1. Wine Cost
By bottle or glass, you’d better know the basics

2. Cost vs Selling Price
Often confused by new comers to the restaurant math
game
Cost = the wholesale purchase price of the product
Selling Price = the retail price you charge your guest
for the product

3. Purchasing Wine
Restaurants can buy liquor, wine and beer
from wholesale suppliers.
Your state issued liquor license requires you
to ONLY purchase from licensed wholesalers

4. Wholesalers
Wholesale Liquor, Beer or Wine companies
often sell a variety of brands in each of theses
alcoholic beverage categories
They are controlled by the state in which they
are licensed and can only sell to retailers in
the same state
Most Wholesale Liquor distributors are
required to list their products and pricing in a
state alcoholic beverage guide. This guide
becomes the basis for retailers to build their
cost and selling price.

5. Wholesale Pricing
Wholesalers mark up their products to cover the
cost of marketing, distributing, storing & profiting
from the sale of wine, beer and spirits.
For Example: Tablas Creek Winery sells a case of
Chardonnay for $120 to the wholesaler. Who in
turn sells it to the retailer for $180, who sells it to
the customer at $240.

6. Mark-up
The mark-up or difference between price and
cost = the amount of money the business
plans to gain to support its cost of operations
and profit

7. Restaurants Wine Cost
When selling wine, we can portion it in a
variety of ways:
By the bottle - 1.5l, 750ml, 375ml, 187ml
By the glass - 2oz, 4oz, 5oz, 6 oz or...
By the flight - a combination of wines offered
in 2oz pours

8. Portion
Portion is essential in maintaining a successful
beverage program.
The portion aids us in establishing the cost per
serving that we sell to the guest.

9. Establish Bottle Portion
Wine can be purchased by the case or bottle
from the wholesaler
Buying by the Case is usually the least
expensive way to purchase wine. Most
wholesalers will mark-up your purchase if ask
them to break open a case and sell you a
bottle. ( consider it an unpacking fee)

10. Wine Cases
Wine Cases are generally made up of 12
750ml bottles per case
Some product may be packed differently:
Beringer White Zinfandel has regularly sold
in a 15 bottle case.
Half bottles are often packed in 24 counts,
while magnums may be packed in 6 packs
Prestige wines ( ultra-high price) may pack
750ml bottle as 6 packs or smaller

11. Bottle Cost
Divide the Wholesale purchase case price by the
number of bottles in the case
example: Rodney Strong Estate Pinot Noir $192 case
$192 / 12 bottles = $16 per bottle
(Case cost divided by number of bottles)

12. Ounce Cost
For a glass pour cost, we will need to establish
the cost per ounce.
A 750ml bottle contains 25.4 ounces of wine
If there are 12 x 750ml bottles in a case. Each
case contains 304 ounces
Divide your case cost by 304 to get your once
cost
Example: Rodney Strong Estate Pinot Noir
$192 / 304 ounces = $0.63 per ounce

13. Glass Portion Cost
Once you have your cost per ounce, simply
multiply the cost per ounce against the portion
of your glass in ounces to calculate your cost
per glass
$0.63 x 6 ounce portion = $3.79 glass cost
$0.63 x 5 ounce portion = $3.15 glass cost
$0.63 x 4 ounce portion = $2.52 glass cost

14. Building the
Selling Price
Selling Price
To create a selling price that works for the
business, you need to have a strong working
knowledge on how to establish the cost of the
item being sold

15. Selling Price
Wholesale Recap
Retail
Mark-up
Portion
Flight
Bottle size
Wines by the glass
Bottle Cost
Ounce Cost
Glass Cost

16. Practice
Print the attachment to this lesson and
calculate the bottle cost, ounces per case and
the cost per ounce for the wines listed.
Bin # Wine Name Bottle Size Bottle Case Cost Bottle Cost Ounces per Ounce Cost
Count / case
case
121 2008 L'Esprit de Chevalier Pessac-Leognan Blend 750 ml 12 $288.00
- CS 70%, M 30%
2010 Rancho Zabaco, Sonoma Heritage Vines
122 750ml 12 $133.80
Sonoma County Zinfandel
1994 M McAlister South East Gippsland Cabernet
123 750 ml 4 $170.00
Sauvignon
211 n/v Peter Vella Chardonnay 5L 4 $63.96
2009 Trinchero Calistoga, Napa V Sauvignon
212 1.5l 6 $88.00
Blanc
1998 Chateau Benoit Willamette Valley
213 750ml 12 $143.88
Sauvignon Blanc
214 2009 Sonoma Cutrer Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 375ml 24 $199.92
215 2009 Chateau de Cosse Sauternes Semillon 375ml 24 $672.00
216 2009 Chateau de Jau Rivesaltes Muscat 500ml 12 $300.00
221 See attachment link in ulearn
2010 Domaine de Martinolles Pays d'Aude,
Burgundy Pinot Noir 750ml 12 $120.00