What this bartender looks like now will stun you

Now that I have your attention, here are some simple things that you can do at your bar to save you money.

1) Put pourers on all the bottles, not just the speed rack stuff. The high cost call liquors on the back bar are the ones you should be closely measuring. Put a pourer on those bottles or insist on a jigger being used to pour them.

2) Eliminate Fast Rings in your system. Make every cash transaction print a receipt and insist the receipt is handed back to the guest with the change. Cash sales are ripe for being short rung and this simple procedure will help eliminate it. The cost of the receipt paper is not going to bankrupt you... but a bartender stealing cash sales because no one can tell what they just entered to the register will have you well on the way to Chapter 11.

3) Stop wasting draft beer. Teach your staff how to pour a draft without the constant waste of their trying to pour off a foamy head by adding more and more beer. Either let the beer settle and then top it off, or do what real beer bars do and serve draft beer in unchilled glasses. Stops the foaming, stops the waste, makes the beer taste better, and cuts down on your power demand to chill the glasses (never mind the fact that fewer glass chillers extends the life of the glasses and gives you more room behind the bar for product).

4) In a shameless plug... shop your bartenders on at least a quarterly basis. The things a good trained shopper will notice will more than offset the cost of the shop and your staff should always at least suspect there are shoppers out there. Cameras are a great tool, but your staff knows no one is looking at the footage.