— PROJECT NAME

POUR

— ROLE

UX Research

Writer

Low-fi wireframes

— DATE

11/2017

— TEAM

Alexandra Jacinto

Arushi Jaiswal

POUR: A Proof of Concept for Optimizing Beverage Costing for Bar Manage

Bar managers often face challenges in maximizing revenue due to complex drink costing processes and the need to compare various liquor brands and vendors. To address these issues, we developed POUR, a drink costing calculator designed to streamline the costing process and enhance profitability.

After bar hopping and interviewing different bar staff, we created a journey map to outline their needs and pain points. 

We designed an alcohol inventory tracker based on their bar sales and drink ingredients. This calculator would ideally be linked to their POS (Point of Sale). 

They hated what we did. 

What we failed to do was ask the right questions. 

Bar managers weren’t struggling to track inventory—they were struggling to maximize revenue by accurately costing drinks. This revelation forced us to reframe the problem and dig deeper into the economics of their operations.

From additional interviews, we uncovered the real drink costing challenges:

• 
  
• Vendor Comparisons
• Which vendors offer the best deals?
• How do delivery fees vary based on order size?
• 
  
• Economic Realities
• How do price fluctuations and discounts impact profitability?
• 
  

We discovered most bar managers relied on Excel workbooks to cost their drinks, so we recreated their templates to better understand the pricing process. Fun fact: we also learned that a “dash” equals 1/32 of an ounce.

Armed with these insights, we went back to the drawing board. This time, we focused on their core need: costing drinks to increase revenue.

We designed a drink costing calculator, POUR, tailored to address their specific challenges:

• 
  
• 1. Connect to wholesale alcohol websites via APIs for real-time pricing.
• 
  
• 2. Compare liquors with similar price points, factoring in vendor delivery fees and discounts.
• 
  
• 3. Perform cost analyses for new and existing cocktails based on ingredients and alcohol volume.
• 
  
• 4. Calculate sale prices by adding pour cost percentages (18%-24%) and tax.

We learned a critical UX lesson: asking the right questions matters more than designing the flashiest tool. By shifting our focus to what bar managers truly needed—revenue generation through accurate costing—we created a tool that aligned with their real-world challenges.