Are you drowning in manual inventory counts, distribution paperwork, and customer data scattered across sticky notes and old file folders?
As a beverage retailer, managing product information, sales, and compliance processes can quickly swallow hours — or even days — of your valuable time. Without advanced solutions built for the unique challenges facing liquor stores, wine shops, and package stores, you’ll struggle to manage these processes efficiently.
This post covers five top options for beverage sales software this year. Let's go over the features and pricing for each option to help you make an informed decision.
Beverage Sales Software: Key Features
Running a bar, restaurant, or liquor store means dealing with many challenges: managing ever-changing inventory across hundreds of SKUs, keeping up with evolving regulations, training staff, maintaining compliance, and leveraging sales data to stay competitive. One of the best ways to minimize your headaches and maximize profits is to invest in a robust point of sale (POS) and inventory management system tailored to beverage and liquor sales.
Related Read: How To Do Alcohol Inventory: 14 Tips, Tools, and Tactics for Inventory Management
Specialized beverage sales software comes packed with features to meet the unique needs of liquor stores, including:
- Liquor Inventory Management: Track inventory quantities, pricing, suppliers, sales velocity, and more across every product. Get notifications for low stock levels or expired products.
- Barcode Scanner Integration: Quickly ring up sales, take inventory counts, check product details, and more with integrated barcode scanners.
- Case Break Inventory: Easily break down case packs into single bottles or cans for resale.
- Age Verification: Protect against fines and license violations with integrated ID scanners, date of birth capture, and reporting features.
- Robust Reporting and Analytics: Get insight into sales trends, bestselling brands, customer purchasing patterns, and other data to inform business strategy.
- Customer Loyalty Programs: Create and manage rewards programs to encourage repeat business and connect with customers.
- Flexible Payments: Support modern payment types like mobile wallets and EMV chip cards and reduce touchpoints with contactless payments.
The right software eliminates tedious manual processes so you and your staff can focus on customer service and driving sales.
Inventory control, loss prevention, and analytics capabilities significantly impact your bottom line, so investing in the right tool can be a game-changer. Now, let’s examine our list of this year's top beverage sales software solutions.
1. TouchBistro
Best for: Breweries
TouchBistro offers a versatile and comprehensive POS system tailored to the unique needs of breweries, wineries, and distilleries. With features designed to streamline operations, drive sales, and enhance guest experiences, TouchBistro stands out as the ideal choice for beverage sales software solutions in the brewery industry.
Some top features of TouchBistro include:
- Reporting and Analytics: Make informed business decisions faster with over 50 prebuilt reports providing deep insights into sales trends and staff performance.
- Menu Management: Upsell effortlessly, manage on- and off-premise menus, and easily build and update menus from anywhere for maximum flexibility.
- Offline Mode: Even in the event of internet connectivity loss, TouchBistro's offline mode allows for continued order taking and closing, sending orders to the kitchen display system (KDS), and accepting offline payments.
- POS Integrations: TouchBistro's POS software seamlessly integrates with best-in-class technology solutions, offering a truly all-in-one platform for powering your brewery business.
- Staff Management: Simplify staff management with custom access permissions, tools for tracking employee activity, and more to allow staff to focus on learning about your offerings, rather than the intricacies of the system.
Related Read: 5 Steps for Creating an Effective Daily Sales Report
Why TouchBistro Makes the List:
TouchBistro stands out as one of the best beverage sales software solutions for breweries due to its robust feature set, user-friendly interface, and dedication to meeting the specific needs of the industry. With its focus on increasing sales, delivering exceptional guest experiences, and saving time and money, TouchBistro provides breweries with the tools they need to thrive in today's competitive market.
Pricing:
TouchBistro starts at $69 per month.
2. Epos Now
Best for: Bars and restaurants
Epos Now offers a comprehensive point of sale solution tailored to bar and restaurant needs. When it comes to beverage sales software solutions, Epos Now is a standout choice thanks to its features that improve efficiency, streamline operations, and enhance customer service.
Some top features include:
- Mobile Online Ordering: Enhance table management and customer service with mobile online ordering software, providing convenience and flexibility for patrons.
- Bar Management Software: Track sales, bar tabs, and margin data to gain greater visibility and control over operations, leading to more informed business decisions.
- Integration With Smart Business Tools: Connect to over 100 smart business tools to boost efficiency and automate manual tasks, ensuring seamless operation and streamlined workflows.
- All-in-One Solution: Epos Now's bar POS system includes the POS terminal, card machine, cash register, and receipt printer, providing a complete solution for bar owners.
Why Epos Now Makes the List:
Epos Now earns its place among the best beverage sales software solutions for its tailored approach to the unique needs of bars and restaurants. With its features aimed at enhancing efficiency, improving customer experiences, and boosting profitability, Epos Now provides a comprehensive solution for businesses in the hospitality industry.
Pricing:
Epos Now’s solution starts at $249 upfront, plus variable monthly fees based on your business needs.
3. Bottle POS
Best for: Independent beer, wine, and liquor stores
Bottle POS offers an all-in-one point of sale system tailored specifically for independent beer, wine, and liquor stores, providing essential features and functionalities to streamline operations and drive business growth. Our comprehensive point of sale system is designed to meet the unique needs of liquor retailers, making Bottle POS the trusted choice for hundreds of liquor store owners to manage and expand their businesses.
