It's evident that overpouring drinks are costing any bar business money - with potentially damaging results. A little bit of extra shot of liquor here and there can add up to hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year in lost profits, not to mention inventory wasted products. But how much do you really know about the problem of overpouring? The truth is, it's a major issue affecting many bars across the world, from high-end restaurants to mom-and-pop bars.
In this blog post, we'll discuss exactly what overpouring entails, how overpouring drain the profits of the bar business, as well as steps owners and managers can take to minimize loss due to carelessness behind the bar. Read on if you want simple strategies to help keep track of inventory, pour costs, and tools needed to protect yourself against lost revenue due to overpouring.
What exactly does the term "overpour" signify in the beverage industry?
Overpouring refers to pouring too much of an alcoholic beverage into a drink, resulting in waste and a decrease in revenue. This can involve either serving drinks with more alcohol than ordered or overfilling bottles that are intended to serve multiple drinks. Overpouring is one of the most common mistakes made by bar and restaurant staff and can lead to serious financial repercussions if not addressed.
Free pour vs. Measure Pours
The two forms of measuring alcohol for drinks are free-pour and measure pouring. For those who are unfamiliar, freepouring alcohol is when an experienced and highly skilled bartender accurately pours out ¾, 1 oz, or even 1.5 oz of liquid without needing to employ precision tools since they can count by sight or simply eye-balling the flow. But if staff are not meticulous with their free-pouring techniques, it can lead to inaccurate measurements or overpouring and encourage intentional leaks in your bar.
On the other hand, measuring pours involve using a device such as a speed pourer or right tools jiggers and other precision tools that have pre-determined measurements for each pour size. This helps to eliminate any human eye miscalculations and guesswork, thus, resulting in more accurate drinks.
For many bars, the overpouring impact is more likely to occur with free pour than with measure pour due to human error. As a result, it's important to regularly monitor both free pours and measure pours to make sure that the right amount of alcohol is properly measured and being served.
The truth about overpouring
Overpouring is an expensive problem for bar owners. Understanding how overpouring drains profits is certainly an important step in curbing the issue. According to research, approximately 10-15% of all drinks served have been overpoured or undercharged. This means that every time a bartender pours too much of an alcoholic beverage into a drink, they are losing money on each and every pour.
Not only can overpouring lead to wasted drinks and lost profits, but it can also hurt your reputation. Poorly made drinks - whether due to overpouring or other mistakes - can leave customers feeling disappointed with the experience and less likely to come back in the future.
Without a doubt, the amount of waste and losses that occur at a bar are determined by various factors such as drink types, glass sizes, and pricing structures, among many others. Imagine the impact of stopping shrinkage can make bars become more profitable. This is something that must urgently be addressed in order to make sure that any bar is maximized and protected from any possible financial loss caused by overpouring.
What causes bartenders to overpour?
Overpouring may occur for two key reasons: it can be either unintentional or intentional.
Unintentional overpouring
Human error is the most common cause of unintentional overpouring at most bars. The bartender may not be paying close enough attention, or could be new to the process and pour too much alcohol out of habit. More often than not, these incidents are unintentional due to a lack of using proper measuring practices or instruments like a measured pouring spout and other precision tools.
Free-pouring the wine into a glass or counting out shots for beverages can contribute to this unfortunate occurrence too - even from well-trained and honest servers! It's almost impossible to visually distinguish between a 5 oz. and 6 oz. pour due to their minuscule variation in size...making it hard for anyone without measurement aids on hand to gauge portion sizes correctly.
Overpouring can sometimes be done intentionally
Overpouring drink practices come in various forms, such as providing an excessive filling of draft beer by removing the foam afterward or offering a larger tip by adding an extra shot. Even topping off someone's glass with enough wine to leave the bottle sooner aside is considered overpouring.
Some bartenders may be tempted to overpour deliberately in hopes of garnering bigger tips from customers. This is a risky and unreliable strategy as it can easily backfire, leading to a loss of revenue for the business. Additionally, it's not uncommon for customers to share drinks or order one drink but receives two or more - all due to an overpouring mistake or malicious employee theft.
