Cost & pricing
Pour Cost Calculator
What is my pour cost on this bottle, and am I charging enough?
Pour cost is the single number most bar owners are judged on. It is the liquor cost of a drink divided by what you sell it for. Enter what you pay for the bottle and what you charge for the drink.
Your numbers
A worked example is already loaded. Replace any field with the figures from the source named beside it.
The answer
Pour cost
13.6%
$1.63 of cost on a $12.00 drink
- Cost per drink$1.63
- Gross profit per drink$10.37
- Ounces per bottle25.36 oz
- Full drinks per bottleRounded down. A partial pour is not a sellable drink.16
- Revenue per bottle$192.00
- Gross profit per bottle$164.50
- Cost per ounce$1.08
- Price to hit your targetThe price that would put this drink at 20% pour cost.$8.13
Spirits and cocktail pour cost, % of sales
Trade guidance- Spirits, reported category average15%
- All beverage categories blended18–24%
Widely repeated in trade press and vendor guides. Useful as a rule of thumb, but not survey data.
No industry association publishes a spirits pour-cost survey the way the National Restaurant Association publishes food and labour. These figures come from one inventory-software vendor's trade guidance, not measured industry data. Your own theoretical pour cost is the more reliable comparison.
Source: Backbar Academy, average liquor cost guide (2025)
03 Show the arithmetic
04 What the answer leaves out
- This is liquor cost only. It does not include mixers, garnish, ice, labour, or breakage.
- Drinks per bottle is rounded down and assumes no over-pouring or spillage. Real bars lose product to both.