Drink Pricing Calculator
Use this free calculator to find the right price for your bar drinks. Enter your ingredient cost and target pour cost percentage to instantly see your recommended sell price, profit per drink, and projected daily and monthly earnings.
A drink pricing calculator helps bar owners set the optimal sell price for each drink by working backward from a target pour cost percentage. Enter your ingredient cost and target pour cost below to instantly calculate your recommended price and profit per drink.
How to Price Your Bar Drinks
Drink pricing is how bars set menu prices that cover ingredient costs while hitting a target profit margin. Every drink on your menu should be priced intentionally — not guessed or copied from a competitor. The formula is straightforward:
The Formula
Sell Price = Ingredient Cost ÷ Target Pour Cost %
For example: if a cocktail costs $2.50 to make and you want to run a 22% pour cost, your price should be at least $2.50 ÷ 0.22 = $11.36. Most menus round to the nearest $0.50 or $1.00 — so $11.50 or $12.00 is the right call.
Industry standard is a pour cost of 18–24% for spirits and cocktails. Craft cocktail programs with premium ingredients often run 18–20%; high-volume well-spirit operations can sustain up to 25%. Consistently above 25% is a warning sign — drinks may be under-priced, over-poured, or inventory is shrinking somewhere. Use the calculator below to find your number instantly.
Calculator Inputs
Results
Enter your ingredient cost and click
"Calculate Drink Price" to see your results
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What Is Cocktail Gross Profit?
Cocktail gross profit is the revenue left over after subtracting ingredient costs — the money that stays in the business from each drink sold before accounting for labor, overhead, and other expenses. It is calculated as:
The Formula
Cocktail GP% = ((Sell Price − Ingredient Cost) ÷ Sell Price) × 100
For example, if a cocktail sells for $12 and costs $2.50 to make, the cocktail gross profit percentage is ((12 − 2.50) ÷ 12) × 100 = 79.2%.
Industry standard is a target of 70–80% gross profit on cocktails. Mixed drinks are typically the highest-margin items on a bar menu — a well-managed cocktail program should hit or exceed this range. Use the drink pricing calculator above to instantly find the sell price that hits your target cocktail gross profit percentage.
Drink Pricing FAQ
What is drink pricing?
Drink pricing is the process of setting menu sell prices that cover ingredient costs and deliver a target profit margin. The standard formula is:
Sell Price = Ingredient Cost ÷ Target Pour Cost %
For example, if a cocktail costs $2.50 to make and your target pour cost is 20%, your minimum sell price is $2.50 ÷ 0.20 = $12.50. Round to a clean menu number — most bars price in $0.50 or $1.00 increments.
What's a good markup for cocktails?
Most bars target a pour cost of 18–24% for spirits and cocktails — equivalent to a markup of roughly 4–5.5x ingredient cost. Here's how to read your target:
- 18–20% — Craft cocktail bars with premium spirits
- 20–24% — Standard bar target (most common)
- 25%+ — High-volume operations; watch closely above 28%
Sources: Backbar, Sculpture Hospitality, Jeffrey Morgenthaler
How do I calculate drink cost?
Drink cost (ingredient cost per drink) is the total of everything that goes into one serving: your spirit pour, mixers, and garnishes. To calculate it, add up the cost of each component — for example, 1.5 oz from a $28 bottle (750 ml, ~16.9 pours) costs about $1.66. Add mixer and garnish costs to get your total. Then divide by your target pour cost percentage to find the right sell price. The calculator above does this for you instantly once you know your ingredient cost. Once you've set your prices, track your overall margins with our pour cost calculator.