Recost the bar, decide how much to raise and roll it out without losing regulars, with a calculator that shows how many drinks you can afford to lose.
By Rob Bruni, founder of OpsEdge Hospitality, twenty years running restaurants, bars, clubs and resorts. Updated November 2026.
Most bars are charging less for a drink, in real terms, than they did in 2020. Since February 2020, the government's index for drinks bought at bars and restaurants has risen 11.8%, while menu food prices rose 37.6% and restaurant wages 41%. The labor, rent, ice, citrus and card fees behind every drink went up with everything else, so the margin on the bar's most profitable category has been shrinking quietly. This guide shows how to recost the bar, decide how much to raise, work out how many drinks you can afford to lose, and roll the change out so the regulars barely notice.
In our 2027 operator benchmarks report, the gap between drink and food prices was the finding that surprised us most. Over the 12 months to September 2026, drink prices away from home rose just 0.2% while menu food prices rose 3.5%. There are reasons: spirits and wine costs have risen more slowly than beef, and bars are nervous about the regular who notices a dollar on a beer. But a drink priced at $12 in 2020 and $13 today has absorbed most of the cost increases around it, and every month it waits, the gap gets more expensive to close.
| Since February 2020 | Change |
|---|---|
| Restaurant hourly earnings | +41% |
| Menu food prices | +37.6% |
| Wholesale food prices | +35% |
| Drink prices at bars and restaurants | +11.8% |
Sources: BLS Consumer Price Index to September 2026; hourly earnings and wholesale food from the National Restaurant Association, July 2026. Details in the report methodology.
Do not raise prices from memory. Pull the last two invoices for every spirit, beer and wine you pour and cost each drink from today's bottle prices, including juice, syrup, garnish and ice. The cocktail cost calculator does one drink at a time, and the pour cost guide shows the formula for draft and bottled beer and wine.
Put every drink in one list with its cost, price and pour cost, then compare each category with its target range from the benchmarks page.
| Category | Target pour cost | Usually underpriced when |
|---|---|---|
| Liquor and cocktails | 15 to 20% liquor, 18 to 24% cocktails | Premium spirits priced like the well, or a signature list not recosted in two years |
| Draft beer | 18 to 24% | Keg costs rose and the pint price did not, or pours are running long |
| Bottled and canned beer | 22 to 28% | Domestic bottles held at a price point guests remember |
| Wine by the glass | 25 to 35% | Priced on five pours per bottle when the bar really sells four |
Look at the dollars as well as the percent. A drink can sit inside its target range and still earn less profit than it should, because a cheap pour at a good percent leaves fewer dollars than a premium pour at a slightly higher one. The menu engineering method sorts the list by how much each drink sells and how much it earns, which tells you where an increase does the most good.
| Drink | Cost | Old price | Pour cost | New price | New pour cost | Extra profit per drink |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| House margarita | $2.60 | $13 | 20.0% | $14 | 18.6% | $1.00 |
| Signature gin sour | $3.40 | $13 | 26.2% | $15 | 22.7% | $2.00 |
| Premium old fashioned | $4.60 | $16 | 28.8% | $18 | 25.6% | $2.00 |
| House draft (anchor) | $1.45 | $7 | 20.7% | $7 | 20.7% | $0.00 |
| Glass of house red | $3.20 | $11 | 29.1% | $12 | 26.7% | $1.00 |
The fear behind every price increase is that guests will order less. The math is more forgiving than most operators think. When you raise the price, each drink earns more, so you can sell fewer and still make the same profit. For the house margarita above, going from $13 to $14 raises the profit per drink from $10.40 to $11.40, which means you could sell 8.8% fewer margaritas and still earn the same.
Free calculator
Enter one drink's current price, what it costs to pour and the new price you are thinking about. It shows the new pour cost, the profit on each drink and how many fewer drinks you could sell before the increase stops paying. The house margarita from the table above is loaded.
In practice, a one dollar increase on a well-made drink rarely moves volume by anywhere near that much, especially when the regulars' anchors stay put. Run the calculator for your five best sellers before you print.
Compare four weeks after the change with the same four weeks before it: drinks sold by item, beverage sales, average beverage check per guest and pour cost from your weekly bar inventory count. If a drink's volume fell more than the calculator said you could afford, look at that drink alone before you touch the rest of the list. Most of the time the whole bar earns more and volume barely moves.
The Cocktail Recipe Cost Card costs every cocktail to the quarter ounce, prices it three ways and checks the happy hour margin, and the Beverage Cost Calculator covers beer, wine and spirits. Excel and Google Sheets, one-time purchase.
See the Cocktail Recipe Cost Card Beverage Cost CalculatorEnough to bring each drink back to its pour cost target, usually 18 to 24% for cocktails, 18 to 24% for draft beer and 25 to 35% for wine by the glass. For most bars that means $1 to $2 on cocktails and premium pours, while two or three anchor drinks stay where regulars know them.
No. BLS data shows drink prices at bars and restaurants up 11.8% from February 2020 to September 2026, against 37.6% for menu food prices and 41% for restaurant wages. Over the last 12 months they rose only 0.2%.
Rarely as many as operators fear. A $1 increase on a $13 cocktail that costs $2.60 raises the profit per drink from $10.40 to $11.40, so you could sell 8.8% fewer and still earn the same. Keeping a few anchor prices and changing prices with a new menu keeps most regulars from noticing.
Raise prices. Regulars notice a short pour faster than a higher price, and a smaller pour without a lower price damages trust. Keep the specs and the jigger the same.
With a new or seasonal menu, ideally once a year. A refreshed list with a few new drinks gives guests something new alongside the new prices, which makes the change feel like a menu rather than an increase.
