Opened in 2004, Bacchus - a Bartolotta restaurant - is set in a sleek, stylish space in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It offers a seasonal menu, paired with one of the most extensive wine lists in the area.
The restaurant has won multiple awards, including the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence in 2006, and America's Top 100 Wine Restaurants by Wine Enthusiast in 2017.
Why Bacchus Team Absolutely Loves BinWise
With over 750 unique SKUs and more than 6000 wine bottles in their collection, Bacchus knew that they couldn’t risk doing their inventory with pen and paper, or spreadsheets.
They needed a complete inventory management system that enables them to complete the task quickly and accurately, while also making it easier to manage their extensive wine list.
In 2012, Bacchus chose to start their journey with BinWise.
Joseph Kane, the Wine Director and General Assistant Manager of Bacchus, could not hide how impressed he and his team are with BinWise. Joseph and his team must take inventory at least once every month, and BinWise enables them to complete the entire inventory process for thousands of bottles without any mistakes in just 4 hours, which is 4 times faster than other methods.
BinWise makes the process seamless with its reliable scanners and the ability for multiple people to scan inventory at the same time. Everything is automatically backed up and synced across all devices, even when they are down in the cellar with little or no internet connection.
“Doing inventory without BinWise? I don’t even want to imagine that. It would take an eternity!” Joseph shares.
In addition to that, BinWise makes it extremely easy for Joseph to take a quick look at his dashboard to double check inventory and catch any potential mistakes in time.
“Without a system like BinWise in place, we will not know about those mistakes until the next time we do the inventory, which is in another month,” he compliments how convenient and reliable the system is.
But inventory management isn’t the only thing Bacchus uses BinWise for. As the Wine Director, Joseph is also in charge of updating their seasonal wine list, which changes very frequently.
BinWise’s built-in wine list functionality automatically hides 86’d items and generates an up-to-date digital wine list once the inventory process is completed. Joseph only needs to print it out for their guests so they have the most current wine list on hands when placing orders.
He and his team never have to worry about telling their guests that the bottle they just ordered is out of stock, which helps create an excellent customer experience. At the same time, the wine list is also fully customizable, where Joseph can quickly make adjustments on prices and availability for special occasions.
As of today, BinWise is the only inventory system available on the market that comes with the wine list feature.
On top of that, Joseph has to manage all the important numbers behind their wine bottles, such as par levels, variances, pour costs, and especially liquor costs. With just a click, the BinWise reports and analytics tool will automatically calculate all important financial numbers for him, saving him time from having to crunch these numbers himself.
Joseph appreciates that BinWise keeps all of their invoices digitally and stores every item’s information on its cloud database, which allows him to quickly spot any changes in pricing from distributors in the last delivery and makes it easier for him to look up any bottle when necessary, even the ones that they carried years ago.
When talking about the partnership between Bacchus and BinWise, Joseph states that BinWise has his absolute trust, especially with the excellent customer service that BinWise provides.
During the installation period, the BinWise Customer Success team helped transfer the entire wine collection of more than 6000 bottles into the system’s digital wine list within a week, which Joseph is absolutely impressed with.
“There is no other system like BinWise. It has been a very effective and useful tool for us,” Joseph notes.