Case Study: How Usagi halved its inventory time by 50%

• Business: Usagi – Japanese Restaurant
• Industry: Upscale dining / Japanese Cuisine
• Location: Munich
• Use case: Monthly bar and kitchen inventory
• Contact: Dominik Kneidl, Bar Manager
• Result: 50% time savings on inventory

About Usagi

Usagi is a Japanese restaurant in the heart of Munich. The kitchen combines traditional Japanese techniques with fresh, regional ingredients. Behind the bar: a curated selection of sake, Japanese whiskies, shochu and classic spirits for the cocktail menu.

Dominik is the bar manager and responsible for the monthly inventory. Before BarBrain, this meant: hours of counting with measuring jugs, decanting and pouring back — a process as cumbersome as it sounds.

The challenge: 5–6 hours with measuring jugs and funnels

End of the month at Usagi. Dominik stands in front of the bar cabinet. To determine the stock of each open bottle, he had to decant the contents into a measuring jug, read the amount, note it down and pour the liquid back into the bottle. With premium sake and rare whiskies, a particularly delicate procedure.

“We used to do everything manually — with measuring jugs, decanting and pouring back. This process took five to six hours and was incredibly cumbersome.”– Dominik Kneidl, Bar Manager, Usagi

5–6 hours. Every month. For a single location. And the accuracy still left something to be desired: some liquid is always lost during decanting, measurement errors accumulate, and at the end Dominik was left with a result he couldn’t fully trust.

Why BarBrain

Dominik was looking for a solution that solved two problems at once: count faster and record more accurately. BarBrain’s digital inventory app made decanting unnecessary. Instead of pouring liquid back and forth, the app captures the fill level via an intuitive slider — directly at the bottle, without having to open it.

“Thanks to the app, everything has become much easier. We compared the processes, and BarBrain saved us almost half the time.”– Dominik Kneidl, Bar Manager, Usagi

Implementation

Setup was straightforward. BarBrain digitised Usagi’s entire product portfolio — from sake and Japanese whisky to spirits, soft drinks and kitchen ingredients. The setup ran on an existing smartphone; no additional hardware was needed.

The full feature overview shows all functions in detail. For Dominik, one feature was particularly relevant: after every inventory, he immediately sees the total value of his stock — in euros, broken down by category.

“It’s always exciting to see what’s there and how much money and quantity we actually have.”– Dominik Kneidl, Bar Manager, Usagi

Results

The measurable changes since switching to BarBrain:

“Since we’ve been using BarBrain, we can’t imagine doing it any other way.”– Dominik Kneidl, Bar Manager, Usagi

Operational Impact

The 50% time saving is the obvious result. But for Usagi, the qualitative leap was at least as important: decanting with measuring jugs damaged product quality over time — oxidation, contamination, liquid loss. With premium sake costing €30–80 per bottle, this is not just a financial but also a quality concern.

With BarBrain’s fill-level slider, the bottle stays sealed. Stock is recorded visually without touching the product. This not only improves inventory speed but also protects the cost of goods — because nothing is lost during counting.

About BarBrain

BarBrain is the fastest digital inventory solution for the hospitality industry. Over 1,000 businesses — from independent restaurants to restaurant chains — use the app for their monthly stocktake. Setup takes less than a day, and the 30-day trial is free.