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TECHWATCH 
Enter The Metrics
Beverage Metrics System Brings Innovative
New Solution to Inventory Management
For
David Teller, controlling pours wasn’t solving inventory problems. He’d
had a number or restaurants in Manhattan that encountered difficulties
with inventory management of liquor, beer and wine. “I went out into
the market to find technology to support the issues that I had, and I
could only find systems that would intrude on the aesthetic of the
bar,” he says. Teller, now CEO of Beverage Metrics Inc., put a team of
engineers together and started developing the Beverage Metrics system,
introducing it in 2005.
Sense & Succeed
“The reaction we’re getting is that we have the right solution,” he
says. “The way we address the problems really are an answer to what
people are looking for, but they really want to see it on-site. We’re
looking at 2006 being a time when we’re going to be installing a number
of test sites in the largest brand-name companies in the states.”
Beverage Metrics is not a control system — it is a monitoring system.
The system provides data on what servers have done and does not limit
the flexibility. Operators attach miniature sensors to bottles, tappers
and openers, and every time a drink is served, the sensors capture and
transmit the data (time lapse of pour converts to a volume measurement)
for interface with the management software. Beverage Metrics tracks
beverage usage and inventory with a wireless network of the mini
sensors, which communicate with an Internet database.
The sensors — which are attached to the outside of liquor and
wine bottles and do not interfere with service or aesthetics — can be
used on bottles with or without pour spouts. Management of one or
multiple locations is supported through one master database and report
engine. The system manages data, but does not control or change
service.
The POS interface results in the ability to track efficiency and
performance through recipe accuracy, substitutions, payment and service
standards, financial analysis and profit opportunity projections.
High Points and Benefits
The hallmark of Beverage Metrics is automated inventory tracking, at
multiple locations, for liquor, tap and bottled beer and wine by the
glass or bottle. Its database manages unlimited locations, brands,
drinks, recipes, prices and purchase orders. Analysis services
reconcile pours with payments and recipes. Automated purchase orders
are based on usage and reconciled against received confirmations with
audit and exceptions reports. Summary and detailed financial and
performance reports are available on line or per e-mail scheduling.
Home office oversight of single-store or multi-store comparable data is
configurable for franchise or company stores.
Costs decrease with recipe and standards adherence tracking, Teller
says, and revenues increase because of the system’s assuring all pours
are accounted properly. Management time is freed, by reliable data
collection and analysis. NCB
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