Rex says
Money math without the spreadsheet headache. Plug in your numbers and I'll show you exactly where the dollars land.
Try a scenario
Click to load — tweak from there.Inputs
Result
Bottle price
$35.00
By-the-glass price
$8.05
Bottle pour cost %
40.0%
Glass pour cost %
34.8%
Revenue if entire bottle sold by glass
$40.25
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How to use this
- 1Enter wholesale bottle cost ($).
- 2Enter bottle markup multiple.
- 3Enter glasses poured per bottle.
- 4Enter glass price factor (vs. even split).
- 5Read your bottle price on the right — it updates as you type.
- 6Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone.
About this calculator
Wine pricing works differently than most menu categories because the markup multiple typically decreases as bottle cost increases, since a flat 3-4x multiple on an expensive bottle would be unsellable. Common structure: 2.5-3x wholesale cost for bottles under $20 wholesale, 2-2.5x for $20-50 wholesale, and 1.8-2.2x for anything above that. By-the-glass pricing usually targets pouring 4-5 glasses per 750ml bottle (about 5oz pours) with each glass priced near a quarter to a third of the bottle price, which effectively recovers the full bottle cost by the second or third glass poured and profits on the rest, hedging against an opened bottle not fully selling. This calculator takes wholesale cost and your markup multiple to generate bottle price, then splits into glass pricing and shows the pour cost percentage for both formats.
Worked example
Using the values the calculator loads with:
Inputs
- Wholesale bottle cost: 14 $
- Bottle markup multiple: 2.5
- Glasses poured per bottle: 5
- Glass price factor (vs. even split): 1.15
Results
- Bottle price: $35.00
- By-the-glass price: $8.05
- Bottle pour cost %: 40.0%
- Glass pour cost %: 34.8%
- Revenue if entire bottle sold by glass: $40.25
What each field means
Inputs
- Wholesale bottle cost ($)
- The wholesale bottle cost used in the calculation, measured in $. Starts at 14 $ so you have a working example on load.
- Bottle markup multiple
- The bottle markup multiple used in the calculation. Starts at 2.5 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 1–5.
- Glasses poured per bottle
- The glasses poured per bottle used in the calculation. Starts at 5 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 2–8.
- Glass price factor (vs. even split)
- The glass price factor (vs. even split) used in the calculation. Starts at 1.15 so you have a working example on load. Accepted range: 0.8–1.5.
Results
- Bottle price
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars and shown as the headline result. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- By-the-glass price
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Bottle pour cost %
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Glass pour cost %
- Returned as a percentage. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
- Revenue if entire bottle sold by glass
- Returned as a money amount in US dollars. It recalculates instantly whenever you change an input, so you can compare scenarios without reloading.
FAQ
Why does markup multiple shrink on expensive bottles?
A flat 3x multiple on a $60 wholesale bottle would price it at $180, which most guests won't order regardless of quality. Restaurants compress the multiple to 1.8-2.2x on premium bottles to keep prices sellable, making up the percentage-margin loss with the larger dollar margin per bottle.
How many glasses should I plan per bottle?
5oz pours yield 5 glasses per 750ml bottle with minimal loss; some programs use slightly smaller 4-4.5oz pours to get 5-6 glasses, especially for premium by-the-glass offerings where waste from an unsold bottle is costlier.
Why is by-the-glass pricing higher per-ounce than the bottle?
Selling by the glass carries the risk that the rest of an opened bottle won't sell before it oxidizes, typically within 2-3 days for reds and 1-2 for whites without preservation systems like Coravin or inert gas. The higher per-glass rate compensates for that spoilage risk.
What pour cost percentage should wine target?
30-35% blended across bottle and glass sales is typical, higher than liquor because wine's dollar cost per unit is higher and menu prices can't scale as aggressively without losing sales, especially in the $10-15 by-the-glass range where most guests order.
Accuracy and limitations
- Results are estimates before tax, fees, and inflation unless an input explicitly covers them.
- Rates are treated as fixed for the whole period — variable-rate products will drift from this projection.
- This is educational maths, not financial advice. Check anything contractual with the lender or your accountant.
Related tools
Cite this calculator
Writing about this topic? Grab a citation — every link helps keep these tools free.
RevenueLab. (2026). Wine Markup Calculator. Retrieved from https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wine-markup-calculator
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wine-markup-calculator" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wine Markup Calculator — RevenueLab</a> (2026).</p>
Source: [Wine Markup Calculator — RevenueLab](https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/wine-markup-calculator) (2026).