The money
Drinks typically run at around 65-75% gross profit and food at roughly 60-70%, so the wet/dry mix shapes everything. Labour usually sits somewhere around 25-35% of net sales, higher in food-led sites. Tied tenants buy beer from the landlord at prices well above the free market in return for lower rent, which is the heart of the long tie debate and the reason the Pubs Code exists for larger pub companies. Energy, business rates and duty sit on top, and a quiet midweek can mean a wet-led local trades at a loss Monday to Wednesday. Rooms, events, quiz nights and sport are the levers that turn a marginal pub into a viable one.
Numbers that matter
- Wet GP %
- profit left on drinks after cost of goods
- Dry GP %
- profit left on food after cost of goods
- Wet/dry split
- share of takings from drink versus food
- Yield per barrel
- pints actually sold against what the cellar received
- Labour %
- wages and on-costs as a share of net sales
- Average spend per head
- what each guest leaves behind
- Spend per square foot
- trading density of the building
What keeps owners up
- Alcohol duty and VAT sitting heavily on every pint
- Business rates calculated on turnover-linked valuations
- Energy costs, especially for cellar cooling and kitchens
- Tie pricing and rent reviews for tenants
- Supermarket price gap pushing drinking into homes
- Late-night transport and footfall decline in some towns
- Conversion and demolition of pub buildings
- Recruiting experienced cellar and bar staff
What we talk about
- What a tied tenant actually pays for a keg compared with the free trade
- Cellar craft: line cleaning, temperature and why your pint tastes off
- The pub as social infrastructure in places with nothing else left
- Community buyouts and Assets of Community Value
- How gastropubs changed kitchen careers in the countryside
- Running the bar on a big match day
- Low and no alcohol as a real category, not a gimmick
- Licensee life above the shop: when home and work are the same building