F&B

The bar code

A bar may be a perfect place to socialise, but managing it is no easy matter. Vikram Kharvi goes behind the scene to get some pointers

A pub or a public house, as it was known in the 18th century, like all catering ventures is risky business. Only here, the scope to lose money is much higher.

There is a lot that goes in the making of an efficient, well-managed and cost-effective bar. Spills, waste, over-pouring, free drinks or unrecorded sales, disputes, and theft are just a few of the inherent challenges that are present wherever liquor, beer and wine are served. The core of any bar management technique is to control the liquor inventory effectively. Every bar owner or club manager knows the difficulty - rather the impossibility - involved in this task because every place has at least one bartender with a heavy hand, or worse still, one who gives away the house.

Control is key

Monitoring a bar's finances involves many activities including keeping tabs on its inventory, having a foolproof payment system in place, etc. The most constant aspect in the business that every operator would like to achieve is to control costs by preventing losses.

Every management ensures that the number of guests never exceeds a certain limit, which would otherwise make it difficult to serve or keep tabs on the payment. In some bars that normally accommodate 450 guests, the number sometimes exceeds even 700 during peak hours. Samir Jilani, manager at Insomnia at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, informs, "Luckily our nightclub is designed with three bars so the crowd gets distributed. Also, we don't allow the numbers to exceed a point where we can't manage either the entry or the crowd inside the place."

While the count of guests pouring in is important, of equal concern is the staff strength. Normally, the number of employees required depends on the number of bars in a pub or a nightclub and their size. On an average, four to five bartenders are enough. The floor waiters who take orders outside the bar generally number five besides one cashier and one manager who supervises the overall operation of the outlet. This does not include other hands required for clearing glassware, etc.

Many times mistakes in billing or overcharging causes a lot of unpleasantness hence care should be taken when dealing with bills. Often it is the duty of the floor waiters to either maintain a record of the consumption of a particular guest or collect their credit cards and hand them to the cashier, who maintains the record. Sidesh Shetty, manager of Czar at Intercontinental Marine Drive, Mumbai says, "There are people who get drunk and create problems for us. But a pub manager has to maintain his cool and handle the situation with tact. People do dispute the billings. At the bar the chances of dispute are less than on the floor. So the floor waiter has to remember what he is serving, when and to whom. We try our best to give beverages to the guest on time, but because the place is always crowded, it does take time for a floor waiter to serve."

The situation can get tricky where there is no proper seating arrangement, unlike restaurants where the table number is punched in the system making it easier for staff to track charges. In pubs or nightclubs with limited seating, guests tend to ramble. At times when the place is packed with liquor consumption exceeding normal limits, it becomes almost impossible to keep tabs with the result that guests walk out without settling their bill.

Payment getaway

There can be other problems too. If the Point of Sale (PoS) software cannot keep pace with the guest inflow, pubs usually switch over to manual operations. Some bars find it convenient to switch over to coupons. But then there is always the chance of someone faking the stamp. Insomnia at Taj or Enigma at J W Marriott in Mumbai collect an entry fee and issue coupons in exchange for that value which can be used for buying food or beverages. But Czar takes cash or credit cards upfront at the bar, keeps tabs on the consumption and then charges the total amount when the guests leave. Shetty says, "At times guests do not give their own credit card, or give a stolen or an expired one and succeed in walking out without making the payment. That is when we suffer a lot."

Deepak Jethi, restaurant manager of Bandra-based Purple Haze, says, "A practice that is gaining popularity is the system of debit cards where guests pay a certain amount of cash at the counter and buy a debit card worth that amount. The remaining amount is refunded when they leave. Such cards are transferable as there is no bearer's name on it."

Some international bars have gotten even more innovative, like Bar Soba in Glasgow - a Scottish nightclub - that has found an ingenious method of collecting payment. It employs a microchip the size of a rice grain called 'digital wallet' which is implanted in the customer's arm. This guarantees entry to the club and allows them to buy drinks on account. The VeriChip is inserted by a medical professional and then scanned for its unique ID number as and when the customer enters or leaves the bar. There are a number of advantages to this VeriChip from instant access, to not having to carry money or credit cards, to letting bar staff know a customer's name and favourite drink. By the time they walk to the bar, they are greeted by the bartender by name with their favourite drink in hand. These are ideas whose time is yet to come. But until such a time, pub managers would do good to start from the ground up.