Bar Guru Does Battle With Bartender Theft

RICK SANDVIK IS living proof that when it comes to succeeding in the bar business, street smarts trump an MBA every time. The longtime industry veteran is the man behind Precision Pour control spouts and he’s spent the better part of the last 30-years speaking with an average of 50 bar owners a day. Having seen and heard it all, Sandvik has earned the equivalent of a graduate degree from Barmanship U.

“I don’t think there’s any question that over-portioning liquor is the most significant source of losses behind the bar,” says Sandvik. “But it should be noted that when it comes to ripping off the house, bartenders often know no bounds.”

As an example Sandvik cites a time when he agreed to spot a customer’s bar. “The guy couldn’t figure out how the bartenders were ripping him off. I went one night when I knew the owner wasn’t expected in and sat at the bar such that I could watch both cash registers. I was there for hours and watched the bartenders ring-in every sale and deposit every nickel of proceeds.”

Stumped, Sandvik called the owner who was off on vacation. He explained that he’d been at the bar for hours and watched every transaction entered into both registers.

“After a brief pause the owner said, what’d you mean two registers? We only have one register behind the bar. Sure enough, when the bartenders knew the owner wasn’t in town they’d bring in their own machine—same make and model—and would go into business for themselves. Now that’s pretty nervy.”

Then there was the time that Sandvik caught a bartender smuggling in a metal jigger behind a client’s bar. For all intents and purposes it was indistinguishable from the one used at the bar, save one important difference. The bartender had put clear epoxy in both sides of the device effectively reducing their volume.

“It was a really clever scam,” contends Sandvik. “In effect this guy was under-portioning every drink he made, which in turn created a surplus of liquor that he later poured, sold and pocketed proceeds. It took a while for me to catch that.”

Sandvik considers under-pouring an insidious form of theft. “It’s difficult to detect, doesn’t affect pour cost and victimizes the clientele by serving them inferior drinks. If the guests occasionally do happen to notice, they typically place the blame for the bad drinks on the bar, not the bartenders.”

Another widespread scheme used to rip off a bar is to tamper with its inventory. For instance, over the course of a shift a bartender pockets the proceeds from 12 drinks that collectively contained 16-ounces of various well liquors. At closing while the bartender is breaking down the bar, he replenishes what was stolen by filling a pint glass with water and distributing it among the well products.

According to Sandvik bartenders get away with it because it’s challenging to tell if liquor has been watered down. “That’s why in the day many bars actually stocked hydrometers. They’re devices that show the specific gravity of a liquid and therefore its alcohol content. However, I can’t recall the last bar I worked with that had a hydrometer on-premise.”

So Sandvik recommends another, equally reliable method of detecting whether liquor has been diluted with water. “Years ago a state liquor inspector taught me to vigorously shake a bottle of booze, which forces air into the spirit. When you stop agitating the bottle you’ll see countless small, uniformly sized alcohol bubbles swirling within the liquid. If there’s water in the liquor you’ll notice a small number of relatively large bubbles immediately burst on the surface.

 

 

CONTROL ISSUES

 

SANDVIK SAYS SOMETIMES theft is so blatant its nearly impossible not to spot—that is if someone is actually watching. To illustrate, he points to a letter he received from a client who said three things happened after he switched to Precision Pours. First, his bar manager quit in protest. Second, the operation’s liquor pour cost dropped 5 points, and finally, he noticed fewer of his guests looking as if they’d been over-served. The bar owner later learned that the ex-manager had been stealing about two cases of booze a week and selling it to his friends.

“It explained how his bar manager could afford to drive a new BMW,” adds Sandvik. “But c’mon, how can a bar owner miss such blatant theft? Ever since I’ve been urging my clients to never hire a manager who drives a better car than you do.”

Precision Pours are now used in over 40,000 bars in the U.S. and abroad. These innovative devices utilize a patented ball bearing assembly to cut off the flow of fluid at the prescribed measure. They all but eliminate under-pouring or over-pouring liquor and are effective in deterring illicit practices behind the bar. Since they function like conventional spouts, they don’t impede speed of service and don’t require staff training to achieve optimum results. The spouts are available in seven portion sizes ranging from 5/8 ounce to 1 1/2 ounces.

Since no bar or restaurant operates under the burden of too much profit, effective portioning controls are a must. It’s challenging for a business to remain in the black when the staff is playing fast and loose with the inventory. Regardless of whether bartenders are over-pouring measurements, giving liquor away, selling it and pocketing the cash or drinking it themselves, the financial impact on the bar is the same.

Precision Pours are as fast as free-pouring without the attendant worries and expense. As is true with any system, the control function of the devices can be subverted.

“Fortunately,” says Sandvik, “removing the spout from the bottle prior to pouring is a tad obvious.”