Price every drink correctly and see what monthly variance is quietly costing your bar.
After 20 years running food and beverage programs, I can tell you the bars that make money are not the ones with the fanciest menus. They are the ones where the manager knows the pour cost of every drink on the list and counts the stockroom every week. Most bars cannot say either.
This free calculator gives you both numbers in under a minute. The first tab prices any drink from bottle cost to menu price. The second tab compares what you bought against what you sold and puts a dollar figure on the gap. No login, no spreadsheet skills, and no email required to see your results.
In the Pour cost and pricing tab, enter your bottle cost, bottle size, pour size, and menu price. Your pour cost, profit per drink, and a suggested price appear instantly.
Drag the target slider to your goal. Most full bars target 20 to 25 percent. Compare the suggested price against what is on your menu today.
In the Monthly variance tab, enter last month's beverage purchases and beverage sales. The calculator shows your actual pour cost and the estimated dollars leaking past your target every month.
Pour cost percent: divide total drink cost by menu price, then multiply by 100. Total drink cost is the liquor cost per pour plus mixers and garnish. A drink that costs 1.77 to make and sells for 9.00 runs a 19.7 percent pour cost.
Monthly variance: divide beverage purchases by beverage sales and multiply by 100 to get your actual pour cost. Subtract your target percent to get the variance in points. Multiply that difference by monthly sales to see the leak in dollars. A bar doing 25,000 in sales at 3 points over target is leaking 750 a month, which is 9,000 a year.
Category
Target Pour Cost
Liquor
18 to 20 percent
Draft beer
20 to 24 percent
Bottled beer
24 to 28 percent
Wine
30 to 35 percent
Blended bar
20 to 25 percent
Put jiggers on every station. Free pouring feels faster, but measured pours drop pour cost 2 to 4 points within two weeks, and every guest gets a consistent drink.
Count inventory weekly, not monthly. A weekly count catches a problem within 7 days instead of 30, before one bad habit becomes a 1,000 dollar month.
Restrict comp authority to managers only. When anyone behind the bar can comp, giveaways creep past 2 percent of sales with no record to show for it.
What is pour cost?
Pour cost is the cost of the beverage in the glass divided by the price the guest pays, shown as a percentage. If a drink costs 1.77 to make and sells for 9.00, the pour cost is 19.7 percent. It is the fastest health check for any bar program.
What is a good pour cost percentage?
A blended bar usually lands between 20 and 25 percent. Liquor runs 18 to 20, draft beer 20 to 24, bottled beer 24 to 28, and wine 30 to 35. Your right number depends on your sales mix, which is why 21 percent is a common blended target.
How do I calculate pour cost?
Divide what a drink costs to make by its menu price and multiply by 100. For the whole bar, divide monthly beverage purchases by monthly beverage sales and multiply by 100. This calculator runs both versions for you.
Why is my pour cost high?
The usual causes are overpouring, spills, unrecorded comps, theft, and menu prices that never kept up with invoice increases. Overpouring alone, at a quarter ounce per drink, can add 2 to 3 points. Weekly counts tell you which cause you are dealing with.
How often should I take bar inventory?
Weekly is the standard for a bar that takes profit seriously. A weekly count takes about 45 minutes with a good workbook and catches problems within 7 days instead of 30. A monthly count only tells you that money left, not where or when.
If the variance tab showed a leak, the Bar Inventory Spreadsheet on Etsy finds it week by week with a 45 minute counting system. When you are ready to reprice the whole menu, the Bar Program Profit Playbook walks every drink through the same math you just used.