Most bars and restaurants still rely on traditional inventory methods, such as estimating the amount of liquid in a bottle by sight. This is because the automated systems currently available generally require more time for inventory and maintenance. But now there is a new solution.

Digitalization has long been needed in the hospitality industry. Most bars and restaurants still use traditional inventory methods because the automated systems currently available usually require extra time and effort for inventory and maintenance. For example, they estimate the amount of liquid in a bottle by looking at it. This additional time is one of the main reasons why these solutions have not yet become widespread in the hospitality industry – busy bars and restaurants cannot afford it. It takes hours to conduct one full inventory count, as is the case with scales or app-based visual checks, it is difficult for staff to do this consistently. However, smart pourers and automatic beverage dispensers per drink can easily be bypassed and must also be reconciled with point-of-sale (POS) data. Bar IQ, the software provider and system integrator for the hospitality industry, set out to find a comprehensive solution to the issue of liquid inventory management that is fast, accurate, and easy to use. This would prevent inventory losses and lost revenue. They wanted an RFID-based solution, but none of the tags available on the market could meet both the required physical and performance specifications. Solving this challenge would require something new.

The engineering team at Tageos’ Innovation Center of Excellence (ICoE) in Munich was up for the challenge of developing a new product requiring an innovative spin never cracked and implemented before. Leveraging the ICoE team’s Engineering-as-a-Service (EaaS) expertise, Bar IQ developed a new tag that can be inserted directly into open spirits bottles to measure the beverage’s fill level in milliseconds: and so, the Liqr Stiq was born.

This is particularly important for Bar IQ because it means its services can expand to include readers, as well as apps, and a dedicated infrastructure protects against any 3rd party interference.

Liqr Stiq tags will be available in 14 different lengths, ranging from approx. 5 to 12 inches, to accommodate the variety of bottle sizes typically found in bars. Producing inlays in such long formats posed a major challenge due to the limitations in both maximum machine direction pitch and maximum web width of traditional RFID chip assembly machines but was overcome by extensive joint R&D efforts.

The Liqr Stiq is encapsulated and hermetically sealed in a food-safe manner to prevent liquid contamination and structural damage, while maintaining RF performance and measurement accuracy. This encapsulation gives the Liqr Stiq a semi-rigid shape, allowing it to be inserted evenly and consistently into a bottle for accurate fill-level sensing and measurement. This unique feature is critical to the functionality of the product solution, as a flexible tag cannot be reliably placed or expected to remain in the same position in a liquid-filled bottle.

In addition, developing an inlay that can accurately measure fill levels inside a container without dissolving or affecting its contents is a real breakthrough in RFID applications. Identifying the right components – in this case, a material commonly used for drinking straws but not commonly found in RF use cases – and an adhesive-free, consumer-safe sealing method to complement the antenna design, added another layer of complexity to the product development. The result is a truly innovative product that unlocks entirely new RFID applications.

On average, bars and on-premises alcohol retailers are missing at least 14% - sometimes even up to 28% - of their beverage inventory. Around 70% of this represents sales value. Effective inventory replenishment management is needed but poses a significant challenge as it demands extra time and labor, and is susceptible to errors due to manual evaluation. Nevertheless, many businesses still rely on manual inventory checks to determine available stock and estimate order needs.

Inserting a Liqr Stiq into each bottle immediately after opening enables managers to determine with 90% accuracy or greater which product was poured and in which quantity. When combined with the Bar IQ app, the Liqr Stiq provides operational data such as detailed consumption reports and sales trends, as well as sending alerts when stock falls below a predefined threshold. The Liqr Stiq can be easily read using a smartphone or an HF/NFC handheld reader with the Bar IQ app installed. Bar IQ’s purpose-built software has been designed for direct download to smartphones and includes an API key that will enable connection to back-office systems such as Toast, Wisk and Restaurant365 in future versions, simplifying integration and data management for the end user.  

The combination of the new Liqr Stiq product and the Bar IQ software is a game changing innovation, offering greater efficiency and speed than other solutions currently on the market. It allows bars to perform more frequent and accurate inventory checks as opposed to the usual monthly or quarterly visual estimates.

"Working with Tageos has been an outstanding experience. Their Innovation Center team brought not only deep expertise but also a genuine spirit of collaboration to the table. Together, we were able to develop a unique, forward-thinking solution that truly stands out in the market. Their commitment to innovation and ability to move quickly made them an ideal development partner, and we're proud of what we've built together." – Daniel Knotts, CEO, Bar IQ