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A few more splashes of gin in that martini could mean a few cents less in profit.
As the food service industry struggles through the recession, bar and restaurant owners are doing whatever they can to protect their bottom line. One key way is to minimize alcohol losses, like when the bartender overpours or a server eager for a bigger tip slides a customer a drink on the house.
Enter Indialantic-based Bevinco of Florida, which has been busier than usual these days.
The company offers alcohol inventory management control that involves weighing open bottles of liquor, wine and kegs, tabulating unopened bottles and then creating a variance report that uses sales and purchase information to track usage against income.
"The process involves giving the client a snapshot of their day-to-day operations," said Bevinco owner Mike Whitlow. "So to do that, we do a series of baseline audits, and that's without the staff's knowledge."
Whitlow calls what Bevinco does "profit enhancement service" because it also offers consultations on which type of alcohol and management practices will bring the greatest gain. He said bars that don't use any alcohol inventory management typically have profit losses -- known as shrinkage rates -- of around 25 percent.
Chris Conneen, owner and operator of Pizza Gallery & Grill at The Avenue Viera, said that using Bevinco reduced his shrinkage rate by more than 20 percent.
"It's a big number, and honestly, I think we had a good system in place, but what Bevinco did was help us develop a more accurate system," he said.
Conneen said the system allows him to measure each bartender's performance and correct any mistakes.
"We can spot check a single bartender on a single shift and can tell whether they're an ounce off any drink," he said.
Granted, most professional bartenders are very good at what they do, Whitlow said, so the main concerns for many owners are theft and mismanagement. The tough economy can add to those issues.
"There are a lot of temptations out there, whether the bartender has fallen on hard times or the bar manager," Conneen said. "This system just helps us as an integrity tool, it's a tool to measure the integrity of our system and our people."
Contact Best at 242-3784 or kbest@floridatoday.com.
