Pour Cost 101: Costing Drinks Like You Cost Food
Pour cost is the bar's food cost percentage: (cost of the liquid in the glass ÷ drink price) × 100. The math is easier than food — no trim, no cook loss — which is why bar margins are where restaurants quietly make their money.
Costing a cocktail
A 750ml bottle holds 25.4 oz. Gin at $22.00 a bottle is $0.87/oz. A Negroni: 1 oz gin ($0.87) + 1 oz Campari ($1.10) + 1 oz sweet vermouth ($0.55) + garnish ($0.10) = $2.62. At $14.00 that's an 18.7% pour cost — $11.38 gross profit per stir.
Healthy targets
- Liquor / cocktails: 15–20%
- Draft beer: 20–25%
- Bottled beer: 24–28%
- Wine by the glass: 25–35%
- Blended bar program overall: 18–24%
Where bar profit leaks
Free pouring. An untrained heavy pour of a quarter ounce on every drink adds ~25% to liquor cost. Jiggers or measured pourers on anything above well tier.
Comps and spills that never get logged.If a fifth of a bottle disappears into “hospitality” untracked, your pour cost math is fiction. Log it — you can't fix what you can't see.
Recipe drift.The menu says 1 oz Campari; the new bartender pours 1.5. Spec cards with exact quantities, costed and printed, end the argument.
Freecost handles beverage the same way it handles food — bottle-size units, per-ounce costing, spec'd cocktail recipes with live pricing. Cost your drinks in the same system as your plates and the whole margin picture lives in one place.