If you’ve ever kept bottles in your favourite bar, you may know the hassle of trying to remember how much is left in them. And it’s worse when you’re a bar manager trying to manage private bottle stash for your valued clients or the bar’s own inventory. A recently launched mobile app, Barsociety, aims to make bottle inventory management simpler with just a swipe on your phone.
Launched in July, the Barsociety app not only gives participating bars the ability to manage their bottle inventory by keeping an eye on inventory levels, but also help send notifications to remind customers to return and finish their bottles. The mobile application is developed by the lead developers behind Hungrygowhere’s online reservation platform, an idea inspired after a bout of late-night drinking.
“After a night out with some friends, we realised that we don’t keep track of how much we consumed and most importantly, how much balance is left. Wouldn’t it be great if the bar could contact me and remind me of my bottle balance?” says Kuo Wee, CEO of Barsociety.
“And with that idea, Barsociety was born.”
Barsociety uses a proprietary BarOS platform that helps bar managers perform inventory checks a lot more efficiently and can be done more often than laborious manual stocktaking, potentially helping to unearth discrepancies between actual and reported sales that hit a bar’s bottomline. A bar’s staff simply updates its inventory via the mobile app at the end of their shifts, the data which is then stored in the cloud and a full inventory report sent to the bar’s management in minutes.
Barsociety’s customer engagement functions also lets the bar send text notifications reminding customers of their bottle levels; useful for the bar to move inventory quicker, but also benefits the customers since low bottle levels increase the risk of oxidation that potentially ruins the spirit within.
Participating bars across Singapore and Kuala Lumpur have reported savings of thousands of dollars a month and a customer base that regularly returns. Bait in Kuala Lumpur, for example have seen an increase in returning customers. “The staff have also reported that keeping track of the inventory is a lot less tedious and with less discrepancies,” says Colin Chung, owner of Bait.
“Response from the last few months have been really encouraging. The number of participating bars have been growing consistently and feedback from the bar managers have been consistently good. Currently, we’re looking to grow our partner base and in time to come, may look at launching a consumer version of Barsociety,” adds Barsociety’s Kuo Wee.
Currently only offered to bars and restaurants, the Barsociety app is available on both iOS and Android platforms.
