Daily stock checks for pubs in 2026

Last updated: 26 June 2026

Most pub operators are losing money they never knew they had a leak to fix. A 1% stock loss on wet sales quietly costs a typical pub £3,000–£5,000 a year, and nearly all of it goes undetected because licensees aren’t running a proper daily stock check. You think your spreadsheet is catching it. It isn’t. The problem isn’t usually theft—it’s measurement error, over-pouring, waste, and forgotten spillage that adds up every single shift. This article walks you through a daily stock check routine that actually works, takes less than 15 minutes, and will show you exactly where the money is leaking before it turns into next month’s disaster.

Why daily stock checks matter more than you think

The number that actually matters is wet gross profit by line, not a single headline stock figure. When I first started running my pub, I thought a monthly stocktake would be enough. It wasn’t. By the time I sat down once a month to count everything, I’d already lost two weeks’ worth of cash to over-pouring, bad cellar temperature, and line cleaning waste. The damage was done. The monthly check just showed me the damage after it had already happened.

Most stock “theft” isn’t actually theft at all. Spirits hide losses in over-pouring—a free-poured 25ml is often 32–35ml without you even realising. Draught hides it in poor cellar temperature creating excess sediment waste, and bad line cleaning protocols that spill product down the drain. Most pubs that move from a messy spreadsheet to a disciplined daily count claw back 1–2 gross profit points within a couple of months. That’s real money. On a £500,000 turnover pub, that’s an extra £5,000–£10,000 a year sitting in your account instead of vanishing into thin air.

A daily stock check gives you early warning. You spot a spirit bottle that’s dropped faster than it should have. You catch a keg that’s venting pressure and losing product overnight. You notice a till ring that doesn’t match the pour. These are the details that matter. Running StockTap pub stock app alongside your daily checks turns observation into data you can actually trust.

What a daily stock check actually includes

A daily stock check isn’t a full stocktake. It’s a focused scan of the items that move fast and cost the most: spirits, draught lines, and open cask stock. You’re not counting every crisp packet. You’re looking for movement that makes sense against what you sold.

Spirits and optics

Weigh every open spirit bottle at the same time each day. A standard 70cl bottle of spirits weighs about 900g full; a 25ml pour removes roughly 25–27g. If your Vodka bottle went from 850g yesterday to 780g today but your till shows only three vodka sales, you have a problem. That’s over-pouring, a misring, or a pour that was never recorded. You’ll spot it immediately. A kitchen scales costs £30–50 and sits on your bar. Use it.

Optics should be checked visually—are they free-flowing? Are they sticking? A sticky optic that doesn’t fully clear on the pull means you’re either under-pouring (losing money on every sale) or the customer is getting charged for a full measure they didn’t receive (losing trust). Either way, it’s a problem you catch in a daily check.

Draught lines

Every cask and partial keg on tap gets dipped at the same time each day, ideally before service starts. A cask dipstick costs £15–30. You measure the liquid depth, record it, and compare it to yesterday’s reading. If you sold 20 pints yesterday and the dip only dropped 3 inches, either your pump isn’t working or your measures are short. A proper dip catches both. Temperature matters too—if your cellar runs hot, product degasses and you lose volume without losing sales. A daily check includes a cellar thermometer reading: record it every single day at 8am.

Open cask stock and bottled beer

If you have cider, perry, or bottled stock that moves regularly, count the open cask or check the bottle level daily. Cider especially loses volume through oxidation and is prone to spillage. A simple visual check takes 30 seconds.

The equipment you actually need

You don’t need special software or expensive equipment to run a daily stock check. Most of what kills accuracy is either doing it wrong or using the wrong tools. Here’s what actually works:

• Spirit scales: A digital kitchen scale (£30–50). Accurate to 1g. Place on your bar or back bar. Weigh the same bottles at the same time every day.
• Cask dipstick: A metal or plastic dipstick marked in inches (£15–30). Dip straight down the shive hole. Record the depth. Don’t estimate.
• Cellar thermometer: A simple stick-on thermometer (£5–15) or a basic digital probe. Record the reading daily. Most losses accelerate at temperatures above 55°F (13°C).
• Recording method: A spreadsheet, a notebook, or SmartPubTools if you want the data in one place. Don’t overthink this. Pen and paper works if you’re consistent.
• Till reconciliation: Your EPOS system must tell you what sold by line. If it doesn’t, you can’t run an accurate check.

