Pour Cost Calculator

The Numbers Behind Every Profitable Bar

Overpouring is the single largest controllable cost in a bar. A standard 1.5 oz pour from a 750ml bottle yields 16.9 drinks. An unmeasured 1.75 oz pour yields 14.5 — a 14% reduction in drinks per bottle. On a bottle that costs $22 and sells drinks at $9, that's $21.60 in lost revenue per bottle. Multiply across 200 bottles/month and that's $4,320/month in revenue lost to overpouring alone. Jiggers, measured pourers, and POS-linked liquor inventory systems (Bevcheck, Bar-i, Sculpture Hospitality) cost $200-$500/month but typically recover $2,000-$5,000/month in reduced waste.

Draft beer is simultaneously the highest-margin and highest-waste category. A standard half-barrel keg (15.5 gallons, ~124 pints) costs $120-$200 for domestic brands. At $6/pint, gross revenue is $744. But foam waste from improperly maintained lines, over-pouring on pint pours, and keg changes typically waste 15-20% of the keg. That drops revenue to $595-$632 and pour cost rises from 16-27% to 21-34%. Clean your draft lines every 2 weeks (not monthly), calibrate CO2 pressure by beer style, and train staff to pour at a 45-degree angle — these three steps alone recover $300-$600/month on a 10-tap system.

Wine by the glass has the worst pour cost in most bars — and it doesn't have to. A $12 bottle of wine yields about 5 glasses at 5 oz each. If you price glasses at $8, pour cost is 30%. But oxidation means the fifth glass from that bottle (opened 2 days ago) tastes noticeably worse than the first. Wine preservation systems (Coravin for still wines, nitrogen systems for by-the-glass programs) cost $200-$1,000 but extend bottle life from 2-3 days to 2-4 weeks, letting you offer premium wines by the glass at $15-$22 without wasting half the bottle. The math: a $30 bottle yielding 5 glasses at $15 each = 40% pour cost if you dump 2 glasses, or 24% pour cost if you sell all 5.