In a 2024 survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, 61% said they had left a line before reaching their turn.1 At a bar, those guests don’t appear in any report. Counting them takes one person, one peak hour and the sheet at the bottom of this page.
Pick the hour
Open your POS hourly sales report for your busiest night of the week and find the hour with the most drink transactions. That’s the hour to count.
Choose who counts
Someone who isn’t working the bar: a manager, a host or a friend you trust. They need a clear view of the bar and nothing else to do for the hour. Bartenders are too busy to count accurately.
What to count
- Joined. Each guest who steps up to the bar to order. When one person orders for a group, count one.
- Walked away. Each guest who joined and left the bar without ordering. Count them once they’re clearly gone, not when they step back for a moment.
- Wait times. Pick five guests over the hour and time each one from joining to drink in hand.
After the hour, pull three numbers from your POS for the same hour: orders, drinks sold, and the share of drinks that were cans or bottles.
Do the math
Walkaway rate = walked away ÷ joined
Lost drinks = walked away × drinks per order
Lost sales = lost drinks × average drink price
Drinks per order is drinks sold divided by orders, from your POS for that hour. Here’s a worked example with made-up numbers:
| Input | Example |
|---|---|
| Guests who joined | 240 |
| Guests who walked away | 22 |
| Drinks per order | 1.6 |
| Average drink price | $9 |
Walkaway rate: 22 ÷ 240 = 9.2%
Lost drinks: 22 × 1.6 ≈ 35
Lost sales: 35 × $9 ≈ $315 in one hour
If 40% of the drinks sold in that hour were cans or bottles, about 14 of those 35 lost drinks were orders that needed no mixing at all. Those are the orders a self-serve machine can take off the bar.
What the count misses
- Guests who saw the crowd and never joined it. Treat your number as a floor.
- Guests who waited and then ordered less than they planned: one drink instead of a round, or no second drink.
- Variation between nights. Count the same hour on two or three nights before you draw conclusions.
Walkaway tally sheet
DrinkDock · one sheet per hour counted
| Venue | |
|---|---|
| Date and hour counted | |
| Counted by |
| Minutes | Joined | Walked away |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 10 | ||
| 10 to 20 | ||
| 20 to 30 | ||
| 30 to 40 | ||
| 40 to 50 | ||
| 50 to 60 | ||
| Total |
| Wait time | Joined at | Drink in hand at | Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guest 1 | |||
| Guest 2 | |||
| Guest 3 | |||
| Guest 4 | |||
| Guest 5 |
| From your POS, same hour | |
|---|---|
| Orders | |
| Drinks sold | |
| Share of drinks in cans or bottles | |
| Average drink price |
What to do with the number
The revenue calculator works per busy night and counts each walkaway as one drink, so start from your peak-hour count and add a rough estimate for the rest of the night. Or send us your tally sheet and we’ll size a machine to it.