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Margine diVino

By the Glass Margin Calculator

Calculate your by the glass selection margins and wine cost.

Selling price includes the 10% restaurant VAT (IVA); purchase cost is excluding VAT.

EUR

The price of purchase is intended without VAT.

mL

Default is 750 mL for a standard bottle.

EUR

The price of selling is intended with VAT of 10%, as written on the menu.

mL

155 mL pour + 30 mL buffer = 185 mL. What is total pour size?

Wine Margin: EUR (%)

Let's analyze the breakdown of your glass:

Component Amount (EUR) %
VAT (10%)
Wine Cost %
Wine Margin %
Total 100%

Explanation:

For each bottle you buy at EUR, if you sell it at EUR, here is how it breaks down:

  • VAT (10%) is included in the selling price ( EUR).
  • Your wine cost per glass is EUR.
  • Your wine margin per glass is EUR, this is the amount you keep after covering VAT and wine cost.
  • You can sell glasses per bottle.
  • Breakeven is glasses.
  • By selling glasses you gain EUR in profits.

Pour size, pour buffer and total pour size

On paper a 75 cl bottle gives you six calici of 125 mL. In a real restaurant it never does. That is why you separate what you sell from what you plan for.

Pour size: what is on the menu

The pour size is the amount you promise the guest and print on your wine list, for example 125 mL. It is the size you set your price for, and it is the size the guest pays for.

Pour buffer: the extra you plan for

The pour buffer is the extra wine you reserve for every glass, on top of the pour size. It covers what you lose in daily service:

  • Overpour: nobody pours exactly 125 mL by eye, and staff tend to pour a little more rather than less.
  • The rest in the bottle: the last few millilitres, sediment, and wine that oxidises before you finish an open bottle.
  • Tasting and spillage: a sip for the guest to try, a glass that tips over, a corked bottle check.

If you calculate with the exact pour size, the numbers never come back. You expect six glasses, you sell five, and the missing glass comes straight out of your margin, every single bottle.

Total pour size: what you calculate with

The total pour size is the pour size plus the pour buffer. With a 125 mL pour and a 30 mL buffer, the total pour size is 155 mL, and that is the number your glasses per bottle, your cost per glass and your price per glass should be based on.

Total glasses: what you really sell

The total glasses are the bottle size divided by the total pour size, rounded down. A 75 cl bottle at 155 mL gives you four glasses, not six. Price your glass on four and every bottle pays for itself, even on a busy evening.

Sell the smaller size, plan for the bigger one. And there is a bonus: when the glass is a little fuller than expected, guests feel they received more than they paid for. That is a better feeling than the other way around.

Want to see how many glasses you get from a bottle? Try the glasses per bottle calculator

FAQ & Help