Pour cost calculator
Cost a cocktail ingredient by ingredient, then see its pour cost, gross profit and margin at your menu price. Account for sales tax and find the price that meets your target.
How to calculate pour cost
Cost each line from the bottle, add them up, and divide by the price without tax.
Worked example: the Marlowe's Negroni at $15
| Line | Pour | Bottle | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tanqueray London Dry | 30 ml | $28.40 / 1 L | $0.85 |
| Campari | 30 ml | $33.50 / 1 L | $1.01 |
| Cocchi Vermouth di Torino | 30 ml | $21.00 / 750 ml | $0.84 |
| Orange peel | ⅛ orange | $44.00 / 88 | $0.06 |
| The drink | $2.76 |
With no tax tracking, $2.76 on a $15.00 price is an 18.4% pour cost and an 81.6% margin. In a bar where the $15.00 includes 25% sales tax, the bar keeps $12.00 before costs, so the same drink runs at a 23.0% pour cost and a 77.0% margin, and the price for a 75% margin is $14.00 instead of $11.50.
- Sarah Dawn MarsWrote this · Head of customer success and community
Sarah co-founded and ran Teresa Cocktail Bar, a Tales of the Cocktail nominee. She was also the first customer success hire at Loaded and now builds Overproof.
Liquor cost, GP and new drinks
Liquor cost calculator
Liquor cost percentage is pour cost for the spirits you pour. For a straight pour, enter one line: 45 ml (1.5 oz) of a $31.83 bottle of Buffalo Trace, 750 ml, costs $1.91. Sold at $12.00 with no tax in the price, that is a liquor cost of 15.9%.
Setting a price for a new drink
To start from the cost and the margin you want, use the menu price calculator. It opens with this drink's cost filled in, and gives the price to print, rounded the way you price, with tax handled.
Drinks GP calculator for UK and Australian bars
GP is the margin shown here: what the drink keeps after tax and its cost, as a share of the net price. Set the tax as included in the price, 20% VAT in the UK or 10% GST in Australia. A cocktail at £12.00 with 20% VAT is £10.00 net, so with a drink cost of £2.40 the GP is 76%.
Pour cost questions
What is a good pour cost for a cocktail?
Many cocktail bars aim for roughly 18 to 24%. What counts as good depends on the category and on the dollars each drink keeps: what a good pour cost is, by category and venue.
Pour cost or margin: which should I use?
They are the same number from two sides. On the same price, margin is 100 minus the pour cost. An 18.4% pour cost is an 81.6% margin.
Why take the tax out?
Where the menu price includes sales tax, part of every sale belongs to the tax office. A margin worked out on the full price looks better than it is. Jery works every margin out on the price without tax and keeps showing guests the price they pay.
Why does the price for a target round up?
So it's a price you would actually print that still keeps your margin. The calculator rounds up to the step you choose, $0.50 here, and the price on the menu is always yours to choose.
What about house syrups and batches?
In this calculator, put a house syrup in as a line with its own cost per bottle. In Jery a pre-batch is costed from its own recipe, its prep time included at your labor rate, and that cost flows into every drink that uses it, however deep the nesting goes.
Keep pour costs current from your invoices
A calculator is right until the gin goes up. In Jery, the invoice you forward updates the bottle price, every drink and batch that uses it re-costs, and a big move names the drinks it hits with the price that restores their margin. The menu shows each line's margin against your target before it prints.
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- What is a good pour cost?Pour cost is a drink's ingredient cost divided by its menu price. Most cocktail bars aim for 18 to 24%.Guide · 8 min
- How drink pricing works at a barPrice each cocktail or pour from its cost and a target pour cost, then check what it earns per serve and what nearby bars charge.Guide · 9 min
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- Recipes & costing in JeryEvery cocktail and pre-batch costed to the milliliter from what you pay, re-costed the day a supplier price moves.Product
See what every drink costs to make
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