Draft Beer Calculator

Use our free calculator below to do some quick figuring of your beverage costs

I know, you would rather get out your pencil, paper and calculator to make your own draft beer calculator to figure out how much you’d like to charge for that cool limited brewery release or one-off? Wrong!

Use the calculator I made below to quickly do the math based on keg size, common glass size, tax style and price you would like to charge.

If you’re not sure about some of the settings, I’ll give you some more detailed definitions below the calculator.

In the meantime, enjoy!

If you like this, please share this to all of your hospitality friends

Try our Liquor Cost Calculator too!

Draft Beer Calculator Instructions

As simple as it is, if you’re not familiar with the industry or costing, it can be confusing:

Keg Size

I’ve included all of the most standard keg sizes currently available and covers 98% of commercially available kegs in the United States. This may not include custom keg sizes or new ones not widely available. Choose your keg size. It can usually be seen on your invoice, the keg collar, or the keg itself.

Keg Cost

This should be the actual, invoiced keg cost you pay. Include any service fees, sin-tax, etc. I usually do not include the deposit cost because you will get that back with your next keg purchase from the supplier.

Tax Rate

This is the total sales tax rate you pay in your county, city, state. Enter it as a decimal (pennies.) For example a 7% sales tax is entered at $0.07 in this field.

Drink Sale Price

Enter the amount in the draft cost calculator you would like to charge for a one glass pour of this beer. It will automatically show multiple size glasses below. This can help you decide which glassware size to use as well based on your results.

Tax Type

Establishments can use Add-on or in Inclusive tax in most parts of the United States. Add-on tax implies you charge the cost of the beer ($5.00) and add the tax on to the amount collected from the customer ($5.00 + 7% Sales tax = $5.35 collected from the customer.)

In the Inclusive tax scenario, the operation only collect $5.00 from the customer and “backs out” the tax only realizing 93% of the sale price. Thus resulting in a higher cost, but much easier and faster transactions because you’re not dealing with small change.

Drop down your tax type in this box, then enter your total sales tax rate and the draft cost calculator will do the appropriate math for you.

Tax Rate

Enter your total sales tax rate in a decimal. For example, 7% Sales tax = 0.07

Cost Percentage (Based on Glass Size)

These results show for the standard glass sizes of 16, 12, 10, and 20 oz. In the background, the calculator figures a 7% waste amount and spits out the appropriate cost percentage. If you need custom glassware sizes and want to figure out your entire draft list simultaneously, we will have a Pro version form available in our store for download.

Profit $ (Based on Glass Size)

This is the same result based on the cost formula converted into actual dollars. Costs and Profit are always theoretical based on 7% waste. Your results may vary if you have high waste, theft, poorly maintained draft system, excessive foaming, etc.

This tool is intended to get you quick, theoretical pricing based on common keg sizes, 7% waste and common glassware sizes. Theoretical cost vs. Actual Cost is a calculation you should do on a regular basis to make sure you’re “hitting your numbers.” You can purchase our Pro version of the Draft Beer Calculator in our store (coming soon) in order to input your entire list, use custom glassware, keg sizes and more to help you set a consistent cost structure for your operation.

Chuck Johnson is a 30 year hospitality industry veteran, former owner and has contributed his expertise to various operations, print publications and radio programs throughout his career. 

Have more questions? Contact Us!

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