How Many Glasses per Bottle?
Enter your bottle size and pour size to see how many glasses you serve from each bottle.
You sell
glasses per bottle
mL on the menu, mL total pour size, with mL left over.
Pour size, pour buffer and total pour size
On paper a 75 cl bottle gives you four glasses of 175 ml, or six of 125 ml. In a real restaurant it never does. That is why you separate what you sell from what you plan for.
Pour size: what is on the menu
The pour size is the measure you promise the guest and print on your wine list, for example 175 ml. By law still wine by the glass is sold in 125 ml, 175 ml or multiples of those, and the guest is entitled to the full measure they pay for.
Pour buffer: the extra you plan for
The pour buffer is the extra wine you reserve for every glass, on top of the pour size. It covers what you lose in daily service:
- Overpour: even with a lined glass or a measure, staff tend to pour a little over the line rather than under it, and a short measure is never an option.
- The rest in the bottle: the last few millilitres, sediment, and wine that oxidises before you finish an open bottle.
- Tasting and spillage: a sip for the guest to try, a glass that tips over, a corked bottle check.
If you calculate with the exact pour size, the numbers never come back. You expect four glasses, you sell three, and the missing glass comes straight out of your margin, every single bottle.
Total pour size: what you calculate with
The total pour size is the pour size plus the pour buffer. With a 175 ml pour and a 30 ml buffer, the total pour size is 205 ml, and that is the number your glasses per bottle, your cost per glass and your price per glass should be based on.
Total glasses: what you really sell
The total glasses are the bottle size divided by the total pour size, rounded down. A 75 cl bottle at 205 ml gives you three glasses, not four, and at 125 ml plus the same buffer it gives you four, not six. Price your glass on three and every bottle pays for itself, even on a busy Saturday night.
Sell the measure on the list, plan for a bigger one. And there is a bonus: when the glass is a little fuller than the line, guests feel they received more than they paid for. That is a better feeling than the other way around.
Glasses per bottle at a glance
| Bottle | 125 ml | 175 ml | 250 ml |
|---|---|---|---|
| Half bottle (37.5 cl) | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 50 cl (50 cl) | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Standard (75 cl) | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| Magnum (150 cl) | 12 | 8 | 6 |
Plan for some loss: tasting, spillage and wine that oxidises before you finish the bottle all reduce the glasses you actually sell. Price your glasses so the first one or two already cover the bottle cost.