Design
Wine dead stock, bottles that have not moved, cash that has
Wine sitting 30 to 90 days is cash in the dark. Move it to glass, re-pair it, or cut it. Do not train guests to wait for a discount.
Written by Marco Azzari on
A bottle that has not moved in 30 to 90 days is not a collection. It is working capital on a shelf, plus a spoilage risk you will notice late. F&B managers already know this in theory. In practice the list was inherited, the busy season started, and nobody counted.
This is a process, not a character flaw.
Find it
You cannot manage what lives in a spreadsheet you open twice a year. Date of last sale, quantity, true cost. Even a crude export from the POS plus a walk through the cellar beats "we know the stock."
If you have no date, start the clock today. Everything currently sitting is day zero. In 60 days you will have a real list.
Three moves (in this order)
- Glass. A stalled bottle that can be poured honestly belongs on BTG for two weeks. Program.
- Re-pair. Put it next to a dish that actually sells, with a sentence the floor can say. If it never had a dish, that is why it sat.
- Cut. A one-night feature, a staff education pour, a return to the distributor if your state and your rep allow it (many states restrict returns, so ask before you buy). Taking it off the guest page is allowed. Leaving it at a silent discount forever trains the regular to wait.
Do not inflate markups on the rest of the list "to cover" dead stock. That is insurance against a solvable pile, paid by the guest who did nothing wrong.
Stop the pile from returning
Shorter lists. Buying against the three plates, not against tastings or a month-end post-off. A cull on the same rhythm as the food menu. List size. Pair to the menu.
Independence from the distributor matters here. Their leftover is not your identity.
If you want the numbers live, instead of in a spreadsheet you open twice a year, Cavekey puts by-the-glass, the list, inventory, and true cost per pour on one screen. The base version is free.
About the author
Marco Azzari
Founder of Wine CFO · Wine List Engineer for restaurants
I help restaurants, hotels and bars earn more from the wine they already sell. I price lists wine by wine, cost by-the-glass programs on their real yield, rebuild selections around the food menu, and rewrite lines so guests understand what they're ordering. Every Wine Profit Checkup goes across my desk personally.
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