Frequently Asked Questions

- General

Why should I consider buying CountStock ?

Many pubs, bars and clubs employ external stock takers to produce their trading results and selling price consumption results. Even if they are only paying an average of £100 per result, this can still add up to a pretty hefty amount each year. Many licencees have expressed to us that they would consider doing their own counts an results, if only they had the software on which to calculate a result – that’s the reason we’ve written this application in the first place.

Why should I bother producing a stock result ? – I work on a GP basis and I feel my results are fine.

We feel that it’s best practice for any licenced outlet to produce a selling price consumption result. You’d be surprised just how many issues a business can have unknowingly. Even if you eventually choose not to purchase CountStock and perform your own periodic stock results, we do urge you to consider getting in a stock taker to do the job for you.

But I trust my staff, I know they’re not stealing from me.

Not all stock issues are related to dishonesty. Poor training can lead staff to over pour or under pour drinks (both illegal and a risk to your licence and reputation); Incorrect till programming can lead to the wrong prices being charged. There are many ways to lose money – remember, if just 4 shots average-price spirits are consumed each day without the money reaching your till, that’s over £300 per month in lost profits.

My hotel has more than 10 liquor outlets – what can I do?

Firstly, congratulations on your size! Secondly, drop us a line – we’ll be happy to talk about bespoking CountStock multibar to your requirements.

General / Licensing / Technical / Other

- Licensing

How many licences do I need?

You need one licence per unit for which you intend to take stock. That said, if you are, say, a golf club with a bar operation and a small shop, you are more than welcome to buy one licence and create separate files for the retail and liquor operations.

I’m a Stock Taker, does that mean I need to buy one licence per client?

No, you purchase Stock Taker Edition, and this will enable you to create a file for each of your clients under one licence. The key test is the number of people who will use the application at any one time – and the number of people who may require support from us.

I represent a hotel group, what’s to stop us buying a Stock Taker Edition and sharing across the whole group?

It will become pretty clear if that’s the case, as we will get support calls from multiple people for a single licence. It would also become obvious should we perform an upgrade that requires you to send your files to us. If that is found to be the case we reserve the right withdraw support.

General / Licensing / Technical / Other

- Technical

What are the minimum system requirements to run CountStock applications ?

You will need Microsoft Excel 97 or later. If you’re running that you should have no issues using CountStock, however, if in doubt, ask for an evaluation copy to be double sure. (We’ve not had a chance to check CountStock in Office 2007 yet, but we’re pretty sure it’ll work – again, if in doubt, check with an evaluation copy.)

Excel is a very powerful tool, and we would recommend it to any client (we rather like it – can you tell?). You can purchase it as stand alone software, as part of MS Office, or, if you have MS Works (which often comes as standard with the purchase of a PC), you may be able to purchase an upgrade to Excel at a very reasonable price. We suggest you contact your computer supplier to discuss this further.

Do I need to upgrade the software if I change my hardware.

No, because CountStock runs in MS Excel, you can do anything with it you could do with any other spreadsheet or Office document. Peripherals such as printers do not have to be defined within CountStock.

General / Licensing / Technical / Other

- Other

Can you come and help me set up CountStock?

Yes we can. We’ve got trainers based in Crewe, Sheffield and Central Scotland (and we’re soon to have one in London). We can send the nearest trainer to your site, help you set up your product list and category listings, and give you training in how to use the application (and some basic stock taking training if you’d like). This does come at an additional fee, plus reasonable mileage and other expenses as incurred.

In most cases, a “regular” sized pub, using CS Single Unit will require about a half day’s set-up and training – A MultiBar site will probably require a full day to set up the outlets, product listing, and then to provide the user training.

If I don’t wish to have a trainer, what do I do?

CountStock comes with a full training manual showing you how to set up your unit, name any outlets (MultiBar only), and how to enter items, process goods received, process requisitions from cellar to bars (MultiBar only), print and enter stock sheets, and finally run results and process period-end roll-over.

If you are reasonably comfortable with using a PC, and especially if you have some experience in using Excel or another spreadsheet application, then you should have no difficulty in setting up and running CountStock.

How does CountStock work?

That’s a little like asking the magician how a trick works! Nearly all of CountStock’s functionality derives from Excel macros. You will need to enable macros when you start up your file. You may need to look at your PC’s security settings – this is all covered in the training manual.

Once you’re set up and started, you produce a separate spreadsheet each stock period – the historical data is passed sheet-to-sheet, so each file is a self contained set of results, including year to date and trends analysis.

Aren’t macros dangerous?

It’s certainly the case that some malicious individuals have used macros to spread viruses. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we have hidden and protected the code in CountStock, but we are happy to warrant that our macros contain no malicious code, and that they do not call any other program. Obviously, we cannot make such a warrantee for any copies obtained other than directly from us.

What about upgrades?

We are always listening to our customers, and looking for ways to improve the application. All customers will benefit from any enhancements, as these will be sent out to all licences as and when they are developed – again, this will be done in such a way as to preserve your data, usually by eMail. On occasion, we may ask that you eMail your current file back to us to enable us to perform the upgrade here (in lovely rural Fife, since you ask)

And support?

All licences include the first years support service, available through eMail or by telephone as in appropriate. This will be either from your trainer or direct from the Author of the application, so you’ll know that your questions will be answered promptly and correctly.

And after the first year..?

After one year, you have the option of entering into a support agreement, charged at 10% of initial licence cost for each subsequent year.

What if I’m happy with the version I have, do I have to take extended support ?

Not at all - you may decide that you are happy with the model as it stands and that you won’t require any further upgrades, in which case you are free to decline extended support. We’ll not hold it against you – (promise)

What other products and applications can you help with?

How about a Costed rota application to help you keep track of forecasted labour costs? (after raw product, the biggest single cost to the hospitality industry). A dish-costing model to help you achieve your required Gross Profit on menu items? Of course there are expensive IT packages that the big caterers and hotel companies can use, but you’d be surprised at what a spreadsheet can do if it has been well written.

We can also supply bespoke spreadsheet solutions to many issues. Please do get in touch by eMail, or fill in the ‘register an interest’ form on this website and we’ll contact you.

General / Licensing / Technical / Other