Glossary
Glossary, pour cost, food cost, ricarico, coperto, BTG, incidenza
Operator definitions in euros: pour cost, food cost, ricarico, contribution margin, BTG, coperto, true cost, IVA 10%. Restaurant glossary for Italy.
Written by Marco Azzari on
Short definitions for people who run rooms in Italy. English term first, then the Italian words you will hear from suppliers, staff and your commercialista. Formulas are sketches. Your commercialista wins arguments.
BTG (by the glass)
Wine sold in a glass, not a bottle. Often the highest contribution engine if costed and rotated. IT: vino al calice, alla mescita. Pages: price, programme.
Contribution margin (margine di contribuzione)
What is left on a line after the true cost of that line. In euros, not only in %. IT: margine di contribuzione, primo margine. Markup versus margin.
Covers (coperti) and the coperto charge
Guests served, usually per service or per day. Not the same as tickets if a ticket is a table. In Italy the coperto is also the per-person cover charge on the bill: revenue, not a head count.
Dead stock
Wine that does not move for weeks or months. Cash on a shelf. IT: giacenze ferme, merce invenduta. Dead stock.
Food cost
Ingredient cost as a share of food revenue. IT: food cost (used as is), costo materia prima. Not the same target % as wine. Food cost and wine cost.
House wine
The default pour when the guest does not choose, often served by the carafe. IT: vino della casa, vino sfuso. Price house wine.
Markup / ricarico / moltiplicatore
Selling price relative to cost. Italians say ricarico for both the multiplier (×3) and the percentage on cost (200%), so ask which one is meant. A tool. Not the same as contribution. The US 4× is not an Italian rule.
Menu engineering
Reading a menu as popularity × contribution, then placing plates (or wines) on purpose. Keep the English name. Menu engineering.
Pour cost (wine)
Cost of wine sold as a share of wine revenue. Useful; dangerous if one % is used to strangle glasses.
True cost
Supplier cost rebuilt with the VAT logic of the sale, discounts you actually get, and the pour you actually serve. Price a wine list.
VAT / IVA
In Italian restaurant service, 10% on food and drinks served, wine and spirits included (DPR 633/1972, Tabella A, parte III). Bottles sold to take away are 22%. Menu prices include IVA. VAT page.
Incidenza (food cost %, beverage cost %)
Cost of goods as a share of the matching revenue. Specify kitchen or wine. A bare "incidenza" in a meeting is how people talk past each other.
Wine list / carta dei vini
The guest-facing page of the programme. Not the distributor catalogue. Design.
About the author
Marco Azzari
Founder of Wine CFO · Wine List Engineer for restaurants in Italy
I help restaurants, hotels and bars in Italy earn more from the wine they already sell. I price lists wine by wine, cost by-the-glass programmes on their real yield, rebuild selections around the food menu, and rewrite lines so guests understand what they're ordering. Every Wine Profit Checkup goes across my desk personally.
More about Wine CFO