Set Up Your Pub Stocktaking System From Day One

Last updated: 24 April 2026

Most new pub licensees don’t realise their stocktaking system is broken until month three, when the numbers don’t match the till. You’ve got 180 people walking through your doors each week, the bar is chaotic, and someone’s already been caught short-pouring to hide a discrepancy. By then, fixing it costs time and credibility you can’t afford to lose.

Stocktaking isn’t glamorous. It won’t win you customers. But it’s the only way to know whether you’re actually making money or just looking busy behind the bar. I’ve sat through NSF audits, passed 5-star EHO inspections, and hit my best revenue year in 2025 — not because I got lucky, but because I knew exactly what was in my cellar, what was selling, and what was walking out the door. That visibility starts on day one, before you’ve even pulled your first pint.

This is how to set up a pub stocktaking system that actually works — the practical way, not the way consultants imagine it.

Why Stocktaking Matters Before You Even Open

The opening stocktake is not optional—it’s a legal record and a money protection. When you sign your tenancy agreement, you’re responsible for the stock in that building from day one. Your pubco will have an ingoing valuation; your job is to verify it’s correct and establish your baseline position.

I took on Teal Farm Pub on my birthday three years ago under a Marston’s CRP agreement. One of the first things my BDM asked for was an opening stocktake signed off by both of us. That document became my protection when a supplier’s invoice didn’t match what we’d recorded, and it’s the foundation for every variance calculation I’ve done since.

Most new licensees think stocktaking is just about counting bottles once a month. It’s not. It’s about answering three questions:

• What should have sold based on what left the cellar?
• What actually sold according to the till?
• Where’s the difference, and why?

If you don’t know the answer to those three questions, you don’t know your profit. You’re guessing. And your pubco already knows you’re guessing, which is why they audit you.

Setting up your stocktaking system before you open means you’ll be able to answer those questions on day one. That’s the difference between running a pub and watching someone else run it for you.

Physical Stocktake: The Foundation

Your physical stocktake is the record of what’s actually in your building right now—not what should be there, what’s actually there.

Here’s what to do in your first week, before trading:

Step 1: Count Everything in the Cellar

Get a notebook (or a spreadsheet if you’re organised). Go through every shelf, every corner, every back room. Count:

• Kegs and casks by brand and size—full, part-used, and empty (mark these clearly)
• Bottled beer, cider, and perry by product line and bottle count per case
• Spirits by bottle (Vodka: 3 x Gordon’s, 2 x Smirnoff, etc.)
• Wine by bottle and box—red, white, rosé separately
• Soft drinks and cordials by size and brand
• Mixers and juices (tonic, soda, lime, orange, cranberry)

Don’t estimate. Count. Put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. If there’s a half-full bottle of vodka and a full one, that’s two separate line items because you need to track partial bottles.

This takes 2-3 hours for a community pub like mine. It’s not quick, but it’s thorough. And you only have to do it properly once at the start.

Step 2: Record Unit Cost and Total Value

Once you’ve got physical counts, add the cost. Your pubco will provide an ingoing valuation—use that. If they don’t, ask your suppliers for unit costs on everything you’ve counted. You need:

• Item name and quantity
• Unit cost (what you paid, not what you sell it for)
• Total value for that line

This becomes your opening balance sheet. Keep it safe. Your pubco will want it, and you’ll need it every month after.

Step 3: Have Your Pubco Sign Off

Before you start trading, schedule a visit from your pubco’s area manager or BDM. Walk through the count together. Get them to sign and date it. This protects you both—they can’t later claim stock was missing from day one, and you have proof of what you inherited.

Setting Up Your Tracking System

Now you need a system to track what happens next. This doesn’t have to be clever. It has to be consistent.

The Spreadsheet Method (and Why It Works)

I use a simple spreadsheet. It has:

• Product name
• Opening stock (from your count)
• Deliveries received (added each week)
• Stock on hand (counted weekly for fast-moving lines, monthly for others)
• Used/sold (calculated: opening + deliveries − closing)

That’s it. One sheet per stocktake period (usually weekly). Multiply the “Used/sold” figure by cost to get the cost of goods sold (COGS). Compare that to what your EPOS says should have gone out. The gap is your variance.

Why does this work? Because every new licensee gets tempted by expensive EPOS add-ons and cloud-based inventory systems. Most of them sit unused because nobody understands what they’re tracking. A spreadsheet forces you to do the work manually—which means you actually understand it. Once you understand it, you can automate it.

Use a best pub EPOS systems guide to find a system that integrates with spreadsheets later, but start simple.

What to Track Weekly vs. Monthly

Not everything needs to be counted every week. Fast-moving stock does. Everything else can wait:

Item Type	Count Frequency	Why
Cask (ale, lager)	Weekly	High value, high margin, rots if not used
Spirits (vodka, gin, rum)	Weekly	Most theft risk, easy to measure
Bottled lager/craft beer	Weekly	Fast turnover, easy to count
Wine by bottle	Monthly	Slower turnover, less theft risk
Cordials, juices, mixers	Monthly	Low value, low margin, don’t spoil
Glassware, ice, garnishes	Monthly or as needed	Consumables, hard to track precisely

Integrating Your EPOS Into Stocktaking

Your EPOS system tells you what sold according to the till. Your stocktake tells you what actually left your cellar. These should match—but they rarely do in the first few weeks.

The most effective way to find profit leaks is to compare EPOS sales against stocktake usage every single week. The gap between them is where your money’s going.

