--- title: "Bar Delivery & Goods-In Checklist" canonical: "https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/bar-delivery-checklist/" --- > Source: https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/bar-delivery-checklist/ [Checklists](/checklists/) / [Bar & Pub](/checklists/bars-pubs/) / Goods-In: Kegs, Spirits & Bar Deliveries # Bar & Pub Goods-In, Keg & Spirits Delivery Checklist A Bar & Pub goods-in checklist has four jobs at the cellar door. **Count what actually arrived. Date-code every keg and cask. Probe the chilled stock. Get the spirits into a locked store with two signatures.** These 7 checks cover all four. Each is tied to published evidence. One source is Cask Marque's guidance that kegs should sell within 5 days. Another is ACFE fraud data. It shows a median loss of $145,000 per case, running for a median of 12 months before anyone catches it. Everything you fail to count here becomes a variance you cannot explain at close. [Run this checklist - free](/run/bars-pubs/?list=goods-in) [Download PDF](/checklists/pdf/peakscale-bars-pubs-checklists.pdf)[Download Excel](/checklists/excel/peakscale-bars-pubs-checklists.xlsx) The checklist · 7 checks ### Count and check before you sign **1\. Count every keg, cask, case, and gas cylinder against the delivery note and your order** A short delivery means you lose money you already paid for. It can also mean a tap runs dry at your busiest time. Sign only for what you actually counted. **2\. Write down the date code on every keg and cask. Reject anything you cannot sell before it goes bad.** If you never date your stock, you cannot rotate it. It sits too long and pours old beer that you already paid full price for. **3\. Check the temperature of chilled deliveries - bar food, dairy, juice, and cut garnish - with a probe. It must read 0–5°C (32–41°F). Reject anything above 8°C (46°F).** Stock that arrives warm spoils early. Garnish and mixers you paid for end up in the bin before the weekend. **4\. Check gas cylinders. Confirm the correct gas blend, an in-date test stamp, and that each cylinder is chained upright. Test connections for leaks with the regulator on.** A leaking CO2 or mixed-gas line can empty a cylinder overnight. You lose the gas, and the cellar becomes unsafe to enter. ### Get it into the cellar so it rotates and sells **5\. Stack new kegs and casks behind the stock already there (the oldest stock first, FIFO). Write the tap-on date on each one in chalk.** The oldest container gets used first. Nothing sits in the corner too long while a newer keg is on tap. **6\. Count spirits and wine into a locked store. Get two signatures on the intake sheet.** Full bottles are the easiest stock to steal from the building. A counted, locked intake is the cheapest way to stop that. **7\. Log every shortage, breakage, wrong item, and warm case before the driver leaves. Ask for credit on each one.** If you do not claim credit, you lose that money. Tracking accuracy by supplier is what fixes your next order. ## Frequently asked questions **What should you check when a beer delivery arrives at a bar?** Count every keg, cask, case and gas cylinder against both the delivery note and your original order. Record the date code on each container. Chalk the tap-on date before it goes in the stack. Cask Marque's guidance is that kegs should sell within 5 days. So a container you cannot date is a container you cannot rotate. Its 2016 reporting states that pubs on average overstock by 5 brands per pub. That is exactly how a keg ends up sitting past its window. Check gas cylinders for the correct blend, an in-date test stamp, and upright chaining. Confirm a leak-tested connection while the driver is still on site. **Why should spirits be counted into a locked store?** Full bottles are the easiest stock in a bar to walk out of it. A counted, locked intake with two signatures is the cheapest control available. ACFE's Occupational Fraud 2024 report found asset misappropriation in 89% of cases. The median loss was $145,000 per case. The median scheme duration was 12 months before detection. And 43% of cases surfaced through a tip rather than a control. For organisations with fewer than 100 employees - the size of almost every bar - the median loss was $141,000. **What temperature should chilled bar deliveries arrive at?