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Taking Stock
Technology’s Latest Inventory Scanners Offer Bars a New Code By Mitch Morgan
Stock room employees need not scurry about, crunching numbers like accountants and maintaining checks and balances over the expensive supply of spirits that just arrived off the truck. Retailers and nightclub owners alike now easily can audit with no more round-the-clock monitoring or inventory shrinkage stemming from employee mistakes, theft and over-pouring.
Keeping Tabs
 According to the Azbar Web site, a staggering industry average of 3.4 drinks per liter never make it to the register. Whether the problem lies in portion control or in overstocking seldom used brands, barcode scanners have become the universal solution in avoiding mishaps.
Chuck Darrow, owner of the Indigo Joe’s Sports Pub & Restaurant franchise in San Diego, has utilized Bevinco’s expertise for more than six years. “It keeps your bartenders honest,” he says. “They can’t wait for their reports to show up because they’ve taken ownership and want to see what the score is.”
‘It keeps your bartenders honest.’ | |
— Chuck Darrow, owner, Indigo Joe’s Sports Pub & Restaurant, San Diego
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Watching Profits Pour In
The absence of secret auditing also will dismiss the need for countless staff meetings with employees who may be testing the system for kinks and loopholes. Combined with POS technology, the extra money accrued from this time saver will grow from cents to dollars.
Profit enhancement services like Bevinco, take the inventory process a step further by providing owners with on-site professional auditing through a representative.
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Inventory and stock room management shouldn’t be so hard. |
“For our clients, we want to be able to show them exactly what’s missing out of every bottle,” says Ian Foster, regional vice president for Bevinco’s West coast territory. “(Handheld devices) are a perfectly adequate way to do month-end inventory,” Foster says, but those operators looking to cut costs dramatically must look at day-to-day analyses to pinpoint where money is being forfeited. Bevinco typically does an audit for their customers once each week and provides detailed follow-up reports so that owners can keep tabs on operations and pour costs.The long-range scanners they incorporate are essentially like those found in supermarkets and link up with a computer to provide on-the-spot information on open bottles within their database.
Quality You Can Scan By
Bluetooth wireless capabilities means the latest scanners can communicate not only with the device’s base station but also with laptops and other systems. The latest scanner from Metrologic (MS9535 VoyagerBT) is one with the wireless advantage. Many of the latest offer plug-and-play capability, meaning more time can be spent counting available stock and less time sifting through awkward manuals. NCB
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Meet the Advertisers | |
Barcode Discount Warehouse
www.bcdw.com
5480 Creek Road
Cincinnati, OH 45242
A top supplier of barcode scanners and accessories, Barcode Discount Warehouse can help customize service needs depending on those aspects essential to running a well-maintained business.
Bevinco
www.bevinco.com
505 Consumers Road, Suite 510
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2J 4V8
One of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top 500 franchises and ranked alongside the Top 100 fastest-growing franchises worldwide, Bevinco receives regular media recognition for its advances in profit management service. Its trained representatives can assist operators in inventory checks and portion control techniques to ensure steady profits.
ID Automation Inc.
www.idautomation.com
550 N. Reo St., Suite 230
Tampa, FL 33609
ID Automation specializes in barcode software, fonts and components to suit any operator’s needs. Their website hosts a comprehensive list of all scanners, printers and accessories in stock and keeps customers alert of popular items and good values. |
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