Bevinco keeps bartenders honest

The Edmond Sun

EDMOND July 02, 2009 09:06 pm

— While businesses that serve alcoholic beverages make a profit in their alcohol sales, many are not maximizing those profits.
As a a former partner of several businesses in Colorado, Edmond resident Robert Wiedemann recognized the importance of maximizing those profits and bought a Bevinco franchise three months ago.
“It’s a beverage management system,” Wiedemann said. “Businesses are in a crunch and they’re looking for ways to impact the business.”
The idea is to increase revenue and decrease shrinkage by weighing and comparing how much alcohol is used compared with how much is sold, he said. The top five causes of shrinkage include missing inventory, spoilage and other wastes, free drinks, missing revenue and over pouring.
“Our job is not to accuse. It’s to help,” Wiedemann said. “You’re in a position where it is easy to be lucrative. We’re here to keep people honest. All we’re asking of for (bartenders) to account for what they are using.”
First Bevinco does an initial liquor, wine and beer inventory of a business and weighs all the opened bottles to see how many ounces of liquid each contains, he said.
Then, on a weekly basis, he weighs every bottle and keg on a scientific scale connected to a laptop running state-of-the-art, proprietary Bevinco software.
This weekly inventory then is tallied against the weekly sales, pinpointing any discrepancies between amount sold and amount used.
Wiedemann said businesses that have liquor licenses experience an average shrinkage of 20 percent to 25 percent on lost alcoholic product.
“On average, Bevinco can increase their bar sales revenue by 10 percent,” Wiedemann said.
Bevinco also can categorize inventory by the bottle or the type of alcohol.
Wiedemann said he can calculate exactly how many ounces of each liquor bartenders should be using in each mixed drink according to the owner’s specifications of how much is sold at what cost.
Bevinco has been serving Oklahoma since about 1987, predominantly in the downtown Oklahoma City area. Wiedemann has split the Oklahoma area with a senior partner and has about 250 businesses with liquor licenses in his area. Some of his current clients include Old Chicago, 1150 E. Second St., and Ole, 2125 W. Memorial Road.
Travis Franz, general manager of Old Chicago, said Bevinco comes in twice a month.
“They do a great job with inventory,” he said. “They’ve done a phenomenal job helping us maximize our profit and minimize our waste.”
Franz said it’s an impactful thing for the staff to see everything they have wasted.
“It helps with waste. It helps with theft. It helps with over pour. It’s a great tool and asset,” he said.
Bevinco also offers training and consulting services.
“We help them with pricing as well,” Wiedemann said. “That’s part of our consulting package.”

FOR MORE information about Bevinco, visit www.bevinco.com or call Wiedemann at 822-1193.

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