The money
Pour cost on cocktails is typically in the 18-25% range, which looks generous until you add prep labour, ice, garnish, glass breakage and a large back bar sitting as stock. Labour is often 30-35% of sales because quality bars run more staff per guest than pubs. Seats turn slowly, so revenue depends on drinks per guest per hour and on late trading hours. Brand partnerships and listing fees can quietly subsidise menus, which raises questions about independence. Rent in the neighbourhoods where cocktail bars thrive is usually the line that decides survival.
Numbers that matter
- Pour cost %
- liquid cost as a share of the drink price
- Drinks per bartender per hour
- throughput at the well
- Average spend per head
- total guest spend across a visit
- Seat turns per night
- how many groups each seat hosts
- Stock holding value
- cash tied up on the back bar
- Wastage %
- prep and liquid that never reaches a guest
What keeps owners up
- Spirits duty and rising cost of premium liquid
- Late-night levy and licensing restrictions
- Brand money shaping menus and award results
- Burnout from late nights and alcohol-adjacent culture
- Drink spiking prevention and guest safety duties
- Guests drinking less and choosing low and no options
What we talk about
- What the world's-best-bar lists reward and what they miss
- Batching, clarification and the prep shift nobody sees
- Why a great bartender reads the room before the menu
- Brand ambassador jobs: dream gig or golden handcuffs
- Sober bartenders and building a healthier bar culture
- Pricing a cocktail honestly when the ice costs money
- Guest shifts and the travelling bartender economy