Restaurant Wine by the Glass Pricing: Pours, Loss and Margin
By Ivo Cooper · Restaurant operator & beverage director
The short answer
Start with the pour math: a 750 mL bottle holds about 25.36 fl oz, so a 5 oz pour yields roughly five glasses before any loss. Plan on fewer in practice because of tastings, spillage, over-pouring and bottles that oxidize before they sell. Price each glass so that the glasses you realistically sell cover the bottle cost at the cost percentage you intend, then check that the price sits sensibly against your bottle list and your guests’ expectations.
Pour math
- 750 mL ≈ 25.36 fl oz.
- 25.36 ÷ 5 oz ≈ 5.07 pours — call it five glasses before loss.
- At a 6 oz pour, ≈ 4.2 glasses; at a 4 oz pour, ≈ 6.3 glasses.
- Glass cost at five pours = bottle cost ÷ 5.
Pour size is a pricing decision. A larger pour is a better guest value and a higher cost per glass; make the choice deliberately and train it with measured pours, not by eye.
Plan for loss honestly
Few BTG bottles deliver five sold glasses every time. Staff tastings, guest tastes, spillage, over-pours and end-of-bottle oxidation all reduce realized glasses. How much depends on your volume, preservation and discipline, so measure it: track open bottles and glasses sold for a few weeks and calculate your actual average.
Preservation tools can reduce oxidation loss on slower-moving or higher-cost pours. Whether they pay for themselves depends on your volume and list — evaluate them against your measured loss, not a general claim.
A pricing method
- Confirm actual bottle cost from the current invoice, after discounts.
- Decide the pour size and train it.
- Estimate realistic glasses sold per bottle from your own tracking.
- Choose the cost percentage you intend for the BTG program.
- Glass price = bottle cost ÷ (realistic glasses × intended cost percentage). Round to a sensible menu price.
- Check the price against the same wine’s bottle price and neighboring BTG prices so the list reads coherently.
- Review monthly: glasses sold, open-bottle waste and recorded versus actual cost.
Worked example (hypothetical numbers)
| Bottle cost | $16.00 |
|---|---|
| Pour size | 5 oz (≈5 glasses before loss) |
| Realistic glasses sold | 4.5 |
| Intended BTG cost percentage | 25% |
| Glass price | $16.00 ÷ (4.5 × 0.25) ≈ $14.22 → menu $14 or $15 |
| At $15: if 5 glasses sell | $75 revenue, cost ≈ 21.3% |
| At $15: if only 4 glasses sell | $60 revenue, cost ≈ 26.7% |
The same price produces very different results depending on loss. Controlling pours and open-bottle waste matters as much as the menu price. Figures exclude tax.
BTG and the bottle list
Guests compare. If a glass costs nearly a quarter of the bottle price, the bottle looks like the obvious value and BTG sales may slow; if the glass is very inexpensive relative to cost, the program carries the loss. Many operators keep BTG percentages somewhat different from bottle percentages because the loss risk is different. Decide your own policy and apply it consistently so staff can explain it.
Common mistakes
- Pricing on five glasses per bottle when the program reliably sells fewer.
- Free-pouring without measured training.
- Opening too many BTG wines for the volume, so bottles oxidize before they sell.
- Leaving prices unchanged when a new vintage arrives at a higher cost.
- Not counting open BTG bottles, so the variance cannot be explained.
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