Inventory Count

What an inventory count actually means

An inventory count is when somebody walks the bar with a list and writes down exactly what is there. Every full bottle, every open bottle tenthed to the closest 0.1, every keg, every case in the back, every bag of limes. It is the ground truth for your entire inventory system.

Without a count, every other number is a guess. Pour cost, variance, COGS, par levels, all of it runs on whatever the last count said.

How it is used on the floor

Most bars count Sunday night or Monday morning before the week starts. A full count at a 200-SKU bar takes 45 to 90 minutes with two people. One calls, the other enters. Some operators count after close; others do it before open.

The sequence: start at the well, work the back bar top to bottom, hit the coolers, count the kegs, finish with backup stock in the basement or storage room. Consistency matters more than order. Count the same way every time.

Full count vs cycle count

A full count covers every SKU in the building in one sitting. A cycle count rotates through different sections over the week. Small bars run full counts weekly. Larger operations with 800+ SKUs split into cycle counts so the burden stays manageable.

What a count is worth

One hour spent counting well can save hundreds or thousands a month in catch shrinkage. The math:

Example: a bar pouring 3 percent over on tequila across 50 bottles a week at $30 a bottle loses $45 a week. A good count catches the variance in one period and fixes it. That is $2,340 a year from one hour of walking the bar.

Common mistakes

Counting while the bar is open (bottles move). Skipping backup stock. Letting two different people count two different ways. Writing numbers on paper and entering them later (data gets lost). Not counting the same day of the week every week.

The worst mistake: only counting at month end. By then you cannot trace the leak, and variance reports are useless.

How PourIQ handles it

PourIQ guides counts in a fixed order, one bottle at a time, with the previous count visible for reference. Numbers save as you go, so nothing gets lost between the clipboard and the office. When you finish, the system compares to book inventory and hands you a variance report in seconds.