The Benefits of Integrating Your POS with Your Brewery Management System

Integrating your Point of Sale (POS) system with your Brewery Management System is the next step toward growth, efficiency, and delegation as a business owner. By combining the two, you improve operational transparency, streamline reporting, and enhance data analysis, making your business more profitable and easier to manage.

Optimizing Forecasting & Reducing Waste

A fully integrated system provides real-time data visibility, allowing your team to forecast sales and adjust production accordingly. The taproom can predict demand and ensure they have the right inventory, while also advising brewers on the best time to produce specific beers based on seasonal sales trends. This approach eliminates waste by focusing on what sells best, with room for occasional exploratory brews.

By shifting focus to high-demand products, the brewery team gains time for essential tasks like cleaning lines, equipment maintenance, and strengthening taproom relationships. This integration allows for better coordination between production and sales, ensuring everyone is aligned on business goals.

Delegation & Financial Visibility

With consolidated reports covering taproom, to-go, and distribution sales, financial insights become more accessible. Owners can set targets without micromanaging, empowering the team to make informed decisions. Delegating responsibilities ensures smoother operations, reducing stress on leadership while allowing key players to work on the business, not just in it.

Price Optimization & Profit Margins

Pricing decisions should be based on data-driven analysis, not guesswork. A burger priced at $18 might preserve margins but could hurt sales volume. Price elasticity analysis helps optimize pricing, balancing affordability with profitability. Small tweaks—such as adding extra cheese or grilled onions—can enhance value without increasing costs significantly.

This same principle applies to beer. Taproom teams monitoring pour costs and profit margins can suggest brewing adjustments to increase profitability. A cross-functional planning team can periodically review sales data, ensuring that both brewing and taproom strategies align with financial goals.

Streamlining Reporting & Compliance

Integrated systems simplify essential back-office tasks like sales tax, gallonage reporting, and ordering. When team members have access to accurate data, they can step in when needed, allowing owners the flexibility to step away from daily operations without disruption.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Performance metrics eliminate guesswork. By setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and giving staff access to relevant data, they can proactively identify ways to improve operations.

Key insights include:

• Monitoring gross margins per beer to focus taproom sales on the most profitable styles.
• Adjusting recipes (e.g., modifying water chemistry to use fewer hops while still achieving desired flavors).
• Optimizing sales channels—determining whether a beer sells better in the taproom or in distribution.

Labor Optimization & Peak Sales Analysis

Analyzing peak sales times ensures staffing aligns with demand. If data shows that the Friday night rush starts at 6 PM, there’s no need to bring in four cooks at 3 PM. Instead, use data insights to match labor to demand, reducing costs while improving efficiency.

Beyond labor scheduling, data can shape marketing and beer suggestions. For example, if sessionable beers sell better on weekdays and double IPAs are more popular on Fridays, use this insight to inform promotions, upselling, and brewing schedules.

Production Planning & Staff Collaboration

Tracking production volume vs. sales helps eliminate spoilage and shrinkage. When the team collectively monitors this data, accountability increases, fostering a culture of transparency and efficiency. Setting a 2% loss goal, for example, gives staff a tangible target to work toward.

Involving taproom staff in production planning ensures beer styles align with customer demand. Brewers may prefer certain styles, but can the taproom team sell them? Historical sales data helps balance creativity with profitability.

Measuring new product success is key. If a typical beer takes eight weeks to sell out and a new brew moves in seven weeks, that’s a tangible measure of success. Encouraging staff to upsell six-packs to-go further enhances revenue while creating a win-win for customers and employees.

Empowering Staff for Business Growth

Integrating front-of-house and back-of-house systems and staff buy-in leads to a more independent, efficient, and profitable operation. Providing employees with data-driven insights enables them to make informed decisions, improving both performance and morale.

The ultimate goal? Free up time for owners and key staff while empowering the team to take pride in their contributions. When people have the right tools, they can own their decisions with confidence, reducing stress, and increasing engagement.

The GoTab POS integrates seamlessly with top tier brewery management systems like Ekos, Beer30 and Ohanafy. Visit the GoTab Brewery Management System integration partners page for full details.

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