Free tool
Par level calculator
Your par is how much of a product you want on the shelf right after a delivery. Enter what you use and how often you order, and you'll see the par and how many to order today.
How to work out a par level
A par needs to cover what you'll use until the next delivery arrives, plus a cushion for a busy weekend.
Par = daily usage × (days between deliveries + days to deliver) × (1 + safety buffer)
Then the order is simply the par minus what's on the shelf, rounded up to whole bottles, or whole cases if that's how your distributor sells it.
Getting the usage number right
Usage is the one number most bars guess at. The reliable way is from your counts:
Usage = last count + what was delivered − this count
Average it over three or four weeks so one big night doesn't throw it off, and raise pars ahead of holidays and events.
Pars that are too high cost money too
Every extra bottle on the shelf is cash you can't spend elsewhere, and slow movers are where breakage and theft go unnoticed. Review pars every month or so: lower them on products that always sit at par, raise them on anything you run out of.
Need a sheet to count from? Download the free bar inventory count sheet, which has a par column built in.
Let the count set the order.
Bar Ledger keeps a par for every product, shows what's under par after each count, and builds the order for each vendor. 14 days free, no card required.