Food & beverage · 8 min read
Eight ways hotel bars and restaurants lose money, and how to stop them
Short answer: Most hotel outlet losses come from a handful of gaps: drinks poured but not rung up, voids after payment, room charges that never reach the folio, untracked complimentary drinks, and stock issued without a record. Each has a simple control, and most need a POS that talks to your PMS and stores.
By the Biodux teamUpdated
When we install Biodux in a hotel, the owner often asks us one thing privately: “Can it tell me where the bar money is going?” Usually the answer is in one of eight places.
1. Drinks poured but never rung up
The classic. A shot is poured, paid for in cash, and never entered. The bottle is lighter, but nothing says why.
The control: sell spirits by the shot or glass in the POS, as a fraction of a bottle, so every shot sold reduces the bottle count. Then count the bottles. If the count is short against what the till says was sold, you know exactly how many shots went missing.
2. Voids after the guest has paid
An item is removed from a bill after the guest has paid and left, and the cash goes into someone’s pocket.
The control: make voiding a separate permission that only supervisors have, and print a cancelled-order ticket naming who did it. When voids leave a paper trail, they drop sharply.
3. Room charges that never reach the folio
A guest signs for dinner, the docket sits at the restaurant, and the guest checks out at 6 a.m. without paying.
The control: the POS should post the charge to the guest’s folio the moment it’s settled to the room. No dockets, no walking across the compound. In Biodux POS, the cashier picks the guest by name or room number and the charge is on the bill straight away.
4. Complimentary drinks nobody recorded
Free drinks for a regular, the GM’s guests, a staff birthday. Often fine. Often not recorded either, so they look like theft at stock count.
The control: record comps as a settlement type of their own. Stock still goes down, the comp appears on reports, and management can see who gave away what.
5. Discounts given at the bartender’s discretion
Happy hour that starts at 5 and somehow ends at 9.
The control: set happy hour in the system for each day, with start and end times, applied only to the items you choose. Anything outside those hours needs a manual discount, and manual discounts should be visible on reports.
6. Stock that leaves the store without paperwork
Cartons move from the main store to the pool bar on a verbal request. The storekeeper says twelve, the bar says nine.
The control: numbered requisitions from the store to each outlet, with names on them. Returns go back the same way. Then each outlet’s stock is its own responsibility. Biodux Inventory handles requisitions and returns between stores and outlets.
7. Breakages and spoilage written off quietly
A broken bottle of champagne becomes a missing bottle of champagne.
The control: record spillage, spoilage and breakage as stock adjustments with a reason. A spillage account that’s growing fast is a question worth asking.
8. Prices that don’t follow cost
Not theft, but a leak all the same. The cost of a crate goes up and the menu price doesn’t move for six months.
The control: recipe costing for cocktails and dishes, with cost per portion updated from current purchase prices. Our guide to recipe costing walks through it.
Putting it together
None of these controls is complicated on its own. The hard part is that they need the POS, the stores and the front desk to share information. When they don’t, the gaps between them are exactly where money disappears.
| Leak | Control | Where in Biodux |
|---|---|---|
| Unrung shots | Sell by fraction of a bottle | Biodux POS |
| Voids after payment | Void permission, cancelled-order ticket | Biodux POS |
| Missed room charges | Charge to room posts to folio instantly | Biodux POS and PMS |
| Unrecorded comps | Complimentary settlement type | Biodux POS |
| Discretionary discounts | Scheduled happy hour | Biodux POS |
| Undocumented issues | Numbered requisitions | Biodux Inventory |
| Quiet write-offs | Adjustments with reasons | Biodux Inventory |
| Prices behind cost | Recipe costing | Biodux Inventory |
If your bar is losing money and you’re not sure where, message us on WhatsApp or book a demo. We’ll show you the reports that would answer the question.