Issuing of beverages should take place at set times during the day and only against a requisition note signed by an authorized person, for example, head barman, banqueting head waiter, etc. Ideally, when the requisition is a large one it should be handed in several hours before the items are required to allow the cellar staff plenty of time to assemble the order together. Requisition notes are usually made in duplicate, one copy being retained by the cellarman so that entries can be made to the cellar records and then it is passed to the control or accounts office, while the second copy is retained by the person who originated the requisition and handed in with the daily takings and other control documents.
The pricing of issues for beverages is different from that for food in that two prices are recorded, the cost price and the selling price. The cost price is recorded to credit the cellar account and for the trading account and balance sheet purposes.
The selling price is recorded for control purposes to measure the sales potential of a selling outlet using the basic formula:
Opening stock + purchase – Closing stock = Total beverage consumed
Total beverage consumed = Beverage revenue
It should be noted that the above formula may be calculated for the value of stock and purchases either.
- At cost price in order to compare the usage with the actual sales and to ascertain the profit margin and beverage gross profit.
- At sales price in order to compare potential sales with the actual recorded sales.
It is usually for the beverage revenue to be different from the sales potential figure because of such factors as a high percentage of mixed drinks being sold or full bottle sales being made over the counter of a bar.