Read beverage sales by category, by item, by glass versus bottle and by price band, alongside cost and gross profit in dollars. Each report should lead to a decision, such as repricing, rotating or retraining. A report that changes nothing is not worth the time.
A point-of-sale system can produce dozens of reports. Most owners open the same one or two, usually total sales, and move on. The rest sit unread.
The beverage reports that matter are not complicated. They simply answer questions you probably already have: what are guests actually buying, what is it earning, and what should we do differently?
Start with the question, then pick the report
What is each category earning?
Report: beverage sales and product cost by category (wine, beer, spirits, non-alcoholic).
What to look for: which categories contribute the most gross profit in dollars, not only the lowest cost percentage. A category with a higher percentage can still earn more cash.
Decision it can lead to: where to put effort, whether pricing in a category has drifted and whether a category is worth the stock you hold.
Which wines are doing the work?
Report: units sold and sales by item, ranked.
What to look for: the wines at the top (your engines), the wines at the bottom (candidates for a decision) and anything surprising in between.
Decision it can lead to: which wines to feature, which to rotate out and which deserve more team attention.
How are guests buying wine?
Report: glass sales compared with bottle sales, if your system can separate them.
What to look for: the split, and how it changes by day, service or season. A venue where most wine is sold by the glass has different priorities from one that sells mostly bottles.
Decision it can lead to: how to shape the glass range, whether glass prices are guiding guests where you intend and how much opened wine you should expect to manage.
Where do guests spend?
Report: sales by price band, such as groups of bottles in set price ranges.
What to look for: where most sales cluster, and which bands are empty. An empty band can mean the price steps are wrong, or that the list has nothing there for guests to choose.
Decision it can lead to: repricing, adding a step, or removing a wine that is not pulling its weight in its band.
What is leaving the building without earning?
Report: discounts, voids, comps and staff drinks.
What to look for: patterns, such as particular items, times or people. Some are legitimate. A pattern with no explanation is worth a conversation.
Decision it can lead to: tighter recording, clearer rules for comps and tastings and a clearer view of true product cost.
A worked example (illustrative only)
Imagine a restaurant looks at its wine by the glass for a month and sees:
- Wine X: a low glass price, sells often, earns a modest margin per glass.
- Wine Y: a higher glass price, sells rarely, earns a larger margin per glass.
It is tempting to push Wine Y because of the margin. But total gross profit is margin per glass multiplied by glasses sold. If Wine X sells far more, it may contribute more cash overall, so the better question is whether Wine Y can be made to sell, or whether it should make way for something that will. The report does not give the answer. It gives you the right question.
What a good routine looks like
You do not need to read every report every week. A sensible rhythm might be:
- Weekly (five minutes): a glance at top and bottom sellers.
- Monthly (an hour, protected): category earnings, price bands, glass versus bottle, comps and discounts, plus stock held.
- Quarterly: a step back to ask whether the list and pricing still fit what guests are actually buying.
End each review with one written decision and a name against it. Reports without decisions are just reading.
When the reports cannot answer the question
Sometimes the data is incomplete: items not set up properly, bottles and glasses recorded together, or costs out of date. That is not a reason to give up. It is a finding. Tidying the setup so the reports can be trusted is often the most useful first job.
Common questions
Which single report is the most useful?
If you read only one, make it units sold and sales by item, ranked, alongside cost. It shows what guests are choosing and what it earns.
Do I need extra software to do this?
Often not. Most POS systems export reports to a spreadsheet, which is enough for a monthly review. Better integration with stock tools helps over time.
How do I turn reports into action when I am busy?
Keep it small. One monthly slot, a short list of questions and one decision at the end. If it grows beyond that, it will not happen.
Related service
Turn findings into agreed improvements.
Detailed pricing and margin work, list and by-the-glass changes, and practical implementation support.
A beverage specialist behind your team, on a quarterly rhythm.
Specialist beverage input behind the team you already have, agreed in three-month blocks.
Discuss a Full ReviewThis article is general information for hospitality operators, not financial, legal or tax advice. Figures and examples are illustrative, and the right approach depends on the venue.