Cost per pour and pour cost percentage for spirits, wine by the glass and draft beer — with over-pour built in, because free-poured bars lose 15–20% that spreadsheets never show.
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| Pours per container (before loss) | — |
| Cost per pour (incl. over-pour) | — |
| Gross profit per drink | — |
| Revenue per container at menu price | — |
| Price to hit your target | — |
Cost per pour is container cost ÷ (container size ÷ pour size). A 750 ml bottle at $28 poured at 44 ml (1.5 oz) gives about 17 drinks at roughly $1.64 each. Enter both sizes in the same unit — ml and ml, or oz and oz — and the maths works either way. Common pours: 1.5 oz ≈ 44 ml spirit, 5 oz ≈ 148 ml wine, and a 15.5 gal keg is 1984 oz, which yields about 124 sixteen-ounce pints before foam.
The over-pour figure is what separates this from the number on a spreadsheet. A free-poured bar loses 15–20% to heavy hands, spills, foam and unrecorded staff drinks; a jiggered or metered bar loses 5% or less. That difference alone typically moves pour cost by four or five points — which is usually larger than any price increase you were considering.
Targets: spirits 15–20%, bottled beer 22–28%, draft 18–25%, wine by the glass 25–35%. If your poured cost looks fine per drink but your actual bar cost is high, the leak is almost never pricing — it is portioning, comps that never get rung in, or bottles walking out the back door. Weigh your inventory and compare theoretical to actual; the gap is the answer.
Cost per pour = bottle cost ÷ (bottle size ÷ pour size). Pour cost percentage is that cost divided by the menu price. A $28 750 ml bottle poured at 1.5 oz (44 ml) yields about 17 drinks at roughly $1.64 each.
Roughly: spirits 15–20%, draft beer 18–25%, bottled beer 22–28%, wine by the glass 25–35%. Your blended bar cost depends on the mix, so track the categories separately.
A 15.5 gallon (half-barrel) keg holds 1984 oz, which is about 124 sixteen-ounce pints before foam loss — realistically 110–120. A 5.16 gallon sixth-barrel gives about 41 pints.
The gap between theoretical and actual is over-pouring, unrecorded comps, spillage and theft. Weigh your inventory and compare the two numbers — the difference tells you where the leak is.