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Zero waste · Bar operations · Amsterdam

Waste is an
operations problem.
We solve it by knowing
exactly what you have.

Not a sustainability campaign. Not a certification to chase. A system that tracks every product, every loss, every order — so waste stops being invisible and starts being a decision.

When you run a bar that tight, the rest follows naturally.

1530%
Of bar inventory lost
to waste per period —
most of it untracked
+20%
Free-pour overage
without standardised
measures and controls
0
Independent cocktail bars
in Amsterdam with a formal
sustainability certification
How it works

Waste drops
when you can
see it.

Most bars lose product without knowing where. Not because they don't care — because they have no system that makes it visible.

Bar Back Co. tracks every product in, every product out. What gets used in a recipe, what gets prepped, what gets ordered, what gets logged as waste. Over time, patterns emerge. And once your team can see those patterns, behaviour changes — not because someone told them to, but because the numbers make it obvious.

That's not a sustainability programme. That's just how serious bars operate.

01
Track every loss
The waste module logs product losses by category, cause, and shift. No estimates — actual registered events that build a real picture of where inventory disappears.
02
Order what you need
Par-level ordering built from real consumption data. No over-purchasing, no expired product, no panic orders. The system tells you what to buy and when.
03
Cost every recipe
Full ingredient traceability per cocktail. Every gram documented, every preparation logged. What you use is visible. Waste becomes a decision, not an accident.
04
The documentation exists
Six months of clean operational data — waste logs, order history, recipe costs, supplier records. You don't chase a certification. You run the bar properly. The evidence is already there.
The deeper reason
Running a tight bar
is a form of respect.
For the product.
For the craft.
For the people in it.

Every bottle wasted is an ingredient someone grew, distilled, and shipped. Every over-order is money that didn't go to the team. Every recipe without a standard is a guest who got a different drink than the week before.

Zero waste isn't an environmental ambition. It's professional discipline. And when a bar runs with that kind of discipline, the environmental result takes care of itself.

For the product
Every ingredient is someone's work. A system that tracks it treats it that way.
For the guest
Standardised recipes and prep mean the same cocktail, every time, by every hand behind the bar.
For the owner
When you know where every euro goes, you can make real decisions — not guesses.
If you want it recognised

The industry
has a name for
what you're
already doing.

Once your bar has six months of clean operational data — waste logs, order history, recipe costs, supplier records — that documentation meets the criteria of the main sustainability certifications in hospitality. You don't work toward the certification. You run the bar right, and the certification becomes available to you.

Entry point · Free
SRA Community
Sustainable Restaurant Association
A global network of bars and restaurants committed to responsible operations. Free to join. Gives access to the same framework used to assess the most respected bars in the world. The first step, and it costs nothing.
Official NL certification
Green Key
Stichting KMVK · Bronze · Silver · Gold
The leading sustainability certification for hospitality in the Netherlands, assessed annually by independent auditors. Covers waste management, responsible sourcing, and supplier documentation — all tracked by default in Bar Back Co. No cocktail bar in Amsterdam holds one.
Global standard
Food Made Good
Sustainable Restaurant Association
The only global certification designed specifically for the food and beverage industry. Three pillars: Sourcing, Society, Environment. Used by the world's leading bars to formally document and validate their operations.

If this is how
you want to run
your bar —

We work with bars in Amsterdam that are serious about how they operate. Tell us about your venue.

Get in touch Back to Bar Back Co.