Costing your drinks menu and cocktails: how your bar earns on every drink

Building the drinks menu: short, clear, selling

A good drinks menu is not a stock list. It shows what your bar stands for, leads guests quickly to a decision and draws the eye to the drinks that earn you good money. Guests rarely read a menu from start to finish: they skim it, stop at headings and highlighted drinks and often order whatever catches their eye first.

• Few categories: for example signature drinks, classics, highballs, beer, wine and sparkling, spirits, alcohol-free. More than seven or eight sections overwhelm guests.
• The most important first: your signature drinks belong at the start or on the right-hand page, where the eye lands first.
• Short descriptions: three to five ingredients and one flavour word (“fruity”, “bitter”, “smoky”) help more than long stories.
• A quantity for every drink: 4 cl, 0.1 l, 0.3 l, 0.5 l, in Austria also the Achtel (0.125 l). Guests can compare prices, and price display rules require clear information.
• No price column on the right edge that invites comparison: the price works better right after the description.
• Less is more: every bottle on the menu ties up money in stock. Whatever hardly sells goes at the next revision.

If you offer a larger wine selection, you will find tips on wine by the glass, bottle choice and costing in the guide to the wine list.

Standardising recipes

No fixed recipe, no costing. If everyone behind the bar pours by feel, the cost per drink varies widely and guests get two different drinks on two evenings. A recipe card for every drink keeps quality consistent, makes training new staff easier and is the basis for your stocktake.

Calculating pour cost: the cost of goods per drink

Pour cost is a drink's cost-of-goods ratio: the net cost of goods divided by the net selling price. A drink that costs you €2.50 in ingredients and sells for €10 net has a pour cost of 25 percent. The other way round, the price is the cost of goods divided by the target pour cost, plus VAT. For drinks that is generally 20 percent in Austria and 19 percent in Germany.

This is how you calculate the cost of goods: the net bottle price divided by its content in cl gives the price per cl. A 0.7 litre bottle of gin at €21 net costs €0.30 per cl, so 4 cl cost €1.20. Add mixers, juices, syrup, garnish and ice. The table below shows examples with freely assumed purchase prices; plug in your own. The free drinks price calculator for bars works out the price per cl and per glass from bottle price, pour size and target percentage automatically.

Which pour cost is right depends on your concept, rent, staff and price level. There is no universal number; many bars cost spirits and cocktails at a lower ratio than beer or wine because more work goes into the glass. What matters is that you set your targets deliberately and compare them regularly with the real figures. Wastage from spills, free drinks or wrong bookings raises your actual cost of goods; how to measure it is explained in the guide to stocktaking and shrinkage in the bar. The basic principle of costing is also covered in the guide costing your dishes properly.

Setting prices: costing, market and perception

The calculated price is the starting point, not the end. Three more questions decide what finally goes on the menu: what do comparable bars in your area charge? What gross profit in euros does the drink bring? And how does the price look on the menu next to the others?

• Gross profit in euros: a premium whisky with a 35 percent pour cost can earn more euros per glass than a highball at 20 percent. Rigid percentages often make expensive products unsellably expensive.
• Market check: look at the menus of three to five competitors, online too. You do not have to be the cheapest, but your price should match the experience.
• Round, credible prices: round up to sensible price points, such as whole or half euros. That also makes taking payment easier.
• Price anchor: a deliberately high-priced drink on the menu makes the drinks next to it look fairer.
• Check regularly: purchase prices change. Review your costing at least once a year and after every major supplier price increase.

The menu must always show gross prices including VAT and all surcharges. Happy hour prices and promotions must be clearly recognisable, with their time frame. The exact rules for the price display and the menu are in the guides to price display in Austria and Germany.

Developing signature drinks

Signature drinks are only available at your place. They make the bar distinctive, end up in photos on social media and are harder to compare with other bars. For them to work financially too, they should fit the concept, the stock and the pace behind the bar.

Homemade syrups, infusions and cordials are often cheaper than ready-made products and make the flavour unique. But count the working time and test the shelf life. Four to six signature drinks are enough for most bars; one or two seasonal drinks keep the menu lively without having to reprint it all the time.

Alcohol-free drinks: duty and opportunity

If you serve alcohol, you must also offer affordable alcohol-free drinks. In Austria, § 112 (4) of the Gewerbeordnung (Trade Act) requires you to serve cold non-alcoholic drinks on request, with at least two of them no more expensive than the cheapest cold alcoholic drink, calculated per litre and specially marked on the menu. In Germany, § 6 of the Gaststättengesetz (Restaurant Act) requires at least one alcohol-free drink to be no more expensive than the cheapest alcoholic one, also calculated per litre. Some federal states have their own restaurant laws; if in doubt, ask your IHK (chamber of commerce) or the municipality.

Beyond that, alcohol-free drinks are a growing business: drivers, pregnant guests, people who deliberately drink less or simply want a change between two cocktails. A carelessly mixed orange juice with soda wastes this opportunity. Zero-proof cocktails with homemade syrup, tea, spices or alcohol-free distillates can be costed much like classic cocktails and bring a good gross profit. Trend data, mocktail costing, prices and menu placement are covered in depth in the guide to the alcohol-free drinks menu with mocktails and low-ABV drinks.

Youth protection, allergens and mandatory information

The drinks menu is also a place for mandatory information. On youth protection, in simple terms: in Austria no alcohol may be served to young people under 16, and between 16 and 18 no spirits, not even in mixed drinks or cocktails; the details are set by the youth protection laws of the federal states. In Germany, § 9 of the Jugendschutzgesetz (Youth Protection Act) prohibits serving spirits and drinks containing spirits to anyone under 18 and, as a rule, other alcoholic drinks such as beer, wine or sparkling wine to anyone under 16.

• Cocktails with spirits are off limits for under-18s, even if they seem fruity and harmless. A short note on the menu and at the bar supports your team.
• ID checks: train your team to ask for ID when in doubt. In Germany, the Youth Protection Act must also be displayed where it is clearly visible.
• Allergens: drinks contain allergens too, such as sulphites in wine, gluten in beer, milk in cream cocktails, egg in a sour with egg white or nuts in almond syrup and liqueurs. The information must be available to guests, on the menu or on request backed by written documentation.
• Quantities and prices: every drink with quantity and gross price, serving glasses with a fill line where required.

You can create a clear legend of the 14 main allergens for your menu with the allergen generator. How the labelling must look in detail is explained in the guides to allergens in Austria and Germany.

The drinks menu online and at the table

Many guests look at the menu before they choose a bar. A drinks menu as text on your website, with categories, descriptions, quantities and prices, is found by Google and can be updated in a few minutes whenever prices change. A PDF or a photo of the printed menu, by contrast, is hard to read on a phone and quickly out of date. How to set it up is shown in the guide to the digital menu.