipt in a glass in front of the guest. This way, the bartender does not forget what has been ordered and the guest can keep a running total or pay whenever they would like. As you can probably imagine, many types of POS manipulation, whether intentional or not, can occur if this standard is not followed.  Also, make sure your bartenders are properly controlling drinks they prepare for cocktail servers by reading this article.

5.  Issue POS cards for all your bartenders and servers. Do not allow codes to be used to access the POS systems. Fraudulent actions can occur if bartenders or servers get a hold of each other’s access codes.

6.  Security cameras should be installed and facing each register. You can always go back and refer to your tapes if necessary.  There are also new systems available that show the POS transaction details on the security footage.

7.  Give each bartender their own separate cash drawers. Any mistakes in cash handling should be traceable to the associate responsible for each drawer. Sharing cash drawers will make it difficult to trace back to one associate.

8.  DO NOT allow the ‘No Sale’ button to be used. Most POS systems show “NO SALE” very largely on the computer screen when it is used for a reason. There should be no reason to ever use this button that opens the cash drawer without entering a transaction. If change is requested by a guest, then have your bartender make change out of the tip jar, or have a manager witness the change transaction. No sale button pushes should be tracked and researched.

9.  Bottle for bottle exchange should be used as your bar’s requisition system. See our article on bottle for bottle exchange for details.

10.  The bartender’s tip jar should be placed away from the cash register. This will ensure that the bartender cannot easily transfer cash to and from the tip jar.  We recommend a minimum of 5 feet from the register.  The tip jar should be a one way jar.  Money should go in and not come out until the end of the shift. 

11.  Have a log that is kept at the bar to log any spilled or complimentary drinks given to guests. This will help prevent bartenders from abusing the system and help reconcile the beverage inventory when the time to count arrives.

12.  DO NOT allow unauthorized associates to go behind the bar area. Only bartenders, bar backs, and managers should be allowed behind the bar area, reducing the number of possibly responsible associates for issues that occur.

Visit our seminars page for information on our Liquor Costs Seminar by clicking here.

While there is a lot of great advice on preventative measures, the book does feel a little outdated.  Also, many of the recommendations for beverage control seem very costly when it comes to supervision.  Hotels that do not have a F&B Manager on the floor at all times will have a very hard time with the recommendations.  In addition, many of the recommendations are just way too time consuming and small to midsized hotels will have a hard time finding the time and manpower to do them. 

Overall, we recommend the book for managers who are new to beverage control.  Veteran mangers can probably skip this book.

These methods can include:

Short-Changing – Stealing by not returning proper change to a guest. This happens as the guest can become less attentive as they become more intoxicated.

Overcharging – Charging more than necessary for a certain drink and stealing the difference. This usually happens when guests have no intention of seeing a receipt and the server quotes the drink price to them.

Substitutions – Charging for a requested premium liquor, but ordering a well brand from the bartender.

Representing Checks – Presenting the same check to two separate guests/transactions with the same order, then pocketing the cash from one or both transactions.

Fake Walk-Outs – Alleging that a party walked out, but pocketing the cash instead.

Altering Checks – Voiding or adding to checks. Usually goes hand in hand with representing checks.

With the following controls in place, you will curb the chance that your cocktail servers have to steal.

The main area to focus on when it comes to cocktail server internal controls is how the server orders and interacts with the bartender. A surprisingly large number of hotel bars allow servers to “call out” beverage orders to the bartender. This method of ordering presents a multitude of possible issues that no Food & Beverage manager or Controller wants to deal with. If your hotel bar is currently using this method, or even if you are doing it the right way, make sure that you follow these steps to do a self audit on your cocktail server internal controls.

1. Ensure that your cocktail servers have their own POS terminal, not behind the bar, to enter transactions.

2. Ensure that your cocktail servers are entering drinks into the POS terminal to order from the bartender. Your bartenders should not make any beverages for servers without an accompanying order printed from the bartender’s printer. This prevents the server from representing checks or not ringing up an order at all.

3. Have your cocktail server only pick up drinks in a sectioned off area of the bar and compare the beverages to the order receipt. This will prevent any mistakes resulting from taking the wrong drinks.

4. Have a spill/comp log. Any spills or comps must be logged and have a manager’s approval (if possible). Remember not to compromise a guest’s experience; seek manager’s approval after the new drink has been served.

5. Require your cocktail server to present a receipt to each guest when they are paying. This will prevent over-charging or short-changing.

6. Hold your bartender equally accountable. With the proper controls in place, it would make it extremely difficult for a cocktail server to steal if they are not in collusion with the bartender.

In addition to a lounge audit, other management practices can be helpful as well. Food and Beverage numbers should be looked at daily by an F&B manager. Consider determining your outlet’s average daily cash intake. If a day’s cash intake wavers from that average by a considerable amount, do some research and ask questions. This is not to accuse your employees of stealing, but to find out what caused the change for that day and to make your employees aware that you are looking at the numbers daily.

After you successfully cut off the ability of a cocktail server to steal from your bar, the only place for a determined thief to turn to is to your guests. With random mystery shopping of your lounge, you can also ensure that your hotel guests are not also being defrauded.

Can someone be stealing your customers? That person might be right under your nose.

Your typical bar will carry a variety of different alcoholic selections, almost all of which can be found in grocery stores. There are no distinctions between the bottles you receive from your liquor broker and the bottles you can buy in the grocery store. What will prevent a shrewd bartender from bringing his/her own bottle of Absolute vodka from the store, and pouring and serving to customers out of it, and pocketing the proceeds without a trace? Your bartender just opened his/her own business in your establishment.

Obviously, you cannot have a manager watch each bartender all night looking for any suspicious activity. There is a much easier method that allows you to control this aspect of your liquor operation at a glance; Ensure that you are using a proper bottle for bottle exchange program in your liquor inventory system.

An effective bottle for bottle exchange consists of just a few steps. First, obtain a stamp or a set of stickers that is original and difficult to reproduce. Secondly, mark all of your bottles with the stamp or sticker (discreetly on the back of the bottle to maintain appearance) to show that they are the bar’s property. Lastly, add the bottle for bottle exchange to your requisition process.

This bottle for bottle method requires the bartenders to save finished liquor bottles and exchange them for new bottles during requisition. The bar will not receive new bottles unless an accompanied empty bottle with the proper stamp or sticker on it is received in return. The manager then properly disposes of the empty bottles so that they cannot be retrieved.

With the new changes, managers can easily do spot checks to see if there are any bottles in the bar without stamps or stickers on them. It also provides some additional benefits. Your bar should not run short on any types of liquor anymore as any missed requests in the requisition process will be mostly eliminated due to bottle for bottle exchange. You can be certain that your bar par levels will always be maintained. Any missing liquor inventory will now be the sole responsibility of the bartenders and cannot be blamed on the process. Managers should also consider taking it one step further and disallow personal belongings such as purses or bags behind the bar. This will prevent the use of a personal bottle of liquor to refill the bar’s bottles. Also be sure to use separate stickers for the different outlets you may have so that you do not mix or confuse the bottles with each other.

The bottle for bottle exchange will definitely add some extra work and time to your bar’s inventory process. However, it will be worth the peace of mind you will receive knowing that you are making it tougher for bartender’s to steal from you.