Pour cost calculator for beer, wine and cocktails

How to calculate pour cost

Pour cost takes two steps. First, work out what one pour costs you. Then divide that by the drink’s menu price and multiply by 100. Turn the second step around, and your target pour cost gives you a menu price.

Ounces on this page are US fluid ounces. 1 oz is 29.5735 ml, so divide milliliters by 29.5735 to get ounces. The calculator does it for you when you type a size in ml.

Bottle and keg sizes in ounces

The container size is the number that trips people up, because bottles are sold in milliliters and kegs in gallons. Here are the common sizes, and what each holds on paper.

On paper, before foam, spills and the last bit that won’t pour. A US gallon is 128 fluid ounces.

Worked example: a 750 ml bottle

Say a 750 ml bottle of vodka cost you 24.00, you pour 1.5 oz, and the drink sells for 6.00. These are the numbers already in the calculator above. They’re sample numbers in dollars, so use the cost on your own invoice.

At 6.00, this drink runs a 23.7% pour cost. If you aim for 20%, the price would be about 7.10.

Worked example: keg pour cost for a half barrel

A keg works the same way, with a much bigger container. Say a half barrel cost you 186.00, you pour 16 oz pints, and a pint sells for 7.00.

To try it, tap ½ barrel in the calculator and type 186, 16 and 7. A quarter barrel (992 oz) or a sixth barrel (661 oz) works the same way.

Cocktail cost: add up every ingredient

A cocktail has more than one bottle in it. To use this as a cocktail or drink cost calculator, go one ingredient at a time: run each spirit and liqueur through it, add your best guess for juice, syrup and garnish, then divide the total by the menu price.

To bring that cocktail to a 25% pour cost, the price would be about 12.72 (3.18 × 100 ÷ 25).

Wine by the glass

A 750 ml bottle pours about 5 glasses at 5 oz. If the bottle cost 12.00, each glass costs about 2.37 (12.00 × 5 ÷ 25.36). Priced at 10.00 a glass, that’s a 23.7% pour cost. In Just a Menu, set glass and bottle as two sizes of the same item, each with its own price.

What is a good pour cost?

There’s no single right number. It depends on your prices, your neighborhood and the kind of bar you run. As a rough guide, many bars aim for ranges like these:

Rules of thumb, not numbers from a study. They vary by bar, city and concept.

Lower isn’t always better. A very low pour cost can mean prices that feel high to your guests, or pours that feel small. A pour cost that creeps up month after month often points to waste, heavy pours or a supplier price you haven’t passed on yet.

Check the whole bar, too. Once a week or once a month, take your opening inventory, add purchases, subtract closing inventory, and divide by drink sales. If that number is well above what the calculator says, drinks are going out that never get rung up.

Why you sell fewer pours than the math says

The calculator counts every ounce in the bottle or keg. A real bar doesn’t sell every ounce.

See what loss does to your price. Type a smaller size in the calculator. In the half barrel example, losing 1 pint in 10 means typing 1,786 oz instead of 1,984. Each pint then really costs about 1.67, and the pour cost at 7.00 goes from 21.4% to 23.8%.

Measure the pour. A jigger for spirits and the right glass for each beer keep real pours close to the math.

Put the new price on your menu board

A new price only works once guests see it. Put it on the TVs over your taps, where they decide what to order. With Just a Menu, you change a price once, and your TV boards, your QR menu and your print menus all use it.

Illustration

Draft beer, cocktails and wine on one board, with the pour size and price on every beer. The scene is staged; the board is a sample Just a Menu design.

• ✓Every pour, its own price: in Just a Menu, each pour is a size with its own price, so a 16 oz pint and a 10 oz pour sit on one line.
• ✓Happy hour on a schedule: give your happy hour slide its days and hours, and your TVs switch to it and back on their own.
• ✓Keg kicked? Tap Sold Out in Menu Workspace. The beer comes off your TVs and your QR menu, or shows as sold out. You choose which.
• ✓On Square, Toast, Oracle or Clover? Change a price in your POS, and your boards follow on their own.

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Questions

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Next guide

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What to list for each tap, sold-out kegs, happy hour on a schedule, and the same list on a QR code.

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