Related Read: 4 Must-Have Liquor Store POS Features
Some of the most important features for beer, wine, and liquor retailers include:
- Sales Analytics: Quickly identify top-selling products and inventory trends with automated ranking and color-coding features.
- Automated Inventory Receiving: Streamline inventory control processes with automated invoicing, saving time on manual data entry. When inventory arrives, the system automatically imports invoices for review and finalization.
- Dual Pricing Options: Offer customers the flexibility to choose between cash and credit card payments with built-in dual pricing features, encouraging cash transactions and reducing associated fees.
- 24/7 Inventory Management: Access stock levels and manage inventory anytime, anywhere, using your POS system, back office, or mobile device, ensuring efficient business operations regardless of location.
- Loss Prevention: Utilize POS transaction recordings and in-store security footage to deter inventory shrinkage, minimize losses, and ensure operational integrity.
- Customer Rewards Program: Foster customer loyalty and encourage repeat purchases with built-in loyalty and rewards features, enhancing customer retention and driving sales.
- Marketing Capabilities: Utilize SMS marketing and Google Search marketing through integrations to promote new products and special deals, effectively reaching and engaging customers.
Why Bottle POS Makes the List:
Independent liquor stores can now thrive in today's competitive market with the help of Bottle POS, thanks to its user-friendly interface and dedicated support. Streamline your liquor store operations and drive growth with our inventory control and invoicing features designed specifically for liquor retailers.
In addition to essential POS functionalities, Bottle POS goes above and beyond by offering alcohol marketing tools, customer loyalty programs, and e-commerce integration, empowering liquor store owners to effectively manage their businesses and maximize profitability.
Pricing:
Get a custom quote for your ideal solution using our transparent build and price tool.
4. POS Nation
Best for: Small businesses and specialty stores
POS Nation offers a comprehensive point of sale solution tailored to meet the unique needs of small businesses and specialty stores, including liquor and wine establishments. POS Nation also provides solutions for general retail, hardware stores, and tobacco shops.
Related Read: How To Use Your Point of Sale Analytics To Increase Profits
Some of POS Nation’s standout features are:
- Mix and Match Pricing: Increase sales and optimize inventory management by creating enticing bundle deals for liquor, wine, or beer products.
- Real-Time Sales Data Analysis: Utilizing artificial intelligence, POS Nation automatically ranks and color codes products based on sales performance, enabling store owners to identify top sellers and implement targeted promotions effectively.
- Case Break Inventory Tracking: Effortlessly track inventory by the case, bottle, or six-pack, with the POS system automatically accounting for case breaks to ensure accurate stock management.
- Age Verification: Avoid legal complications by quickly verifying customers' ages using driver's license scanning functionality, ensuring compliance with legal drinking age regulations.
- Multiple Payment Options: Never miss a sale by accepting various payment methods, including gift cards, credit/debit cards, mobile payments, and cash, providing convenience for customers.
Why POS Nation Makes the List:
POS Nation has earned its place among the best beverage sales software solutions. Tailored to small businesses and specialty stores (particularly liquor and wine establishments), POS Nation allows business owners to streamline operations, enhance customer interactions, and facilitate online sales through automated inventory management.
Pricing:
Get a custom quote online with POS Nation’s pricing tool.
5. Square
Best for: Pop-up bars
Square offers a comprehensive suite of POS tools to meet the unique needs of pop-up bars. With its user-friendly interface and robust features, Square enables owners, staff, and customers to maximize efficiency and satisfaction during every shift.
Square’s top features include:
- Flexible Payments: Square ensures that you never miss a sale by accepting all payment methods — swipe, dip, or tap — even in offline mode. Plus, Square handles chargebacks on your behalf, providing peace of mind for transactions.
- Fast Order Entry: With streamlined order entry processes, Square accelerates the pace of service, allowing staff to serve more customers efficiently, even during peak hours.
- Floor Management: Easily manage table assignments and optimize seating arrangements with Square's floor management feature, ensuring smooth operations during busy periods.
- Kitchen Management: Square facilitates seamless communication between front-of-house and kitchen staff, minimizing errors and delays in order preparation
Why Square Makes the List:
Square stands out among beverage sales software solutions for its adaptability and scalability. If you own a temporary pop-up bar or a permanent establishment, Square's POS software can grow with your business requirements. It provides a wide range of features that are designed to improve customer experience and simplify operations, making it an effective and useful tool for any modern restaurant or bar.
Pricing:
Square’s Plus package starts at $60 per month, plus processing fees.
Selecting the Best Beverage Sales Software for Your Business
Having advanced point of sale and inventory management capabilities is crucial when running a liquor store, a specialty wine shop, or a bar. The solutions that are covered in this post offer a wide range of features to facilitate compliance, streamline operations, and expand revenue opportunities.
However, no single software product checks every box or suits every business. Your current systems, budgets, and growth goals determine the best beverage sales platform for your business. That said, core functionalities around age verification, inventory control, customer engagement, and omnichannel payment processing should rank high on your priority list.
Bottle POS helps independent beer, wine, and liquor stores optimize inventory, connect with customers, and process transactions seamlessly while ensuring full compliance. Robust reporting provides actionable insights to boost sales and profits, and baked-in customer loyalty programs help you reward your most loyal customers and keep them coming back.
If you're looking to drive productivity, mitigate risks, and set your business up for the future, it's time to upgrade your beverage sales software. Book a customized demo today to see how Bottle POS can help with your unique business needs.
