Wine and Beverage Inventory Checklist

Check for cracked glass, seepage at the cork, pushed-up corks (heat damage), and torn labels. Note shorts or damages on the invoice before the driver leaves — claims filed after sign-off rarely get credited.

Photograph any damaged cases and note the SKU, quantity, and lot. Email the rep the same day with the invoice number so the credit memo posts to the next delivery.

Sparkling wines and screw-cap bottles can stand upright. Reds and corked whites lay on their sides — a dry cork shrinks and lets oxygen in within weeks.

Match the cellar layout to the BTG list and bin numbers on the wine list. Bartenders pulling under volume should not be hunting for a Chablis behind the Rioja.

Pull the count sheet from Toast, BinWise Pro, or BevSpot in the order the cellar is laid out — counting in shelf order is twice as fast as alphabetical. Lock the POS to inventory mode if your system supports it so sales after count don't move the on-hand.

Two-person count — one calls, one writes. Don't round cases; count the loose bottles separately. Open bottles count to the tenth (0.1, 0.2, …) by sight or by tenths-scale.

Use the BevSpot or BinWise scale, or a kitchen scale with the empty-bottle tare in your spreadsheet. Sight-counting partials in tenths typically runs 8–12% off — weighing tightens the variance below 2%.

Weigh partial kegs against the empty (tare) weight printed on the keg or in the brewery spec. A half-barrel sixtel runs ~58 lb full / ~28 lb empty; do not eyeball-fraction kegs into halves and quarters.

Beverage cost % = (opening + purchases − closing) ÷ beverage sales. Compare actual to theoretical from the POS sales mix. Industry benchmarks: 18–24% wine, 18–22% spirits, 22–28% beer.

Pull the line-item variance report. Anything over 2% on a high-velocity SKU (well vodka, house red BTG, draft IPA) gets investigated; a single-bottle variance on a $200 reserve list bottle gets investigated. Common causes: overpouring, comp not rung in, transfer to private event not logged, breakage not recorded.

Walk the variance line by line with the bar lead. Check void/comp logs, transfer slips, breakage log, and the last week of POS modifiers for free-pour comps. Document the root cause for each flagged SKU before closing the period.

Pull the last 4 weeks of sales mix from the POS. Adjust pars upward on any SKU that hit 86 more than once and downward on slow movers sitting more than 60 days. Pay special attention to seasonal turns — rosé pars in May, big reds in October.

Most state ABC rules require orders placed with licensed distributors only — no cross-state direct buys for resale. Confirm delivery windows; many states block alcohol delivery on Sundays or before 8 AM.