Although it might not seem like a big deal when taken separately, these actions will certainly inflict significant damage to sales and inventory over time. Even if servers don't have direct contact with the books, they should still be aware of how their every action affects the revenue of the bar business.
How does overpouring affect your bar's profitability?
Overpouring is one of the most serious issues faced by most bar owners and managers, as it can lead to losses in revenue. Without careful monitoring, unchecked overpouring can add up quickly, resulting in thousands of dollars lost annually – a price too steep for any bar business. Aside from financial loss caused, overpouring can also affect customer service and employee morale. Customers may feel cheated if they don’t get what they pay for, and staff may become frustrated and unmotivated if they are constantly being reprimanded for their mistakes.
In addition to its impact on the business, overpouring can also contribute to a higher rate of intoxication or lead to customer complaints due to short-pours. This can not only lead to embarrassing incidents but potentially costly legal issues as well.
Overpouring impacts your beverage sales
(1) A single ounce of excess pour can cost you up to 20% of your total sales revenue on any wine glass
Wine is typically distributed in 25.4 oz bottles, which can be used to serve five 5 oz glasses or four 6 oz glasses – an imperceivable 1 oz discrepancy without putting the glasses side by side. Serving a larger glass size than intended means that you are losing out on 20% of potential revenue from each bottle!
Now let's evaluate the potential revenue. When you consider a bottle of wine costs only $8.50, losing 20% is equivalent to just $1.70; however, if your establishment serves glasses of wine at $9.50 each, then sacrificing an entire serving per bottle could significantly hurt your profit margins. Don't let this happen; double-check those measurements and watch your profits soar.
(2) A single ounce of overpour is all it takes to dramatically increase the amount of liquor
An ounce overpouring in a glass of wine may be almost unnoticeable, but it can double the cost for that serving. Now consider liquor-mixed drinks; with their liquor poured over ice and blended into other ingredients, accurately freepour is virtually impossible. Without visibility towards how much alcohol goes in each drink, even an imperceptible 1 oz miscalculation will cut down half of what could have been gained from a bottle!
Now, when we dig deeper into the profitability of every glass or bottle of beer, liquor, and wine, it becomes strikingly evident. Liquor has a much higher margin than its counterparts with 25.4 oz per bottle costing anywhere from $20 to 33.8 oz for premium options on the lower end.
At the lower end, each ounce of liquor is priced at $0.80; furthermore, guests typically pay around $10 for a single mixed drink. Since most cocktails contain 1 oz., 33 drinks can be served from one bottle – meaning that overpouring would reduce this number to 16 servings and result in both cost loss (of approximately $13.50) as well as potential revenue loss of up to an astonishing amount of more than $160 per bottle!
(3) A few extra ounces of beer per glass served can cost you thousands each year - don't let overpouring ruin your profits!
It's no secret that wine and liquor are not only more expensive per ounce, but also come in smaller serving sizes. However, beer takes up the majority of its glassware - so why should we disregard the consequences of overpouring it? After all, there is still a significant markup for each additional ounce!
A standard half-barrel keg of domestic beer usually costs around $100 for 1,983 oz., making the cost per ounce about five cents. Did you know that when pouring a 16 oz. beer, it should have about 2.25 oz. of foam to ensure the carbon is released and enhance its flavor.
Unfortunately, if too much beer is poured than necessary into each glass - say approximately 2 ounces more - then not only does it affect the taste but can cost your business $0.10 cost per pour! Imagine serving 200 more glasses of beer in one night at the bar; those unnecessary overpouring amounts to an annual loss of nearly $7,300!
To break this down into numbers, you're losing an average of 400 oz. per night - nearly 25 glasses of drink cuts! Even if each beer has only cost $6, that's still a loss of $150 every evening. And if an average bar has more than 1,000 patrons on any given weekend night; those missed pours equate to a considerable amount of revenue gone untapped.
Exactly how much liquor profit margin can you lose due to overpouring?
Here's an example of how a bar typically calculates for overpouring in most common cases:
- If a bartender goes slightly over by only an eighth of an ounce per drink, it would lead to the squandering of two ounces or more in liquor within one hour.
- With a cost of $2 per ounce, that's more than $4 worth of liquor lost every hour.
