GETTING SET UP WITH BEVSPOT
Making the decision to leap into the world of hospitality and restaurant ownership was a bold one. Previously, Jason ran a martial arts studio and Mary was a nurse. That being said, they wanted to be smart about their exciting new venture, and looked to get a clearer and more detailed picture of how it was performing. Their previous bar manager suggested BevSpot, and Mary did some independent research.
After looking through competitors and reviews of the platform, Mary decided to move forward and buy into BevSpot, bolstered in confidence by the user-friendly nature of BevSpot’s interface. When implementing the system into the bar at Dak & Bop, Mary took a unique approach—she installed the system independently, with little outside help.
“I think [BevSpot] was surprised I wanted to do it by myself and not just have everyone load in the information for me. But, whenever I had questions, [BevSpot] was so quick to respond and really knowledgable.”
Stemming from her experience working with computer systems as a nurse, her reasoning for doing this was that she wanted to completely understand how to use the entire platform herself. That being said, she found working with BevSpot’s customer success team a refreshing one, compared to her past experiences.
“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve called huge medical software companies about a specific glitch to have nobody know what I’m talking about…So, it was really refreshing to call in and mention a specific thing that happened, and have [BevSpot] know exactly what I’m talking about, where it is, how to find it, and get back to me on how I can fix it.”
THE OUTCOME
With the help of BevSpot, Mary has already taken huge steps forward in her business and made significant improvements to Dak & Bop’s bar program.
Using the drink pricing tool, she completely overhauled Dak & Bop’s cocktail menu and eliminated drinks that simply weren’t making the restaurant any profit.
She also sifted through their draft beer list and pared down underperforming, expensive lines that were outside of Mary’s ideal budget. Another area of improvement was the pricing of their Asian whiskey list, which Mary found was largely underselling, compared to other Houston bars.
She continues to make improvements thanks to the insights that BevSpot provides.
“BevSpot has made me much more aware of the different aspects of it [my beverage program]. It’s not only allowed me to get more familiar but also to see what was just sitting there and to streamline our bar to be more of what we wanted it to be.”
Even with a smaller bar than some other restaurants, Mary has found meaningful improvements using BevSpot in her weekly inventory and ordering processes.
“Everybody comments about the inventory time, but it’s true—you see a huge reduction in it. I love that you can customize the way inventory is made because I have a routine that I do. I can go from bottle to bottle and know what’s coming next, so I can do it quickly.”
As a brand new restaurant owner and manager, a huge fear Mary was able to overcome with BevSpot was lacking employee accountability when it came to her bar. She was able to quickly see the missing product in her reports, pinpoint the team member who was stealing from the establishment and subsequently let them go.
“Who knows how long that would have taken me if I had to continue on paper inventory? I would think I’m just not doing it accurately, and that I was doing a bad job of taking inventory.”
Running a small business in an industry that she is still fairly new to is a daily challenge for Mary. As with any new restaurant, there will always be small fires popping up that Mary will have to determine how to put out. But, thanks to BevSpot, understanding where her bar stands, and what she can do to improve its health, won’t be one of those fires.
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