How to Price Drinks in Bar 001
When this cocktail den opened in a Midtown tower in 2013, it uplifted the cocktail credentials of an entire area. The bar has since expanded and continues to innovate.
Tiki fans owe it to themselves to stop at this Los Feliz spot that keeps many of its ingredients secret, allowing the drinks to stand on their own.
1. Inventory Management
Whether you do it in-house or through an automated software platform, bar inventory management is the most critical part of your bar business. Getting to know your product and knowing what’s selling helps you to control costs, minimize theft (which is common in bars) and keep your bar on track to profitability.
Take inventory at least once a week, but the best method for managing inventory is to count every item twice and calculate usage between those counts. Consistency is the key—if you start and end the inventory process at the same time each week or month, you’ll create benchmarks for comparing historical data that will help standardize counting procedures and minimize mistakes.
Determine what method of taking inventory works for your space—a spreadsheet, barcode scanning or a bar inventory app—and stick to it each time. This will minimize the chances of human error and make the process much faster, as you won’t have to sort through your products in a different order each time you take inventory.
2. Pricing
When you price drinks on your bar menu, it’s important to strike a balance between attracting customers and making enough profit to grow your business. Depending on your specific bar, you may have a difficult time finding the right balance. Thankfully, there are a few strategies that can help you set prices for beer, wine and spirits so you don’t drive away customers or fall short of your business goals.
The Bar() function has several arguments that allow you to customize the appearance of a bar graph. For example, you can specify the color of the edges of bars and the vertical alignment of labels using the XEndPoints and YEndPoints properties. You can also use the Text() function to display values centered above the tips of a series of bars.
3. Bartending
Bartending is fast-paced and requires detailed organization. Simple steps like putting bottles back on the shelf in the correct order save time and prevent mistakes. Keeping service wells and bar tools organized will also help you stay on top of your work. Additionally, try to keep up with industry events and attend tastings of new spirits. Depending on where you live, alcohol producers and distributors often host these events and can provide valuable insight into their products.
Lastly, be tough on theft. Many dishonest bartenders steal from customers. This can include undercharging (in the hopes of a bigger tip); Z-ing register tape early and not reporting all sales; staging a fake walkout; using personal, smaller jiggers; and more. Ensure that you ask your potential employer about his or her experience dealing with these issues. This will tell you a lot about the bartender’s honesty and integrity. You can set several bar properties by specifying name-value pair arguments after the other input argument combinations.
4. Staff
Since its debut in 2010, finding 001 can be a challenge, but that elusiveness has always been part of the bar’s DNA. In fact, that opacity was one of the things that made the Prohibition-inspired speakeasy so fun to find – and for many, it’s one of the reasons why they loved coming here in the first place.
When the bar reopened on September 8, there was a palpable excitement in the air. While the team is still working out some kinks, there’s an encouraging energy that this new 001 might just be the best yet.
001 has an impressive list of whiskeys, including some rare and vintage varieties. They also have a great selection of craft beer on tap and some delicious food.