- In a mere 10-hour shift at the bar, you could be throwing away up to $40 worth of liquor!
- Over the course of one typical 5-day work week, more than $200 worth of liquor is being thrown out.
- In an entire month, a staggering $800 worth of liquor can be lost.
- Annually, that adds up to a whopping $9,600 in liquor gone to waste.
As demonstrated, this is exactly how much liquor profit margin can be lost due to overpouring in any bar business. It's definitely a hefty amount that cannot be overlooked- and goes directly against any bar manager or owner's bottom line.
Most common causes of overpouring
As a bar operator, you know how overpouring drains profits and can rapidly accumulate considerable financial loss for your business. To make sure that overpouring doesn't become an issue, we must first understand why and how it happens.
To be able to effectively stop it from happening in your bar business, this knowledge is essential. Here are some variables that can affect your bar service performance.
- Overpouring caused by stress and pressure is one of the most common reasons, especially in hectic working atmospheres that prioritize speed over accuracy. Bartenders are particularly susceptible to this unintended consequence; when the environment is filled with tension and expectations, they will naturally tug away from service precision.
- Inadequate training can lead to overpouring drinks which gives customers an unpleasant "fuller" experience. Ensure that each bartender is aware of your bar's specific servings so they don't feel pressured into giving extra portions.
- Poor accuracy in measuring cups can also contribute to overpouring. If the measuring cup is not properly calibrated, a bartender may end up pouring too much liquor without noticing it.
- If a bartender is not careful, their attention could be easily diverted from the task of measuring liquor and leading to an overpouring. Environmental factors such as conversations or bright lights can cause lapses in judgment that may result in costly errors. It's essential for bartenders to remain aware of potential distractions and focus on perfecting each pour.
How do bartenders know how much to pour?
A bartender's responsibilities consist of much more than making drinks; it also includes mastering pouring techniques to deliver accuracy with every glass order. This is one of the most essential skills that all bartenders should have in their toolbox. Adhering to standard measurements will not only help you keep at a minimal cost low but also allow for a better inventory process at your bar business.
At its core, a successful and rewarding bar is built upon accurate recipes, precise liquor pours, and sensible wine servings. Get acquainted with the fundamental liquor pour sizes and methods, including rock pours, jiggers, and shots below.
Standard liquor pour
When ordering liquor or wine at a bar, you will generally be served with the standard pour. Depending on what type of drink and liquor is chosen, this can range from 1.5 fluid ounces for 80-proof spirits to 4 fluid ounces for champagne; which adds up to about 17 shots in a typical fifth bottle size—the most popular container for alcoholic beverages. Adopting the customary measure when preparing mixed drinks ensures that per bottle yields its maximum potential, thus ensuring greater value and satisfaction all around!
Standard rocks pour
This method consists of a slower and more controlled pour, typically used for whiskey, brandy, and other liquors that are intended to be served on the rocks. A standard rocks pour is equal to 1.5 fluid ounces; however, you can tailor it to your preference by pouring either more or less depending on the customer's request.
Standard pour in a single mixer cocktail
When making a single mixer cocktail, such as a martini or gimlet, the standard pour is 1.5 fluid ounces of your chosen spirit and 3 fluid ounces of the mixer. This ratio can be adjusted according to taste or preference; some people may prefer 2 fluid ounces of spirit and 4 fluid ounces of mixer for a stronger drink.
Standard shot pour
A shot is simply 1.5 fluid ounces of a single spirit or liqueur, served neat or with the addition of a mixer. Shots are popular for those who enjoy drinking their alcohol straight up and prefer to have a greater concentration of it in every sip.
Liquor in a double pour
A double pour is twice the amount of a standard 1.5-ounce pour; that comes out to 3 ounces of liquor. A double should never be confused with a rocks or neat drink, as those come in 2-ounce pours. When you are creating mixed drinks that require multiple liquors, it's important to remember the standard pour for each.
Standard pour on a jigger
One of the handiest tools for bartenders is the right tools jiggers. This double-ended measurer contains two measurements; one small and one large size. The standard jigger holds 1.5 ounces while the smaller one holds 0.75 ounces, making it perfect for crafting cocktails with precision.
