Pour cost calculator — the heavy pour shows up on the P&L, not in the glass
A bar can lose up to 20% of its liquor stock to heavy pours and half-remembered recipes (Sculpture Hospitality). On a $14 cocktail, one extra millilitre per serve compounds into thousands a year. The ingredient-by-ingredient math, the target ratios, and a free calculator — no sign-up.
Cocktail cost
$2.09
Pour cost
14.9 %
of ex-tax selling price
Gross margin (ex-tax)
$11.91
Suggested price at 20%
$10.43
tax included
Pre-filled with a Negroni: 1 oz London Dry Gin, 1 oz Campari, 1 oz sweet vermouth. Swap in your own menu.
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Définition
Pour cost is what the liquor poured into a glass costs, relative to the ex-tax selling price. For each ingredient: bottle price × pour size ÷ bottle size. Bars typically target 18 to 24%.
Pour cost (%) = ingredient cost ÷ ex-tax selling price × 100
How to calculate a cocktail's pour cost
A cocktail's pour cost is what the liquor poured into the glass actually costs you, relative to its ex-tax selling price. The formula fits in one line:
For each ingredient: bottle price × pour size ÷ bottle size. A Negroni poured with 1 oz of London Dry Gin (from a 25.4 oz bottle at $28) costs about $1.10 in gin. Add the Campari and sweet vermouth, and the glass comes out around $1.95. Sold at $14, that's about 14% pour cost — well inside target.
For a dish, kitchen side: food cost calculator →
What pour cost should you target?
Most bars target 18 to 24% on cocktails. Below that, check your prices still feel fair to guests; above it, margin is going into the glass. The real risk isn't the target, it's the drift: industry studies (Sculpture Hospitality, Backbar) find a bar can lose up to 20% of its liquor stock — not to theft, but to uneven pours and half-remembered recipes. On a 5–10% net margin, that gap eats a substantial share of profit every month.
Theoretical ≠ actual
The pour cost on your cocktail menu is theoretical. The actual one drifts: a bar can lose up to 20% of its liquor stock to uneven pours, untracked comps, and half-remembered recipes (Sculpture Hospitality). On a 5–10% net margin, that drift is a major share of profit evaporating every month — without anyone stealing a thing.
The cause is almost always the same: the cocktail specs sleep in a binder, the liquor purchase prices are stale, and no one can name a drink's real cost mid-service.
This is exactly the leak Methodus plugs. See how ↓
The gap is small. The leak isn't.
The gap between what you think a plate costs and what it really costs runs 5–20%. Drag your numbers and watch what it quietly takes off your margin.
Most venues sit around 10%.
F&B runs thin — often 5–10%.
a year — ≈ 42.9% of your net profit.
Margin you already earned — you just can't see it yet.
Gap range: Sculpture Hospitality · Restaurant365
Methodus plugs the leak
Not another spreadsheet, not a binder in the office: an app the kitchen, the bar, and the floor use morning to night — and that does the data entry for you.
- 1
“The liquor purchase prices are stale”
Your invoices are read automatically
Drop the supplier invoice — PDF, photo, even an email attachment. Methodus reads every line and updates your purchase prices. The hike shows up the same day, not at month-end.
- 2
“The cocktail specs sleep in a binder”
Every spec recalculates the moment a price moves
The real cost of every cocktail, current today — pour by pour. You see which drink pays the rent, and which one eats it.
- 3
“No one can name a drink's cost mid-service”
The whole team sees the same numbers
The line and the bar see what a plate or a glass costs, from their phones. The pour holds itself — no policing.
You stop chasing the drift: what used to evaporate every month becomes net profit again.
The costed cocktail spec, in action
Every cocktail costed pour by pour, recalculated the moment a purchase price moves — here's what that looks like in Methodus. Click through, it's interactive.
Frequently asked questions
For each ingredient: bottle price × pour size ÷ bottle size. Add them up, divide by the ex-tax selling price, and multiply by 100. A Negroni with $1.95 of ingredients sold at $14 comes out to about 14% pour cost.
Yes — pour cost is just the bar-specific term for food cost, applied to drinks. The math is identical: ingredient cost ÷ ex-tax selling price.
Most bars target 18 to 24% on cocktails. Below that, check your prices still feel fair to guests; above it, margin is going into the glass. The real issue isn't the target but pour drift, shift after shift.
No. Pour cost is calculated on the ex-tax selling price — the tax was never yours. A cocktail sold at $14 with 20% VAT is worth $11.67 ex-tax; that's the number that belongs in the denominator, or the ratio is skewed.
Yes, it's free and needs no sign-up. To keep pour cost current across the whole menu automatically — invoices scanned, purchase prices tracked, alerts when a spirit's price slips — Methodus offers a 14-day free trial, no credit card.
Who builds methodusmethodus is built by an operator. Nathaniel Gilliand, École hôtelière de Lausanne graduate, runs restaurants, bars and beach clubs. This is the tool he built to find the margin that was evaporating in his own P&L.
14-day trial, no credit card.
Stop recalculating. Let the menu price itself.
Your recipes by voice, your invoices by photo, your costs current every shift.
14-day trial · No credit card · Cancel anytime
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