For bar and restaurant owners, mastering both operational efficiency and financial control is the key to profitability. When researching software to help, you'll encounter specialized platforms designed to solve specific problems. Two such platforms are Backbar, which focuses on inventory management and cost control, and Fintech, a leader in beverage alcohol payment and data automation.
While both platforms operate in the beverage management space, they target very different core challenges. This post breaks down Backbar vs. Fintech to help you understand which is the right strategic fit for your business goals in 2025.
At a Glance
| Feature Focus | Backbar | Fintech |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Function | Beverage Inventory Management & Cost Control | Automated Invoice Payment & Data Management |
| Core Strength | Detailed Inventory Tracking, Pour Costs, Recipe Management | Streamlined, compliant payments to distributors, data analytics |
| Inventory Management | Advanced, granular, count-focused | Offered as a feature (EzTally), supports payment data |
| Invoice Handling | Tracks purchases for inventory reconciliation | Core feature: Automates invoice payment processing (EFT) |
| Data & Analytics | Focus on internal data: variance, costs, COGS | Focus on payment data, sales trends, and market insights |
| Ideal User | Bars needing tight control over physical stock and pour costs | Businesses wanting to automate payments and centralize invoice data |
1. Core Focus: Inventory Control vs. Payment Automation
- Backbar: At its core, Backbar is an inventory management system. It is purpose-built to give you full visibility into your physical stock, what you're using, your precise pour costs, and where you're losing money through variance.
- Fintech: Fintech's primary strength is payment and data automation for the beverage alcohol industry. It streamlines the entire invoice lifecycle, from receipt to compliant electronic payment, eliminating manual checks and ensuring you pay distributors on time.
2. Inventory Management Capabilities
- Backbar: This is Backbar's specialty.
- Backbar provides a comprehensive suite of inventory tools, including:
- Fast mobile inventory counting.
- Purchase order creation and tracking.
- Sales data integration for variance analysis (actual vs. theoretical).
- Recipe costing to determine exact drink profitability.
- Backbar provides a comprehensive suite of inventory tools, including:
- Fintech: Fintech offers an inventory solution, often called EzTally, but it exists to support its core payment and data services.
- Fintech's inventory tools are designed to help you track products and take counts, but their main purpose is often to provide data that feeds back into their payment and analytics engine. The system is less focused on the deep variance and pour cost analysis found in dedicated platforms like Backbar.
- Fintech's inventory tools are designed to help you track products and take counts, but their main purpose is often to provide data that feeds back into their payment and analytics engine. The system is less focused on the deep variance and pour cost analysis found in dedicated platforms like Backbar.
3. Invoice and Payment Processing
- Backbar: Backbar allows you to upload or enter invoice data to track your purchases against what you receive. This is crucial for reconciling your inventory counts and calculating Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The system does not process payments.
- Backbar uses invoice data for inventory and cost analysis.
- Backbar uses invoice data for inventory and cost analysis.
- Fintech: This is Fintech's core business.
- Fintech fully automates your alcohol invoice payments. It integrates with your distributors, receives invoices digitally, and processes secure Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments, ensuring regulatory compliance and saving significant administrative time.
- Fintech fully automates your alcohol invoice payments. It integrates with your distributors, receives invoices digitally, and processes secure Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) payments, ensuring regulatory compliance and saving significant administrative time.
4. Data & Analytics
- Backbar:
- Backbar's analytics focus on your internal operational data. It gives you reports on inventory valuation, variance, pour costs, and top-performing products to help you manage waste and optimize profitability.
- Backbar's analytics focus on your internal operational data. It gives you reports on inventory valuation, variance, pour costs, and top-performing products to help you manage waste and optimize profitability.
- Fintech:
- Fintech's analytics focus on your purchasing and payment data. It can provide insights into your spending across distributors, product costs, and sales trends, helping you make smarter purchasing decisions.
- Fintech's analytics focus on your purchasing and payment data. It can provide insights into your spending across distributors, product costs, and sales trends, helping you make smarter purchasing decisions.
Who Should Choose Backbar?
You should choose Backbar if your main priorities are:
- Reducing shrinkage, waste, and variance by tracking every bottle.
- Gaining precise control over your pour costs and drink pricing.
- Streamlining the physical act of taking inventory.
- Understanding your internal usage and profitability metrics.
- Starting with a powerful free platform for inventory management.
Who Should Choose Fintech?
You should choose Fintech if your main priorities are:
- Automating invoice payments to all your alcohol distributors.
- Eliminating the hassle of writing checks and managing COD.
- Ensuring 100% regulatory compliance for alcohol payments.
- Centralizing all your invoice data in one place for analysis.
- Reducing administrative time spent on accounting and payments.
While both platforms are valuable to a bar's financial health, they solve different problems. Backbar manages your physical assets and operational costs, while Fintech manages your financial transactions and payment workflow.
If your biggest challenge is product disappearing from the shelves and you need to get a handle on pour costs, Backbar is the essential first step.
If you are spending too much time on administrative tasks like paying invoices and want to streamline your accounts payable, Fintech is the industry standard. For many businesses, the two systems can even be complementary parts of a complete beverage management tech stack.
