Guide
How to work out a stocktake
Cost of sales, gross profit, theoretical GP and variance — the five calculations behind every stock take, with a worked bar example.
1. Cost of sales
Opening stock + purchases − closing stock = cost of sales
Everything is at cost, excluding VAT. Adjustments — wastage, staff food, transfers between sites — come out here so they do not get blamed on the bar.
2. Gross profit
Net sales − cost of sales = gross profit
Net sales means your takings with VAT stripped out. Comparing gross takings to cost prices is the most common mistake made on a home-made stock sheet.
3. GP percentage
(Gross profit ÷ net sales) × 100 = GP %
This is the number most operators quote. On its own it says whether the period was good; it does not say why.
4. Theoretical GP
What the stock sold should have earned at your sell prices
Take the actual products consumed, price them at your menu prices, and you get the money the bar should have taken. That is the benchmark your real GP is measured against.
5. Variance
Theoretical sales − actual sales = variance
The shortage, at retail. Split per product it shows exactly which lines are leaking, in measures and in money — which is where a stocktake earns its fee.
A worked bar example
- Opening stock (cost)
- €35,057.33
- Purchases (cost)
- €104,220.00
- Closing stock (cost)
- €33,410.00
- Cost of sales
- €105,867.33
- Net sales
- €425,000.00
- Gross profit
- €319,132.67
- GP %
- 75.09%
- Variance at retail
- −€3,240.00 (−0.76%)
A 75% bar GP looks healthy until you see the variance: €3,240 of stock went out the door without a sale behind it. Per product, that report names the bottles.
We do this for you, every period
Apex counts on site, enters your purchases, imports till sales and issues the GP and variance report the same day.