Taking a count is the core of your inventory week. You walk the bar, tap in what is on the shelf, and Bar Cop turns it into your on-hand value, your usage, and the variance that shows where product is walking. Most bars count a full bar in under an hour once their product list and locations are set.

Before you start: make sure your products have a cost and pour size, and your locations are set in the order you walk. If not, do Add your products and Set your locations first.

Take the count

1. Open Take Inventory

From the Inventory sidebar, open Take Inventory and start a new count. Bar Cop opens to your first location in the order you set.

2. Count location by location

Walk the bar in your count order. For each product, tap the fill slider to the tenth of a bottle or keg, so a bottle a little over half full reads 0.6, not a guess. No tenths math in your head.

3. Count bottle beer by the case and the loose

Bottle beer counts the way you buy and store it: full cases, plus the loose bottles on top. Enter the cases and the loose, and Bar Cop handles the rest.

4. Handle what is out or off

Mark a product out of stock if the shelf is empty. Drop a note on anything that looks off so you remember it later. Then keep moving to the next location.

5. Save the count

Once you have walked every location, save the count. Bar Cop stamps it with the date and rolls it into your on-hand value, your Stock Report, and your variance.

What the count feeds

One saved count moves numbers across the app:

• Your on-hand value and where cash is sitting, in the Stock Report.
• Your variance, theoretical usage against what your POS actually sold.
• Your order, built off this count against your pars.
• Your trapped cash in the Cash section, the working capital sitting on the shelf.

Tips for a faster, cleaner count

• Count at the same time each week, before a delivery, so the number is clean.
• Count in your set order every time. Muscle memory makes it quick.
• If a count reads way off, check it against last week in Count History before you chase it as theft. A missed location reads like shrink.

Every screen in Take Inventory also has step-by-step directions built in. Tap the "i" in the top bar for the exact screen you are on.