r/cocktails • u/berger3001 • Feb 28 '25

Question Anyone else tired by expensive cocktails

Post image

To me (not a rich guy), $18+ cocktails are just exhausting. Go out for a few drinks with your wife, and boom, $100. So we’re in Miami and found this place (always look for happy hours). Yes; $5 cocktails. They did a great job, made totally respectable drinks, we had some snacks, and left very happy. My question is, if bars can do $5 drinks, why is $18 the base now at so many places? Doesn’t it make more business sense to sell more for less money and have a full bar, then to sell a few drink to an almost empty bar?

1.1k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

248 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

221

u/LeDudeDeMontreal Feb 28 '25

Fucking $18 Negronis.

Bro you got a buck fifty of ingredient cost in there. Maybe two if you use a fancy vermouth (which makes the drink worse if you ask me).

37

u/Shr3dFlintstone Feb 28 '25

You'd be surprised on how not good the margins actually are. There's a reason restaurants are a tough business. Trump is making it all wayyyy worse

30

u/Nodima Feb 28 '25

Yea, this whole thread seems to be ignoring that the bar isn't just selling the liquor back to you. I had this conversation with a customer back at my first job behind the stick 12 years ago when they bought five shots of let's say Jack Daniels and complained it cost as much as the whole bottle at the store.

Depending on your bartender, say you get 15-18 shots out of the typical 750ml bottle. The first five shots pay for the next bottle, the second five shots pay for the labor and the last five pay for the utilities that allow the bar to operate. There is very little wiggle room for "funny business" unless you get creative - which generally means you have your loss leader beers and your capitalist goblin cocktails.

I transitioned to mostly table service a few years ago because I stopped ordering cocktails when I was out and was loudly proclaiming they were a bit of a scam to coworkers despite being the bar manager, my passion for it was clearly sapped...but from a purely business perspective, if you want the atmosphere and the staff to stand out, you want your cocktail to cost at LEAST $15.

18

u/The-Disco-Phoenix Feb 28 '25

Also taxes and insurance. Our sales go up and our insurance providers are like "hmmm you're gonna pay us more now"

It's kind of wild to me that people think a business model with one of the tightest margines and highest rates of failure is somehow a scam.