Everything you need to run a tighter bar
BarGuard is a complete inventory intelligence platform. Here's every tool at your disposal.
See your bar's health at a glance
Live Variance Dashboard
Your command center. Every critical number front and center so you always know what's happening with your inventory.
- Health score (0–100) updated on every calculation
- Critical, warning, and normal item counts at a glance
- Estimated total dollar loss for any date range
- Highest-risk item spotlight with estimated loss
- Reorder alerts panel — items that need restocking
- AI-generated summary of your shift in plain English
- Today at a Glance card — daily stock health, 86-item warnings, and variance flags
- In-app notification bell with unread alert count
- Weekly email digest — variance summary and top alerts delivered automatically
Flexible Date & Shift Filtering
Run calculations on exactly the period you need. Compare opening to closing, last week, or any custom window.
- Preset ranges: opening shift, closing shift, full shift
- Custom start/end date & time picker
- Browser timezone auto-detection
- Drill down by individual item or category
- Side-by-side period comparison
Track every bottle, keg, and pack
Item Catalog
- Spirits, beer, wine, food, produce & more
- Set cost per unit for loss calculations
- Define reorder levels per item
- Assign items to vendors
- Pack size logic (six-pack, case, keg)
- Three-tier stock alerts: zero, critical, and low with sidebar badge
- Filter stock view by alert severity
Stock Counts
- Manual quantity entry per item
- Partial bottle estimation
- AI bottle image analysis (camera scan)
- Bulk stock import via CSV
- Pack-level breakdown display
Data Import
- Upload inventory CSV
- Upload purchase CSV
- Upload sales CSV
- Auto-map item name aliases
- Resolve unmatched items with one click
Claude AI built into every workflow
AI Invoice Scanning
Photograph any invoice or delivery receipt and let AI do the data entry. Works with any supplier format.
- Supports JPG, PNG, and PDF invoices
- Extracts vendor, items, quantities, and unit costs
- Review draft before confirming — edit anything
- Auto-maps invoice names to your inventory items
- View full import history with status tracking
- No manual typing — ever
AI Shift Summaries & Insights
After running your numbers, get a plain-English breakdown of what happened, what's risky, and what to do next.
- Plain-English summary of every variance run
- Flags the biggest loss drivers automatically
- Recommends specific next actions
- AI bottle image analysis — snap a photo to estimate oz remaining
- Profit insights with margin gap analysis
- Recipe auto-match wizard for new menu items
- Forward invoices by email — AI scans and creates a purchase draft automatically
Find exactly where the money is going
Variance Calculation Engine
The core of BarGuard. Calculates exactly how much of each item should have been used versus what actually disappeared.
- Beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory = actual usage
- Compares actual usage to expected usage from sales
- Flags overages and shortages per item
- Variance shown in units and dollars
- Critical / warning / normal classification
- Filter by item type, status, or date range
- Add notes to any variance item for shift context or follow-up
Detailed Loss Reports
Export a full breakdown of every variance event to share with ownership, management, or your accountant.
- Beginning inventory, purchases, ending inventory per item
- Actual vs. expected usage comparison
- Dollar loss per item and total
- Variance percentage column
- Summary KPIs at the top of every report
- Mobile-friendly card view + desktop table
Lock in your numbers at the end of every period
Close a Period
Officially close any inventory period in three steps. Once closed, the numbers are locked — no accidental overwrites, no drift.
- Select the date range to close
- Review the variance summary before confirming
- Snapshot is saved and locked permanently
- Manager-only action — requires the right role
- Prevents reopening or editing a closed period
Closed Period History
Browse every closed period with its frozen snapshot — perfect for owner reviews, audits, or comparing month-over-month.
- Full history of every closed period
- Frozen variance totals and item breakdown per period
- Timestamps and who closed each period
- Month-over-month comparison at a glance
- Exportable for ownership or accountant review
Keep your team accountable
86 Board
- Mark items as 86'd with a reason and timestamp
- Visible to all staff in real time
- One-tap restore when restocked
- Keeps floor staff and kitchen in sync
- History log of every 86 event
Comp & Waste Log
- Log comps, spills, and breakage with dollar values
- Assign to a bartender or shift
- Track running totals by category
- Feeds directly into variance calculations
- Export comp reports for ownership review
Bartender Performance
- Track variance by individual bartender
- Identify over-pourers and high-comp staff
- Shift-by-shift performance breakdown
- Compare staff across the same time period
- Use data in coaching conversations — not guesses
Know which drinks and dishes make you the most money
Margin Analysis
Calculate the true profit on every drink and food item so you can double down on high-margin sellers.
- Gross revenue, estimated cost, and profit per item
- Profit margin % for every menu item
- Top profit, top revenue, and lowest margin spotlights
- Sortable leaderboard (profit, margin, revenue, volume)
- Drink vs. food category split
Recipe Management and Mapping
Map every drink and food item to its ingredients so BarGuard knows exactly how much inventory should be consumed per sale — and flags when it isn't.
- Cocktail, shot, beer, wine, and food recipe support
- Define ingredients by oz, ml, unit, or weight
- Real-time cost-per-item pulled from your inventory costs
- Food cost % calculated automatically per menu item
- AI auto-match wizard — suggests recipes by item name
- 40+ cocktail library to import and customize
- Bulk price editor — update sell prices across your whole menu
- Recipes feed directly into variance calculations
Track every cost, not just inventory
AI Receipt Scanning
Photograph any receipt — utilities, linen, repairs, supplies — and let AI extract the details. No spreadsheets.
- Supports JPG, PNG, and PDF receipts
- Extracts vendor, date, line items, and totals
- Review and confirm before saving
- Assign to a custom expense category
- Full receipt history with search and filters
- See total spend by category over any date range
Expense Categories & Reporting
Organize your bar's non-inventory costs into categories so you always know where money is going beyond the bottles.
- Create custom expense categories (utilities, labor, repairs, etc.)
- Vendor hints remember how to categorize recurring suppliers
- Monthly and date-range expense summaries
- Track expense trends over time
- Helps owners understand true total operating costs
Automate the work. Connect your POS.
POS Integration
Connect your existing point-of-sale system and let sales data flow in automatically. No double-entry.
- Toast — direct API connection, live
- Focus POS — live
- Square — OAuth connection
- Clover — OAuth + catalog import
- Sync sales for any date range on demand
- View sync history and connection status
- Real-time webhooks for supported systems
- Heartland and Lightspeed coming soon
Vendor Management
- Store supplier name, email, and rep contact
- Link inventory items to their vendor
- Vendor-grouped reorder view
- Used in automated purchase order generation
Smart Reorder Suggestions
- AI analyzes stock levels and daily usage velocity
- Priority tiers: urgent, soon, watch, ok
- Generates formatted purchase orders by vendor
- Shows days remaining before stockout
- One-click copy to send to your rep
Running multiple locations
Up to 5 Locations
- Manage up to 5 bar locations under one account
- Separate inventory and reports per location
- Single login for all locations
Priority Support
- Priority email support
- Faster response times than standard plans
- Help getting your team set up
Everything in Pro
- All POS integrations included
- Vendor management & reorder automation
- Full sales history & data export
- Profit intelligence & AI insights
Your data stays yours
Complete Data Isolation
Every bar account lives in its own silo. No other bar can ever see your inventory, sales, or reports.
Row-Level Security
Every database query is enforced at the infrastructure level — your data is locked to your account and cannot be accessed by anyone else.
No Data Selling. Ever.
Your inventory, sales, and business data is never sold, shared, or used to train models. It belongs to you.
Switching from another bar inventory app?
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