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Maximizing profit opportunities
By Gavin MacMillan
June 14, 2011
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Empowering, training and rewarding staff pays off
Profit in the bar industry is often measured in nickels and dimes on the dollar, and with such narrow margins, it’s important to maximize all of your profit opportunities. Sometimes this comes in the form of managing ordering and inventory, rotation of perishables and minimizing spoilage, and the cost of the liquid you are serving, but trying to manage all of these items yourself can be overwhelming. The most successful operators train, motivate and empower their staff members to take ownership of different areas of the bar, and reward them for their performance.
In many restaurants and bars, the training/incentive program for bartenders and servers is conspicuous by its absence. In fact, most bars employ the broken telephone training system, where one generation of staff trains the next, including shortcuts and specific ways around the systems that owners spend so much time putting in place. Here are three simple steps you can take to avoid that scenario:
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1. The proper pour
Consider how accurately your staff is pouring spirit alcohol. While many bartenders free-pour, few can do it properly. You must have the same pour spouts on every bottle in your bar; not a mishmash of styles that all pour at different rates. As well, most of the shot glasses used in Canadian bars aren’t actually 30mL/1oz. glasses, and during busy periods when bartenders are rushing, the shot glass method results in over pouring 30 per cent of the time. Ball bearing pour spouts may seem like a great idea, but pour with varied consistency depending on the viscosity of the spirit or liqueur that the bartender is dispensing.
Consider that the average bar in Canada serves approximately 100 mixed drinks per day (100 oz. of spirits). If your bartenders are pouring 1/8 oz. (3.6mL or 8 drops of liquid) too much in each one, at $5.00 per drink, the loss to your restaurant or bar after 365 days is $22,885.50.
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2. Nightly inventory
I believe that each bartender should have his or her own product that they are responsible for. If that’s not physically possible because of the way your bar is designed, bartenders on the same shift should share responsibility. Inventory should be done nightly, and variances are the responsibility of the bartender. Of course this takes a little more work by the bartender -- and by management to double check the numbers. This way the bartenders take ownership for the bottles they have to work with and shrinkage becomes a non issue. In terms of labour cost, this may cost an operator an extra 15 minutes per night, or $20 per week in labour dollars, but savings from shrinkage can quickly add up.
 3. Formal review
With a few simple habit changes and minimal investment, significant savings can be realized at the bar. If you are still not seeing the results you are looking for, you may consider an impartial auditor to review your systems. Recently I have begun working with Barmetrix (www.Barmetrix.com). The Barmetrix team identifies opportunities through a proprietary cost control processes, and uses that information to influence system change to increase profit. They work on a simple return on investment model. If they can’t provide their clients a return on investment well over and above their service fee, the work they do is free.
Every operator has the power to control this issue. It may be time to review the systems set in place when the bar opened, or it may be time to come up with some new systems altogether. It’s time to start expecting more from your bartenders and your bottom line.
Master mixologist Gavin MacMillan owns BartenderOne Corp., Canada’s leading group of bartender training schools. An award-winning bartender, bestselling author and blogger, he is considered one of Canada’s leading authorities on cocktails and mixology.
Master mixologist Gavin MacMillan owns BartenderOne Corp., Canada’s leading group of bartender training schools. An award-winning bartender, bestselling author and blogger, he is considered one of Canada’s leading authorities on cocktails and mixology.
About the author:
Master mixologist Gavin MacMillan owns BartenderOne Corp., Canada’s leading group of bartender training schools. An award-winning bartender, bestselling author and blogger, he is considered one of Canada’s leading authorities on cocktails and mixology.
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