My Suxessbar colleagues and I were out this last weekend and did some "market study" barhopping. You can't work in a hospitality related industry and not enjoy visiting bars. One of the bars we stopped in is a newly opened place on the far side of Lincoln Road. It was a beautiful place with a superlative ambient lighting system, innovative organic tapas and creative cocktails. I was happy to see that after a slow opening the word had gotten out and the lounge was packed. The clientele was well sorted, attractive, with a pleasant gender balance.

Ok, contrary to the obvious assumption, I don't try to analyze every restaurant or bar I walk into, especially after doing that all week at work, but if you've grown up in the business it's difficult to turn off the radar.

The bar staff had obviously been selected with some concern as to their "eye candy appeal". No complaints on my part, but such practices do make you wonder whether their workmanship is up to snuff. Attempting to order a drink proved to be a challenge, but eventually our presence at the bar and our intent staring at the bartendress made it obvious that asking us if we wanted a drink was appropriate. Her dazzling smile and demeanor made up for the wait.

The signature cocktails we ordered were good, the standard Caipirinha one guy in our group thought he should order was a disaster, even after we got it touched up. Oh who cares about standard drinks a bartender is supposed to be able to make when you've got mixologists that create elevated signature cocktails?

Now for all my attempting not to be critical and just enjoy, one thing just couldn't slip past my chronic attention to detail, the number of drinks that crossed over that bar without being rung up. Ok, there were plenty of free rounds of indiscriminate shots, for "Hey, good to see you again babe", to "It's your birthday", but besides that...Now I'm not going to be a stickler about when you ring up your drinks, but nobody can tell me that a bartender tending bar on a busy Saturday can remember who ordered what and when if you don't ring it up within minutes of serving it. Without exaggeration I counted at least 14 shots poured without intent of being billed and at least 7 drinks handed out without being rung up, and all of this in a one-hour period. I'm afraid to say, had I been working as a spotter that night I would have probably seen more issues.

As an F&B specialist you are always faced with the dilemma when leaving an establishment, should you say something to the manager and risk coming off as a smart-ass, or should you suck it up and just say "it was fabulous", heck it's not my money that's hemorrhaging out of that bar. Unfortunately I'm still several therapy sessions away from learning to keep my mouth shut, so on the way out I spoke with the manager on duty. I told him all the good things first, and there were plenty, and then I told him that I could without reservation claim that I believed that the shrinkage (revenue loss) in his bar was at least 30%. He didn't miss a beat when he responded, "you know we just invested over 2 million in this place, 30% shrinkage is not going to phase us?" ?!?!?!? There I stood with intent gaze, giving his statement time to sink in for both of us. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe my unsolicited feedback on his establishment threw him for a loop. My response was "Really?" at which time he changed to his chipper "I'm in control of the situation" body language and said, with a more reflective demeanor, "No, not really, do you really think it's that high." I hated to tell him as I'd hate to tell you "It's usually much higher than you think!"

And pennies a day amount to mucho dineros a month:

Below you can see the graphic of an actual bar that when it initially installed Suxessbar's Epifani Liquor Inventory System had a steady revenue flow of $33,000 a month and shrinkage of $18,725. This is a whopping 36% shrinkage on average. After reacting to the management data provided, this establishment was able to reduce its shrinkage down to 4%, substantially bolstering its revenues and reducing its liquor cost.

What have you done to control your shrinkage lately? It's higher than you think. Remember shrinkage is NOT a cost of doing business, it's the cost of you not doing your job.