Cash

[NewBar]

Basically my cash registers are cigar boxes. How to keep bartenders honest?
I rely on doing random counts myself, viewing surveillance, employing spotters.
Anything else I should know? Does your staff have access to stock room?

[David]

Dude...You need to jump into the 21st Century. Cash registers are cheap.

[Phil Novara]

WOAH...seriously, in all seriousness, buy a cash register.

Cash can slip away too easily if not counted for. At the end of the night your cash register can run total sales, and you can match the cash on hand with sales as a check. This makes sure nothing is slipping into anyone's pocket. Not saying you don't trust your employees, its just smart business practice.

Check out Craigslist and get a used one for cheap. Just by any means, get something soon...

[rootsreality]

Does your staff have access to stock room? No! We have a storage area at the backbar for immediate restocking. It has at least four days of supply as a rule. The remaining inventory is stored in a locked room in the back. Only two people have keys to that room. The bar manager is responsible for restocking the backbar storage area. This is done based on bottles emptied. Empty bottles must be turned in to get stock from the locked storage area on a one-to-one basis.

[Michael Black]

How do you make receipts available for IRS or state tax audit?

[NewBar]

i misspoke. here's what i meant to say: i have office depot cash registers but i am not computerized. thank you phil, yes, that's how i'm doing it at nites end. thank you roots, great info, will implement immediately. michael, i retain receipts and do daily spreadsheets. in my short time as a bar owner i've already experienced a desk audit.

regarding bartenders, i've noticed when i bring a family member in to bartend the numbers differ. i.e., how can i ensure regular bartenders ring every transaction in?

inventory is a bear.

thanks guys, i'm diggin the specifics. (while i am a business owner for ten years now i am 2 years old to the bar business as an owner only).

last nite i had a new dj (stand by for my regular guy), he brought in lots of new people. nice.

[ManageYourBar]

Hi NewBar,

You can implement the policy whereby bartenders have to give a receipt for every transaction. Put a sign outside the counter telling customers if they don't get a receipt, they get a free drink. They will then become another line of defense for you.

Remove the ability to open the cash drawer without a transaction as another precaution.

By going computerized, you could utilize cash register systems that start beeping f the cash drawer is left open.

It seems to me, that for the sake of a computerized system, you are leaving yourself wide open to fraud and you'll probably waste a lot of time trying to catch people in an easy to defraud system currently in place.

Take the leap...go computerized. Until then..you are going to lose money continuously.

cheers,

Barry

[Phil Novara]

i misspoke. here's what i meant to say: i have office depot cash registers but i am not computerized. thank you phil, yes, that's how i'm doing it at nites end.


"Basically my cash registers are cigar boxes"

Apologize...I thought you LITERALLY used cigar boxes for your cash register:)

[BarguynotBarfly]

tell your employees to write the stock at the beginning and end of each day. I'd invest in a register though in the mean time.