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Overview:
In Cincinnati, five stories below street level, resides Ghost Baby. Ghost Baby is a unique cocktail lounge and nightclub located deep in the tunnels used by a Cincinnati brewing company since the 1870s to keep their beer cooled. Ghost Baby gives an old space new energy and life.
The establishment consists of three sections. Guests enter the front bar and can move into the back bar, or the Den, by passing through a small parlor. In the Den, live performances are held on an intimate stage and guests can reserve a spot at a table or booth. Custom cocktails, spirits, craft beer, wine, and lots of champagne are served. Reservations are accepted.
Michael Twombly, a well-respected restaurant and bar operations consultant, and Layne Schneider, the General Manager, opened Ghost Baby in January 2020. One of their priorities was to find and implement an inventory control and beverage cost management software system.
The Opportunity:
Michael and Layne wanted an inventory control system that would integrate with their 2Touch Point of Sale, QuickBooks accounting, and Fintech alcohol payment service. They were attracted to COGS-Well because 99% of their invoices are processed by Fintech and COGS-Well’s integration would result in 99% of their invoices being imported automatically (versus manual entry).
“I was looking for a system to help me reduce the dollars on the shelf and to control my inventory. The system needed to help me order and count inventory on-hand. Most importantly, the system needed to report theoretical versus actual inventory usage and theoretical inventory on-hand. COGS-Well checked all of these boxes.” Michael Twombly, Operations Manager.
The Solution:
Michael and Layne selected COGS-Well in late January 2020. By the start of February, their COGS-Well system was importing invoices from Fintech, as well as the sales mix from their 2-Touch POS. At the end of February, Ghost Baby took their first full inventory count.
"COGS-Well did a lot of the initial system setup for us and they did it very quickly. The inventory item database was automatically created via the Fintech interface. I was able to focus on setting the items up in their appropriate storage locations.” Layne Schneider, General Manager.
Layne takes a full inventory count every week. She started out using count worksheets, but she now utilizes a laptop and takes the inventory as she walks through each storage location. She says COGS-Well is much easier, faster, and more accurate than using a spreadsheet.
Ghost Baby started building their recipes in March. Unfortunately, later in March, Ghost Baby had to close due to the pandemic, but in July Ghost Baby reopened. Layne started using COGS-Well for ordering her inventory shortly thereafter.
“COGS-Well makes ordering much easier. I can place orders on my schedule and make sure they are translated correctly by my vendors. I plan to add par levels so I can take advantage of COGS-Well’s suggested ordering features.” Layne Schneider.
The Return on Investment.
Michael and Layne believe that an inventory system is much more accurate than using spreadsheets. Their inventory items and prices are updated automatically via the Fintech interface, which results in more accurate inventory valuations, cost of sales reporting, recipe costing, on-hand reporting, and variance reporting.
Layne likes the increased organization and insight she receives from COGS-Well. She also relies on variance reporting to help her isolate potential problems.
“With COGS-Well, all of my information is in one place and I can easily look up records for orders, counts, or invoice receipts. I also use COGS-Well’s usage variance reporting frequently. The inventory usage variance report is my best friend.” Layne Schneider.
Michael thinks COGS-Well’s pricing is more reasonable than most inventory systems. He is also a big fan of COGS-Well’s theoretical inventory usage and on-hand reporting.
“COGS-Well helps me reduce the dollars on my shelves. I monitor our theoretical inventory on hand closely and my team knows that Layne and I do this regularly. COGS-Well helps me reduce my beverage cost of sales by at least 1%-2%” each month." Michael Twombly.
Next Steps:
Layne plans to add par levels to her inventory items so that she can utilize COGS-Well’s suggested ordering features. Par levels are compared to theoretical on-hand levels and order quantities for each item are then created automatically.
Michael and Layne also plan to keep building out their recipes to include all items they sell. This will enable them to utilize more of COGS-Well’s menu analytics such as menu engineering and theoretical profit from sales.
“COGS-Well’s support has been excellent. COGS-Well is very dedicated to making sure I am successful in using their product.” Layne Schneider.