In tough economic times, businesses have to to everything they can to keep expenses down. True, they should do that all the time, but especially in the down turns. If the business happens to sell beer on tap, this means that they need to protect that beer from "pilferage or waste."
Apparently, since there's not a visual connection between how much beer is poured and how much has been paid for, it's easy for draft beer to disappear. Enter US Beverage Net, which offers software that monitors how much beer is in the keg and how much has been paid for. Their monthly subscription fee is fairly low, so it's a fairly affordable way for bars and restaurants to keep track of their draft beer.
I'm curious if places that serve draft beer are really losing so much money that having their beer monitored is a necessary solution. Does anyone have any information on this technology?
[Via Beer Advocate]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-09-2008 @ 1:30PM
Monika said...
Too bad all that effort couldn't be put into insuring good draught and clean lines.
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7-09-2008 @ 2:56PM
noza said...
There's a reason bartenders let a little beer flow into the drip tray before putting the glass underneath - it insures a good pour. I unfortunately foresee a metering system like this leading to terrible, foam-heavy pours by bartenders fearing for their jobs if they "waste" too much beer.
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7-09-2008 @ 4:21PM
Baron said...
Well, as Noza said, some beer does indeed to into the drain to help with a good pour. I think that the majority of places (unless you are going to chains where I can see this being an issue with their view of the bottom dollar) are going to realize that. BUT, it doesn't take spending very much time at a bar to realize that many people have a "buddy" that works at the bar. For a little extra tip (of, if they are truly your real buddy, no tip required) will gladly send extra drinks your way. I know in college we always had bar tending buddies that would give us a two for one deal when they could. I can imagine how that would really dig into profits. At the time, I think it wasn't something we thought about, esp. when we (go figure, smart people drinking means we were breaking down the costs of everything) would figure the cost of the keg, broken down by an approximate number of pints times the cost of the pint that they were raking in lots of money (so it was only fair for us to cut into that). Again, that was before we really considered the cost to do business. One of those things the young and inexperienced often don't understand.
But really, the bottom line is, there is a lot of "handouts" in the food service industry. Buddies giving out free drinks, free food, etc.
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7-10-2008 @ 6:10AM
Berkana said...
Monitoring should be easy; just use a scale with an USB feedback cable, and calculate how much should have been sold with how much the keg weight indicates.
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7-10-2008 @ 9:46AM
Baron said...
@Berkana, while I think that simpler is generally better, scales can be defeated pretty fast if you are in fear of losing your job. Add some extra weight to the keg after a poor and you are set. I'd say that most of the time, it is generally someone "down on the ladder" that gets the job of switching out the kegs, it's not often that it's the person counting the money. I'm sure it would work for a while, but it wouldn't take long to beat it. Now, some internal method to calculate could still be beat, but it would at least take a lot longer.
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7-10-2008 @ 10:51AM
bruce said...
As a beverage manager at a Bar & Grill, we pay close attention to keg yield and expect some loss from each keg due to the basics of draft beer (keg changes, foam, correct pouring, etc). But we do watch the numbers closely and do our best to keep them high (in summer, it's important to keep backup kegs cooled and stored properly so that they foam less when put online).
I'm not sure it would be worth it to pay for an additional service, but we have our POS system organized to keep track of our various beers as accurately as possible.
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7-13-2008 @ 11:21PM
Jamie said...
Re: losses from having 'friends' behind the bar - That practice also helps promote loyalty to a bar and brings in more business even when said 'friend' isn't behind the bar.
My bartender slips me a free drink or two every now and again, and I keep coming back instead of going next door, or down the block. When I'm out drinking with friends, I'll try to get everybody to go there instead of someplace else.
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