Drink Menu Pricing Calculator
Enter what a drink costs to make, set your target pour cost, and get the menu price. Add up to 10 drinks to build a full menu analysis with blended pour cost and profit-per-seat projections.
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The Pricing Psychology Behind Profitable Drink Menus
Menu pricing is part math, part psychology. The math says price each drink at ingredient cost divided by target pour cost. The psychology says customers anchor on the highest and lowest prices and order the second-cheapest option 40% of the time. Smart menu design puts your highest-margin drink at the second-lowest price point, and uses a premium "anchor" cocktail at $18+ to make $12-$14 cocktails feel reasonable.
Why Volume Trumps Margin Percentage
A $7 draft beer at 22% pour cost generates $5.46 in gross profit. A $15 craft cocktail at 18% pour cost generates $12.30 in gross profit. But the draft beer sells 3x more units per hour because customers order refills without looking at the menu. Total gross profit per hour: beer = $16.38 (3 orders × $5.46), cocktail = $12.30 (1 order × $12.30). The draft beer wins on absolute dollars despite a "worse" margin. This is why bars with high draft beer volume consistently outperform cocktail-only bars on profitability — speed and volume beat margin every time.
The Happy Hour Math Most Bars Get Wrong
Discounting a $12 cocktail to $8 during happy hour isn't a 33% discount — it's a 53% profit cut (from $9.60 to $5.60 profit per drink). Happy hour works only when the discounted price still covers cost and the volume increase more than compensates for the per-drink margin loss. The breakpoint: if your happy hour discount is 30%, you need 43% more volume just to maintain the same gross profit dollars. Most bars don't track this and run happy hours as a loss leader without knowing the actual cost. A better approach: discount draft beer (low cost, high margin room) and keep cocktail prices at a 15% discount max.
Related tools: Pour Cost Calculator for detailed cost-per-drink analysis, Bar Profit Calculator for revenue projections, Inventory Shrinkage Calculator for waste tracking, and Tip Pooling Calculator for staff cost considerations.