Start with a consistent unit cost
Convert each purchase into the unit used in the recipe. For a 750 ml bottle costing $30, the cost is $0.04 per ml. Using 1.5 ounces, or about 44.36 ml, costs approximately $1.77. The same method works for a case of ginger beer, a gallon of juice or a package of garnishes.
Do not mix units casually. Choose ounces or milliliters for liquids and individual units or grams for items such as garnishes. Consistency prevents quiet errors when pack sizes change.
- Purchase price ÷ usable units in the package = cost per unit
- Cost per unit × recipe quantity = ingredient line cost
- Sum of all ingredient line costs = base drink cost
A simple worked example
Consider a drink containing 1.5 ounces of a $30 spirit, 0.75 ounce of a $20 liqueur, 0.75 ounce of lemon juice, 0.5 ounce of syrup and one garnish. After converting each package to a unit cost, the line costs might be $1.77, $0.59, $0.12, $0.08 and $0.15. The drink’s ingredient cost is $2.71.
At a 20% target pour cost, the unrounded suggested selling price would be $13.55. The actual menu price still needs to reflect the market, concept, labor and the prices of neighboring drinks.
Use usable volume, not always the label volume
A sealed spirit bottle generally gives you nearly its labeled volume. Fresh citrus, herbs and produce do not. A case price divided by the gross weight may understate the true cost if peels, stems, spoilage or inconsistent yields reduce what reaches the glass.
For ingredients with meaningful waste, measure a typical batch. Record the purchase quantity, the finished usable yield and the number of recipe units produced. That real yield is more useful than a generic assumption.
- Include purchased mixers and carbonated tops.
- Assign a cost to house-made syrups and infusions.
- Cost each garnish, including partial fruit where practical.
- Update prices from current invoices rather than memory.
Ingredient cost is not the entire cost of service
Recipe costing answers a narrow but essential question: what product goes into one drink? It does not automatically include hourly labor, glassware, ice, rent, merchant fees or general overhead. Those expenses influence the margin the restaurant needs, even when they are not assigned to each recipe line.
Accurate recipe cost gives you a defensible starting point. Without it, selling prices are based on habit or competitors’ menus, and operators cannot see which drinks quietly lose ground when supplier prices change.