Angler, a high-end San Francisco restaurant, manages approximately 2,500 SKUs and 11,000 bottles. Since day one, they’ve relied on BinWise and BinScan to maintain accuracy, visibility, and operational efficiency. As a result, they complete full beverage inventory in under 8 labor hours which is a process estimated to take 3x longer with manual methods.
“With a program this large, you simply cannot operate without BinWise.” - Robert Lozelle, Beverage Director & Head Sommelier
About Angler
Located on The Embarcadero Waterfront of San Francisco, Angler is known for its sophisticated wine program, global selections, and high-volume service. These attributes demand rigorous inventory management and seamless cellar operations.
The Challenge: Scale Too Large for Manual Inventory
Before BinWise, Robert Lozelle had managed a 4,500-SKU cellar using spreadsheets at another restaurant in Sydney, Australia. At Angler, with 2,500 SKUs and an 11,000-bottle cellar, manual tracking was never a viable option.
The complexity of inventory including having multiple storage zones, frequent menu changes, and high-value wines, created a risk of errors, slow inventory cycles, and lack of transparency.
As Robert notes, adapting to BinWise’s “by-product” system was an initial hurdle, but ultimately, “once you get past the curve, it’s completely seamless and absolutely necessary.”
The Solution: BinWise + BinScan for Professional-Level Beverage Management
Angler uses the full BinWise solution, enhanced by BinScan and three handheld barcode scanners, enabling rapid, accurate, and repeatable inventory workflows.
- A core team of four employees complete full inventory in under 8 labor hours (≈ 2 hours per person) which is a major time reduction compared to manual methods.
- BinScan dramatically improves accuracy through barcode scanning. Robert states, “I couldn’t imagine doing inventory without barcodes and without BinWise.”
- The system provides real-time visibility into bottle location and quantity which is critical for large, high-end beverage programs.
BinWise Reports Angler Relies On
- Perpetual Inventory Report: this report provides Robert with full visibility into stock levels, locations, and vendor info across all SKUs.
- Variance Report: tracks what was counted vs. what should be present, allowing rapid identification of discrepancies.
- Consumption/Consignment and Item Reports: helps monitor usage, vendor allotments, and movement of high-value wines.
- General Inventory & Quantity Reports: used for daily checks, forecasting, and planning ordering cycles.
According to Robert: “We use perpetual inventory constantly. It’s how we know what we have and where it is.”
Results: Efficiency, Accuracy, and Confidence
ventory time reduced by ~67%, from a multi-day manual process to under 8 hours total.
- Real-time data and visibility for 11,000 bottles across multiple SKUs and cellar zones.
- Dramatically improved accuracy and fewer inventory errors.
- Consistent, repeatable workflows that team members trust implicitly, many have only known BinWise as their inventory system.
- The ability to run a high-end beverage program confidently and reliably, without spreadsheets, manual counts, or inventory chaos.
“BinWise gives us day-by-day data of what we have. You simply can’t keep up with a program this size without this software.” - Robert Lozelle, Beverage Director & Head Sommelier
Key Takeaways
For restaurants managing large SKUs, high bottle counts, or high-value beverage programs, BinWise transforms complexity into control. BinWise offers the transparency, accuracy, and efficiency required to run an 11,000-bottle cellar, all in a user-friendly system built for wine professionals.
If you’re running a substantial beverage program and still relying on manual methods (spreadsheets, clipboards, handwritten counts), you’re leaving time, accuracy, and control on the table.
BinWise isn’t just helpful, it’s essential.
Are you ready to try BinWise for your business? Book a demo now to see it in action!