** Probe every chilled delivery - bar food, dairy, juice and cut garnish - at the door. Set your band from your own local law and supplier spec. The pack's starting default is 0–5°C (32–41°F), with anything above 8°C (46°F) rejected rather than 'risked'. That default is an operating convention, not a published standard. What is published is how often this control fails. Improper holding and time-and-temperature control was out of compliance in 31.0% of full-service restaurants. That comes from FDA's national risk-factor data (2003 data, published 2004). Warm stock accepted at the door spoils early. It becomes bin waste you have already paid for, rather than margin you sell. ## More Bar & Pub checklists [Cellar, Kegs & Gas](/checklists/pub-cellar-checklist/)[Beer Line Cleaning Cycle](/checklists/beer-line-cleaning-checklist/)[Opening & Responsible Service](/checklists/bar-opening-checklist/)[Glassware, Ice & Bar Hygiene](/checklists/bar-glassware-ice-machine-cleaning-checklist/)[Closing - Cash, Stock & Pour Cost](/checklists/bar-closing-checklist/)[Weekly Checks](/checklists/bar-weekly-checklist/) One free app has all of them: [open the Bar & Pub Checklists app](/run/bars-pubs/) - offline, no account, add it to your home screen. ## Sources Every statistic on this page comes from public inspection and food-safety data: - [Journal of the Institute of Brewing & Distilling, 'Draught beer hygiene: a survey of on-trade quality'](https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/brewers/PKAlZEHR7aGm3MYzsc5A-draught-beer-hygiene-a-survey-of-on-trade-quality-pdf) - [Cask Marque Beer Quality Report 2017](https://cask-marque.co.uk/quality-report/) - [Brewers Association, Draught Beer Quality Manual](https://f.hubspotusercontent40.net/hubfs/6632597/PDFs/Draft-Beer-Quality-Manual.pdf) - [Cask Marque, 'Beer quality issues'](https://cask-marque.co.uk/beer-quality-issues/) - [Chartered Trading Standards Institute, 'Over two thirds of UK beer and wine is short measured'](https://www.tradingstandards.uk/news-policy-campaigns/news-room/2024/over-two-thirds-of-uk-beer-and-wine-is-short-measured/) - [Cask Marque, 'Scores on the Cellar Doors' launch, citing Quality Report 2016](https://cask-marque.co.uk/cask-marque-launches-scores-cellar-doors/) - [ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations](https://www.anchin.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024-ACFE-Occupational-Fraud-Report.pdf) - [Toomey et al., 'Can Obviously Intoxicated Patrons Still Easily Buy Alcohol at On-Premise Establishments?'](https://experts.umn.edu/en/publications/can-obviously-intoxicated-patrons-still-easily-buy-alcohol-at-on-/) - [Toomey et al., 'Alcohol sales to pseudo-intoxicated bar patrons', Public Health Reports](https://scispace.com/pdf/alcohol-sales-to-pseudo-intoxicated-bar-patrons-41guui6gpf.pdf) - [NHTSA, Countermeasures That Work - Alcohol Vendor Compliance Checks](https://www.nhtsa.gov/book/countermeasures-that-work/alcohol-impaired-driving/countermeasures/enforcement/alcohol-vendor) - [Ohio Administrative Code 3717-1-04.4](https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-administrative-code/rule-3717-1-04.4) - [FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors](https://www.fda.gov/media/157223/download) - [Journal of Water and Health](https://iwaponline.com/jwh/article/15/3/410/28453/Microbiological-quality-of-ice-and-ice-machines) - [Food Safety Magazine, 'The Sanitation of Ice-Making Equipment', citing NSF/ANSI 12-2012](https://www.food-safety.com/articles/4343-the-sanitation-of-ice-making-equipment) - [Miller, Buckingham-Meyer & Goeres, 'Simulated aging of draught beer line tubing increases biofilm contamination'](https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4593278) - [Brewers Association, 'Economics of Draught Quality' November Power Hour Q&A](https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/brewersassoc/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Economics-of-Draught-Quality_QA.pdf) - [British Guild of Beer Writers, analysis of Food Standards Agency FHRS data](https://www.beerguild.co.uk/news/average-food-hygiene-rating-for-pubs-bars-and-clubs-revealed-across-the-uk-as-more-than-92-score)