Here’s the process:

Step 1: Pull Your Weekly EPOS Report

Get your EPOS sales data for the period. Most systems let you filter by product, category, or department. You want a breakdown like:

• Draught lager: 47 pints
• Draught bitter: 23 pints
• Bottled lager: 12 bottles
• Vodka-based drinks: 18 pours

This should be automated. If your EPOS doesn’t give you this, something’s wrong with your setup.

Step 2: Compare to Your Stocktake Count

Convert your stocktake usage into the same units (pints, bottles, pours) and compare:

Product	EPOS Says Sold	Stocktake Says Used	Variance	% Variance
Draught Lager	47 pints	49 pints	−2 pints	−4%
Vodka	18 pours	21 pours	−3 pours	−14%
Bottled Lager	12 bottles	12 bottles	0	0%

Variance of 1–2% is normal (spillage, wastage, sampling, rounding). Above 3% signals a real issue.

Step 3: Investigate and Train

If your vodka variance is 14%, something’s wrong. Either:

• Staff aren’t ringing drinks in (training issue)
• Your measures are wrong (physical issue—check your optics)
• Someone’s helping themselves (theft)
• Your stocktake count was wrong (process issue)

Don’t assume theft. Start with training. Most variance in week one is people learning to use the till properly, or not knowing they need to ring in a drink before pouring it.

Managing Weekly Counts and Variance

Once you’re open, your job is to keep counting and keep comparing. Here’s the rhythm that works:

Every Sunday Morning (or Your Quiet Morning)

Count your fast-moving stock: kegs, spirits, and popular bottles. This takes 45 minutes. Do it before service, when your head’s clear. Write the numbers down immediately—don’t rely on memory.

Your staff should know this is happening. It shouldn’t be secret. Transparency around stocktaking actually reduces theft, not increases it, because people know you’re watching.

Every Friday (End of Week)

Pull your EPOS sales report for the week. Spend 30 minutes comparing it to your Sunday count. If variance is above 3%, investigate that specific product. Talk to the staff member who used it most. Ask questions. Don’t accuse.

End of Month

Do a full stocktake of everything. Count every bottle, every keg, every mixer. Update your spreadsheet. Calculate your total COGS for the month. This is what you’ll report to your pubco and what you’ll use for your own P&L.

A pub profit margin calculator can help you work out whether your COGS is healthy, but you need to know your actual numbers first.

If Variance Is Consistently High

Above 3% every week isn’t normal. Here’s the diagnostic:

• Is it one product or everything? If it’s everything, your counting method is probably wrong or your EPOS isn’t ringing things in.
• Is it one staff member or the whole team? If it’s one person, it’s a training issue at minimum.
• Did it start suddenly or was it always there? If sudden, something changed—a new till, a new staff member, a software update.
• Does it happen on busy nights? If yes, it’s almost always a training issue—people rushing, not ringing things in, freepours to keep up.

Fix the root cause, not the symptom. Your stocktaking system is supposed to show you the problem, not hide it.

Common Mistakes That Sink New Licensees

Mistake 1: Not Counting Partial Bottles

A half-empty bottle of Gordon’s is different from a full one. If you don’t track it separately, your variance will be 5% before you’ve even started. Count partials. Mark them. Update them when they get refilled or emptied.

Mistake 2: Confusing EPOS Sales With Stock Usage

Your till might say you sold 50 pints of lager. But if 3 pints went down the drain, 2 were free (staff drink or comped customer), and 1 was a spillage, you actually used 56 pints. Your stocktake should show 56, not 50. Train your staff to ring wastage in as a product category (not a sale, but a separate “waste” line) so your numbers add up.

Mistake 3: Trying to Track Everything From Day One

You don’t need to know the exact inventory position of your cordial to 0.01 litres. Focus on high-value, high-turnover items first: cask, spirits, bottled beer. Once you’ve got those locked down, expand to everything else. Most new licensees burn out on stocktaking because they’re tracking 200 lines of stock when they should be tracking 20.

Mistake 4: Keeping Your Stocktake Secret

New licensees sometimes worry that staff will deliberately waste stock if they know it’s being counted. The opposite is true. Transparent stocktaking—where staff know you’re counting, know the numbers, and understand why it matters—actually reduces waste and theft because people take responsibility.

Mistake 5: Not Factoring In Delivery Timing

If you count stock on Sunday morning and take a delivery on Tuesday afternoon, you need to record both. Your opening position on Monday needs to include everything from Sunday, plus Tuesday’s delivery, minus what sold Monday and Tuesday. It sounds obvious, but most spreadsheets miss it because people count after delivery instead of before.

Mistake 6: Assuming Your Pubco’s Ingoing Valuation Is Correct

It usually is. But I’ve seen ingoing valuations that included stock that wasn’t actually there—kegs listed as in the cellar but already collected by the brewery, bottles that had already been drunk, cordials that had expired. Count everything yourself. If you find a £300 difference, report it in writing before you sign. It’s not rude. It’s business.

The Real Impact: Numbers From My Pub

When I took on Teal Farm Pub, I didn’t have a stocktaking system. The previous licensee kept numbers in his head. Within three weeks of implementing weekly counts and monthly full stocktakes, I found £1,200 in margin leaks I didn’t know I had: staff freepours, missed till rings, and one keg that had been sitting in the cellar for six weeks because nobody knew we had it.

Fixing those issues alone made my first year’s margin healthier. More importantly, it meant I knew exactly what my labour cost was (I’m running at 15% against the UK benchmark of 25–30%) because I could track waste separately from legitimate sales.

That visibility is why I passed my NSF audit in March 2026 and why my 5-star EHO rating didn’t surprise me. You can’t run a clean operation if you don’t know what’s actually happening. Stocktaking is the foundation of that knowledge.

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