Nic Corbett, Contributing Reporter
The Post Standard: October 30, 2006 — The first thing restaurant and bar owners say when they see Mark Young's product is, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Young, the CEO of US Beverage Net Inc., created a service that tracks in real time how much beer or soda is poured from a tap. At the same time, it keeps county of how much money is collected.

The service, by making bartenders accountable during their shifts, decreases a bar's or restaurant's loss from 30 percent to about 5 percent, Young said.

"It's been a problem in the hospitality industry since draft beer started being poured hundreds of years ago," Young said.

Restaurant managers using the service can easily see if a bartender spills frequently or gives away drinks, he said.

"Some bar owners might have a policy that they allow comps, which is fine, but what they do it they want to monitor and make sure there's no product given away that wasn't authorized," Young said.

Young sectioned off a portion of his office in the Rockwest building, on West Fayette Street, to mimic a bar lounge, where he shows potential clients the value of his service.

In a black refrigerator, he stores a keg of beer with a flow meter. As one of his employees pours a glass of beer from the keg, the meter's measurement is displayed.

A third device, which looks like a computer chip board picks up the reading and sends it to a secure Web server, which restaurant owners and managers can access. US Beverage Net has two patents pending on this device.

"The draft beer kegs are tough to monitor," Young Said. "You can't count the units or bottles. You have to go down and either lift them or weigh them, and it's been a very archaic way to do it before US Beverage Net."

The service sends e-mails or text messages to alert a manager when a particular tap is running low.

"If a draft line goes empty, you can't sell it," Young said. "So that's a big feature. But you also don't want to carry too much. Carrying more inventory costs you money."

Zebb's Deluxe Bar and Grill, in Mattydale, has used the US Beverage Net service for three months. Chris Yiatras, general manager, said he loves how the service is accessible through the Internet.

The tracking of the tap lines on the Web server, which is updated every 10 minutes, helps pinpoint the source of any problem, such as a leaky tap, that might result in loss.

"We do a weekly inventory," Yiatras said. "We know the loss at the end of the week. With this, if we wanted to track per hour, we're able to do that."

For its eight tap lines, the restaurant pays $160 a month for the service, which Yiatras said is well worth it.

"When you know people are watching, things kind of go in line, so to speak," he said.

"How's that saying go? ‘Locks are made to keep honest people honest.'"

Before using the service, Zebb's experienced a loss variance--the difference between the amount of beer poured and amount of money collected—of 25 percent to 35 percent. The restaurant was losing $600 to $800 a week. With the system in place, the loss variance is 7 percent to 9 percent, he said.

John Giamartino, president of Tully's Good Times, uses the service in seven of his nine locations. He said its price is fair.

"There's potential to lose a lot more in product than what the service costs," Giamartino said.

Tully's loss variance went down from 12 percent to 2 percent to 3 percent when it began using the service, he said.

The only complaint Yiatras had was about the disconnect between the US Beverage Net service and his point-of-sales software, which his bartenders use to complete sales. While the service tracks the ounces of beer poured, it does not match up with the amount of money collected until checks are cashed out through the point-of-sales system.

If a bartender leaves at the end of a shift and leaves a check open because the customer is still eating, the tracking service shows a loss even though there is none, he said.

Yiatras said he also would like to be able to enter inventory numbers in the point-of-sales system and have those numbers automatically connected to US Beverage Net, instead of having to input the numbers twice.

Young said he is working with companies that develop point-of-sales software to combine the two programs into a package software.

"What helps us is they have an existing customer base," he said.

US Beverage Net partners with Auper Electronic Controls Inc., a Canadian company that manufactures flow meter equipment.

Young's company tested its online service for about a year and started selling it three months ago. Young has been focusing on direct sales of his service on the East Coast, targeting regional and national chains.

US Beverage Net is in 24 locations, including Faegan's Café and Pub and Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub and Restaurant. It also has contracts to set up in locations in Georgia and Florida.

The company has six employees, with plans to add more than 20 people in IT and customer support. It also outsources to Terakeet Corp., which heads the software development.

There are no plans to sell the company, Young said.