bottles, from your last few counts
how often you order this
from ordering to on the shelf
bottles and tenths
Par0bottles on the shelf after a delivery
Reorder at0bottles left: order when you hit this
Order today0bottles to bring you back to par
How the par is worked out
Daily use = Weekly use ÷ 7
Par = Daily use × (Days between orders + Days to arrive) × (1 + Buffer)
Order = Par − On hand, rounded up to whole bottles
The par covers the stretch until your next order lands, plus a cushion for a big night. The reorder point is what you'd burn through while waiting for a delivery, plus the same cushion.
Getting weekly usage right
Usage comes from counts, not from memory: start count plus what came in, minus the end count, over a few weeks. One week lies (a holiday, a private event); four weeks tell you the truth. If a bottle sells very differently by season, work out a par for each season.
When to go higher or lower
- Higher for the bottles a slow delivery would hurt: your well spirits and the call bottles in your top cocktails.
- Lower for expensive, slow bottles. A back-bar single malt that sells twice a month doesn't need a cushion; it needs one open bottle and one sealed.
- Case deals change the math. If a case price is worth it, order the case and treat the extra as storage, not par.