Do not buy expensive equipment. Do not sign up for a subscription system just to record a dip reading. Keep it simple. I ran stock on a tangle of spreadsheets and still lost track of partial kegs and spirit measures. I built a simple count routine around a dipstick and a set of scales, and the weekly variance went from guesswork to a number I could trust within a fortnight. The tool isn’t the barrier. The discipline is.

How to run your check in under 15 minutes

The most effective way to run a daily stock check is to complete it at the same time every day, record every measurement, and reconcile the numbers against till data before the day ends. Consistency matters more than accuracy at this stage. If you check at 10am Monday but 2pm Tuesday, your numbers will look wrong even if they’re right.

The routine

Pick a quiet time: before service or after close. I do mine at 10am, before the lunch rush. It takes 12 minutes.

1. Cellar check (4 minutes): Walk the cellar. Record the temperature. Dip every cask and partial keg. Write down the inch reading next to the line name. Look for leaks, loose connections, or sediment in catch trays. Flag anything unusual.
2. Spirit check (3 minutes): Weigh every open spirit bottle on your scales. Record the weight and the bottle name. If a bottle is new (full), note the date opened.
3. Line walk (2 minutes): Check optics are free-flowing. Look at the drip tray—if it’s full, you have a line leak or a cleaning issue. Check coupler connections are tight.
4. Record and file (3 minutes): Write or type everything into your spreadsheet or app. Include the date, time, and your name. Save it. Don’t lose this data.

That’s it. You’re done. The entire process takes less than 15 minutes once you’ve done it three times and built the muscle memory.

Reconciling against till data the same day

A daily dip means nothing until you compare it to what you actually sold. Your till tells you that. At close of play (or the next morning), pull a till report by line: how many pints of Guinness sold? How many vodka tonics? How many bottles of Corona?

Now do the maths:

• Draught: If Guinness sold 30 pints and your dip dropped 4 inches, you’re on track. (A standard 4-inch drop on a cask is roughly 30–35 pints depending on your line setup.) If it dropped 2 inches, your measures might be short. If it dropped 6 inches, you have a line leak or over-pouring.
• Spirits: If you sold 12 vodka measures and the bottle went from 850g to 650g, you lost 200g. That’s 8g per measure—spot on. If it was 250g, you’re losing 21g per measure. That’s over-pouring, a misring, or a giveaway.
• Bottled stock: If you sold 20 bottles and you’re down 20 bottles, you’re aligned. If you sold 20 but only 18 came out of stock, someone forgot to ring two sales or gave two away.

Do this reconciliation every day for the first month. After that, do it weekly on a slow day. The pattern will become obvious. You’ll know within 48 hours if something is broken or someone is careless. You’ll also spot when your till is under-ringing, which is a different problem entirely.

Common mistakes that kill accuracy

I’ve seen licensees spend money on software and still get rubbish data because they’re running the check wrong. Here are the traps:

Changing the time of day

If you check at 10am Monday but don’t check Tuesday until the afternoon, you’ve got a 28-hour variance on one line and a 6-hour variance on another. The numbers look wrong. Pick a time and stick to it. Every single day. Even Sundays.

Not recording the time

Write down the time you checked. “Cellar dip 10:02am, temp 54°F” is better than “Cellar dip” with no time. Serves you later when you’re trying to work out why numbers don’t match till data.

Estimating instead of measuring

If you guess the dip or eyeball the scales, you’ve wasted your time. Use the tools. Write down the number. Don’t round. Don’t estimate. 4.3 inches, not “about 4.”

Forgetting to note when bottles are opened

If you open a fresh bottle of gin at lunchtime but don’t record it, next day’s reading looks wrong. Every new bottle gets dated. Every reading gets recorded. No exceptions.

Running the check drunk or angry

I’ve done this. It doesn’t work. Do your check with a clear head, early in the day, when you’re focused. Bad data is worse than no data because you’ll make decisions based on lies.

Not telling your staff why you’re doing it

If your team doesn’t know you’re running daily checks, they’ll think you don’t trust them (maybe you shouldn’t), and they’ll resent the process. Be direct: “I’m checking stock every day so we catch problems early. This protects your job and my pub. If the numbers don’t match, it’s usually not theft—it’s measurement error or something we can fix. Help me understand it.” Most staff respect honesty. Most will help.