3 tech tools to tune up your bar business

With so much of your profit margin at stake, it’s only natural that you should be concerned about the health of your bar business. New technology tools can help keep the wheels running smoothly.

BinWise, which provides cloud-based beverage management systems, is reaching out to multiunit restaurant companies with a product that will gather a variety of financial beverage data for individual properties and present it in a single dashboard. That dashboard will show consolidated sales, perpetual inventory, purchases and dollars spent with each vendor as well as data on top categories and price ranges.

Owners can also compare restaurants side-by-side and view information over customized date ranges.

Tastevin incorporates an interactive beverage list with a management tool, POS, social media and other related information.

Having this kind of intelligence provides a better handle on alcohol sales, points out potential snags in the system, helps manage inventory and can improve cash flow. They can make better-informed purchases and tighten their inventories.

Tablet-based restaurant tools are getting to be a crowded field, but most in the beverage area are consumer-oriented. Tastevin offers a more integrated approach, starting with an interactive beverage list for guests and incorporating a real-time physical inventory management tool, integrated POS, social media component and sales and other related information.

“Guests are enthralled with the Tastevin experience and empowered to make bolder, more confident wine selections. The ability to obtain custom pairings, quickly search by region, varietal and price and garner rich information on wineries and vintages are features that have enhanced the dining experience,” says John Harof, director of operations for Ruth’s Chris Steak House’s Atlanta locations. Not only has Tastevin pushed sales at the restaurants, it also provides instant feedback to managers.

Finally, if you’re trying to weed out underage bar patrons and fake IDs (as, for obvious legal reasons, you should be), consider barZapp. This new app allows servers to aim a smartphone at the barcode or magnetic strip on a driver’s license to verify the age and ID validity of a guest. The app can also show examples of sample IDs from the appropriate state for comparison.

BarZapp licenses are granted for individual devices, which can then be rotated among staffers. Monthly licenses run $19.95. BarZapp requires iOS 6.1 or greater; an Android version will be available soon.