4 ways to reduce overpouring
From automated systems to simple tactics, there are ways in which you can reduce overpouring and keep any bar business running smoothly.
1. Utilize the proper measuring tools
When it comes to mixology, precise measurements are key. To be able to craft a quality cocktail, bartenders must have access to the proper measuring tools - without them getting the ratios just right is extremely difficult and despite their best efforts all free-poured drinks may not measure up. This also eliminates eye-balling the pouring flow of liquor and thus reduces the chances of overpouring impact.
Other precision tools to help reduce overpouring:
- Using the right tools jiggers and shot glasses: One of the most important tools for accurate pours is the jigger. This double-sided measuring tool contains two different-sized measurements and can help to ensure that each pour is exactly what it needs to be.
- Measured pouring spouts: These helpful devices fit onto the tops of most bottles and can help to regulate the flow of liquor, allowing bartenders to pour effectively without overspilling or wasting any liquor.
- Use speed pourer tools: Speed pourers are great tools for bartenders to use when pouring shots and mixing drinks quickly. The spout controls the pour, preventing too much liquor from being used at once. This is an invaluable solution to reduce overpouring in high-volume liquors.
- Utilize a bar gun: A bar gun is an automated system for dispensing pre-measured shots and mixes, ensuring consistent pours every time.
In addition, investing in liquor bottles and glassware marked with lines indicating the correct pour size is a foolproof method to guarantee your drinks are poured precisely. Be sure to take note of these measurements when preparing for a mixed drink.
2. Train your staff
Equip your staff with the necessary expertise to become highly-skilled bartenders, who comprehend why precise measurements are crucial and have the ability to tweak their pours as needed at your bar. Through this, you can ensure that each glass of your drinks is faultlessly prepared - every single time and help you guarantee a much higher profit margin in every glass or per bottle.
Moreover, keep a record of how much liquor you’re using at your bar, so you can track if someone is overpouring or not following standard procedures. This will help you stay on top of your inventory and keep any losses to a minimum cost.
3. Take advantage of a connected beverage dispensing solution
The beverage industry is leading the way into the new millennium with advanced technologies that allow for precise pouring and minimize room for human error. There is countless innovative beverage program available in today's market, giving bar owners' an array of options for their needs.
Although the initial investment in automated systems, like a connected beverage dispensing solution, may seem pricey upfront, you will reap the rewards in no time with increased efficiency and convenience. Taking that additional time to make certain accuracy will always pay off with potential revenue in the end with valuable tools like this.
Utilized portion-controlled machine
For larger volumes of drinks, a portion-controlled machine can help you stop unintentional overpouring to ensure that every drink is poured with the same amount of liquor in the glass. This allows for quick and accurate pouring, which leads to faster service, and less waste to increase efficiency in your business.
4. Improve your internal security
Stop shrinkage by keeping an eye on your staff and regularly observing their pouring techniques at your bar. Make sure that they are using the correct measures for each drink, and pay attention to any discrepancies or suspicious behavior. It is important to follow tighter inventory counts on every bottle and increased monitoring of audits can also be helpful in detecting any signs of negligence or theft. This will allow you to detect any discrepancies or potential losses of which liquors are being used more often than others.
Be on alert for intentional overpouring. Even though it may look like a minor issue, if your staff intentionally pours more than what was ordered or give away free drinks in exchange for tips, then that is actually considered thievery from an employee standpoint. Be especially careful when bartenders are around their friends or people they recognize.
Avoid overpouring at all costs
By paying close attention to your beverage program and liquor pouring at your bar, you will be able to guarantee that the drinks are served correctly and customers get exactly what they pay for. You can also protect your bottom line by following these strategies since it prevents losses caused by overpouring or intentional misuse. Trust the process - these changes will eventually unlock a considerable improvement in the success of your bar.
Take a proactive approach to minimize overpouring and boost your margins with the insights and tools provided by WISK, our powerful liquor inventory management solution helps you identify overpouring trends, pinpoint areas for improvement, and implement effective strategies to curtail unnecessary losses.
See your ROI rise and let WISK be your partner in achieving optimal profitability, one perfectly measured pour at a time. Book a call now!
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