Buying Beer

Have you ever bought beer for a bar with 40 tap handles?

Neither had I.

When things went topsy turvy, since I knew about beer- I got the task of keeping up the draft selections.

This is not as simple as one might think.

Factors to consider-

1) Guest desires.
All your guests do not want the same thing.  Some want Bud and Coors Light.  Some want sours. Some want Stouts. Some want their favorite craft beer.  Some want the RAREST beers they can get their hands on.  There is one thing they all have in common- they all want to tell you what they want

2) Time Wasting.
With a large collection of available handles (i.e. revenue streams) in one place, every single salesperson in the market will want to meet with you and tell you why you should have their taps on ALL THE TIME.  They will generally show up at any time they want, and want to chat for an hour.

3) Distributors.
A NEW beer bar manager may think "gosh, I need another keg of beer to replace that one that is going to blow tomorrow.  I shall order one from my local distributor."  The distributors have regular order and delivery days, and with the goal of efficiency in mind, run regular routes on certain days.  This makes sense.  The thing you haven't considered is that about 15% of the beer you order, won't be on the truck. "Wait, what?"  That's right.  Due to outages at the warehouse or mispicks on the truck, you will NOT GET about 15% of what you order.  Just get used to it, and demand that they replace it immediately.  It's maddening to me.  The driver today said "Yeah, there are outages all the time with the craft beers"  FOR EXAMPLE:  I have a large brewery doing a tap takeover on Tuesday.  The order was shipped today.  Of the 8 kegs I ordered, FIVE were not on the truck. That's right. Shorted 5.

4) Employees.
Your employees need to be sufficiently motivated to change out a keg.  Let's just leave it at that. It's really easy for a bartender to say "86 this" instead of going to change a keg that weighs around 140 lbs.

5) Storage.
You will not have enough.  I don't care how big, or how MANY walk-in coolers you have, you will not have enough. This means doing inventory every day.  This affects your ability to order for major discount, so if you have the ability to increase your cold storage space, ALWAYS do it.

6) Menus.
Do you like deforestation?  Then beer list management is right up your alley.  We print our menus daily, and we get negative feedback daily because there are items listed, which are not available.  Since we have 10 "rotating taps", it is inevitable.  Yet, people get upset. I am using TapHunter and updating immediately.  I am also implementing a digital menu board which integrates with TapHunter. Our TapHunter is also tied in to our Facebook page.
 http://phoenix.taphunter.com/location/The-PERCH-Pub-&-Brewery

7) Education.
Your staff does not know as much about beer as you do.  This is why you are "the man"  Yes, there may be SOME staff members who know as much as you.  USE these people to help others learn.  Continual education is the only way to improve your beer program.  Your staff are the "front line" out there interacting with guests.  Give them as much information as possible.

8) Discount Programs
Ordering kegs 5 at a time can earn free goods or cash or percentage discounts.  Different distributors offer different programs.  LEARN about these programs and you can make a significant improvement in your costs, meaning more money to the bottom line.