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What does that bottle really earn?
Bar math is where restaurant margins are made: a $24 bottle of spirits pouring $12 drinks earns more gross profit than most entrees. This calculator converts bottle size and pour size into pours per bottle (full pours only — the remainder is spillage), then shows cost per pour, pour cost %, and profit per bottle.
Bar managers use it when pricing the drink menu and when bartender variance shows up in inventory: pours per bottle, cost per pour, and profit per bottle turn a liquor invoice into a pricing decision. New bar owners use it to discover why the bar subsidizes the kitchen.
Bars typically target 18–24% pour cost on liquor, around 25% on wine by the glass, and 20–30% on draft beer. A $24 bottle of vodka pouring 16 one-and-a-half-ounce drinks at $12 each runs a 12.5% pour cost — premium pricing headroom most kitchens can only envy.
A 750 ml bottle holds 25.4 oz, so sixteen full 1.5-oz pours with a little left over — the leftover plus spillage is why smart operators count full pours only. At 1-oz pours it is 25; at 2-oz pours, 12.
Over-pouring, unrecorded comps and spill tabs, bartender giveaways, and theft. A half-ounce over-pour on a 1.5-oz spec is a 33% cost increase on that drink. Measure actual pour cost monthly the same way as food cost: (beginning inventory + purchases − ending inventory) ÷ bar sales.