What Square's stock counts can tell a bar
Square keeps a stock count for each item variation at each location. When a sale goes through, the units sold move from in stock to sold. For anything you sell the way you buy it, that works: a bottled beer, a can, a bottle of wine sold whole.
Most of a bar doesn't sell that way. You buy a bottle and pour it across dozens of drinks: shots, doubles, highballs and every cocktail it goes into. A count on a drink button is a count of drinks. It can't say how much is left in the bottle, or see the heavy pour or the comp nobody rang. For that you need two things: a shelf count in bottles and tenths, and every sale turned back into the pours it took, by recipe.
Doing it by hand with Square
- Count the shelf. Sealed bottles whole, open bottles in tenths, on a sheet laid out by area. The tenths chart turns each tenth into ounces.
- Run the item sales report. In Square Dashboard, under Reports, open item sales for the dates between your last count and this one, and look at modifier sales too: a double or a spirit picked as a modifier changes what was poured. If you're open past midnight, set Square's reporting timeframe (Reports › Settings › Reporting timeframe) so one night isn't split across two days.
- Match items to bottles and pours. For each Square item, write down which bottle it pours and how much: a shot is one pour, a double two, a cocktail every pour in its recipe. If you rename an item in Square, reports show it as a separate line, so add the new name.
- Add up the ounces and subtract. Last count, plus deliveries, minus this count is what left the shelf. Set it against the ounces your sales account for. The variance calculator does it bottle by bottle, in ounces and dollars.
It works, but step 3 is an evening a week of matching names and multiplying by recipes.
With Square connected to ShelfCall
- Connect. A manager presses Connect Square on the Sales page and signs in to Square. If the account has more than one location, you pick which one is this bar.
- Bring in your Square items. ShelfCall reads your item library and works out what each item is: a bottle on your list, a beer, a cocktail, or something it can't place, which waits for you to pick. Nothing is saved until you press Bring these in.
- Set the pours. Each size counts as a number of pours, and you can change any number first: a Double is 2 pours of the bottle, a Pitcher 4 beers. A Double modifier makes its line 2 pours. Mixers don't change the pour. A cocktail counts by its recipe, whatever its size.
- Pull a night. Pick the night and the area the drinks came out of, and press Pull sales. A night runs 4am to 4am where the bar is. ShelfCall reads that night's completed orders and takes off itemized returns.
- Confirm. The pull opens on the same screen as a pasted sales report: what comes off the shelf, bottle by bottle, and any drinks with no bottle set yet. Nothing comes off the shelf until you press Confirm sales.
Count the shelf out loud in tenths, and the Numbers screen shows on hand, sold and change for every bottle.
What it reads, and what it leaves alone
ShelfCall asks Square for three read permissions: your items, your orders, and your business profile, for its name and your locations' names and time zones. It doesn't ask for the write permissions Square requires to change items or orders, so it never changes anything in Square. The keys Square issues are stored encrypted, on our server only.
To disconnect, a manager presses Disconnect Square on the Sales page. ShelfCall asks Square to revoke its access, and deletes the keys, every pull it kept, any pulled sales not yet confirmed, and your Square business and location names. Sales you already confirmed stay: their pours came off the shelf and are part of your counts.
Which plan
Square is on the paid plan, $59 a month for the whole bar. The free plan counts one area by voice and doesn't include sales or Square.
Questions
Does ShelfCall change anything in my Square account?
No. It asks Square only for permission to read your items, your orders and your business profile. It never asks for the write permissions Square requires to change any of them.
Which plan includes Square?
The paid plan, $59 a month for the whole bar. The free plan counts one area by voice and doesn't include sales, so it can't connect Square.
Does it use Square's stock counts?
No. It reads your items and completed orders, and keeps its own counts in bottles and tenths, from what you say at the shelf.
How are doubles and modifiers counted?
Each size of an item is a number of pours you can change: a Double is 2 by default. A Double modifier makes its line 2 pours. Mixers don't change the pour. A cocktail counts by its recipe.