FEW IN BUSINESS operators want to admit their employees are ripping them off. But they are. The international auditing firm Bevinco has determined that bars and restaurants have lost a staggering 23% of their inventory to theft in one form or another. Especially now in a down economy, recouping those losses has become of crucial importance.

Fortunately operators today have the capability of analyzing their bars with forensic-like precision, which has given rise to the concept of variance management. Simply put, it’s the comprehensive initiative aimed at narrowing the gap between what’s sold and what’s depleted from inventory. The more adept management becomes at shrinking variance, the more financially stable the operation will become. If you’re intent on staying in the food & beverage business for the long haul, rendering variance a non-issue is a necessity.

One of the most expensive fallacies about operating a bar is the belief that pour cost is effective at detecting bartender theft. Determining your liquor, beer and wine cost percentages are a fundamental business practice and essential to determining operating margins. However, while tracking the bar’s combined pour cost accomplishes a number of important things, uncovering whether you’re getting ripped off isn’t one of them.

In fact, a savvy bartender can steal cash and inventory all night long and do it in such a manner as to make your cost percentages to actually drop. Pour cost measures the change in inventory levels between one accounting period and the next and compares it with the gross sales that product generated. Bartenders can cover up their theft and leave pour cost unaffected if they replace the stolen inventory with an equal volume of water or smuggled goods.

FORENSIC ACCOUNTING

ANOTHER COSTLY MISCONCEPTION held by bar owners and beverage managers is that direct supervision is how you best thwart bartender theft. Actually, you could erect a lifeguard stand at the end of your bar and still not catch them in the act. Most behind the bar schemes involve misdirection and sleight of hand making them challenging to detect even when watching the bartenders in action. Only the most brazen of scams are committed in the open.

The process of slamming the door on theft begins with conducting a VARIANCE REPORT. It involves determining the amount of product depleted from inventory over a period of time and comparing it to how much was recorded as sold. It works like this. A physical audit of the inventory establishes how much product remains on the shelves. Subtracting that figure from the combined beginning inventory plus purchases determines the amount of product used. Offsets include inventory depleted attributable to spillage, transfers and complimentary drinks.

During that same period of time the bartenders entered sales information into the point of sales system. Variance is calculated by subtracting the amount of product recorded as sold from what was actually depleted from inventory. The best-case scenario is for both quantities to be the same. A negative variance indicates more product was depleted than sold and represents the losses attributable to theft. Conversely, if your calculations determine that more product was sold than used, the likely explanation is that the staff is tampering with the inventory.

A pioneer in variance analysis, Bevinco uses an efficiency rating for their clients based on variance. Essentially, the narrower the gap between the amount of product used and product sold, the higher the operation’s efficiency rating. Optimal efficiency means the bar is recouping every ounce of profit possible from the inventory it purchases.

CAMPARI IS CELEBRATING its 150th anniversary in 2010. In the century and a half since its inception, the Italian apéritif has become an international phenomenon and a fixture on backbars across every inhabited continent. Incomparable as it may be as a digestive, its distinctive personality has also made Campari one of the fundamental building blocks in mixology.

The apéritif is still produced according to the original 1860 recipe created by Gaspare Campari in Novara, Italy. According to the company, only one person has access to the formula in its entirety. What is known is that Campari is an infusion of 60 different herbs, spices, gentian and orris root, angostura and cascarilla bark, aromatic botanicals and fruit—primarily lemons and bitter oranges—and alcohol. Its trademark deep red hue was originally obtained using carmine dye, which is derived from cochineal insects. In 2006, the extract was replaced with an alternative coloring.

The reasons behind Campari’s universal success are many, but none are more readily apparent then when it’s alone in a glass. The 48-proof apéritif has crystalline clarity, a striking crimson hue and a silky, light to medium-weight body. As one would expect, Campari is highly aromatic with a balanced array of bitter earthy aromas and spicy semisweet fragrance. Its complex bouquet is both intriguing and amazingly satisfying. The apéritif quickly fills the mouth with a wondrous blast of warmth that bathes the palate with waves of dry, spicy, slightly bitter herbaceous flavors. As they slowly fade the presence of the bitter citrus makes its way to the forefront. The combined effect is glorious.

Sterling as Campari is sipped neat or slightly chilled, the apéritif has also proven itself indispensable behind the bar. It is an integral ingredient in such classic cocktails as the Negroni (equal parts of Campari, gin and sweet vermouth with a lemon twist) and the Americano (Campari, sweet vermouth and club soda with an orange twist). Likely its most popular application is mixed with soda. That having been said, bartenders searching the backbar for the perfect ingredient to balance the character of their specialty cocktails are well advised to add in a spirit-restoring splash of Campari.

There is nothing remotely like Campari on this or any other planet. Kudos and here’s to the next 150 years.