Written by: JJ Tan, Founder, Jelly | Last updated: 13 October 2026
Key Takeaways
- Pub GP% uses this formula: ((net selling price − cost per serve) ÷ net selling price) × 100. The net selling price comes from dividing the menu price by 1.2.
- Many free GP calculators give the wrong result because they ignore real yield loss on draught, wine and spirits and remove VAT incorrectly.
- Accurate costing divides keg cost by saleable pints, usually about 84 from an 11-gallon keg, and costs wine across four 175ml serves.
- Benchmarks suggest UK pubs can aim for around 66% wet GP and 67% food GP, with draught typically 60–65% and wine or spirits 68% or higher.
- Jelly tracks GP live across every dish and drink, updates costs from invoices in real time and removes the need for manual spreadsheets.
The Problem: Why Most Free Pub GP Calculators Give You The Wrong Number
Many free pub GP calculators that rank highest give you a formula, but they often treat cost per serve as container cost divided by container size. That approach is wrong for draught beer, cask and 175ml wine because it ignores yield loss. A £150 eleven-gallon keg yields about 84 saleable pints after line cleaning and foam, not the 88 pints by volume. That difference moves the same pint from 63% apparent GP, calculated on the till price, to 56% real GP, calculated on the net price with real yield. That is a seven-point swing on a single line. It compounds across every keg, every week, all year.
The second problem is that even a correct calculation is a snapshot. Supplier prices move, duty moves, and a dish costed three months ago becomes a guess. Most operators do not know their actual GP because their POS system knows what was sold and their accounts system knows what was paid, but neither connects to a live picture of stock. The cost of leaving this gap is a GP that looks fine on the calculator and does not match the P&L.
The Solution: The Free Pub GP Calculator And The Exact UK Formulas
This calculator shows what a correct GP tool looks like. StockTap's free Pub GP & Profit-Leak Calculator takes five inputs: cost price excluding VAT, selling price including VAT, net selling price excluding VAT, actual GP%, and target GP%. In the StockTap Pub GP & Profit-Leak Calculator, the tool automatically removes VAT from the VAT-inclusive selling price entered, so the GP is calculated on the net price. The GP% column calculates gross profit as a percentage of the ex-VAT selling price using (net selling price − ex-VAT cost) ÷ net selling price, after stripping the 20% VAT out of the till price. The target GP% column then lets you price backwards from a margin to a menu price. That combination of VAT removal and yield-adjusted cost in one flow separates a correct pub GP calculator from a bare formula.
The three formulas in plain text:
- GP% = ((net selling price − cost per serve) ÷ net selling price) × 100
- Net selling price = menu price inc-VAT ÷ 1.2
- Target menu price inc-VAT = (cost per serve × 1.2) ÷ (1 − target GP% ÷ 100)
The ÷1.2 rule matters because the 20% VAT was originally added to the smaller net figure. £4.89 ÷ 1.2 = £4.07, whereas £4.89 − 20% = £3.91. Using the VAT-inclusive till price in a pub GP calculation, rather than dividing by 1.20 to get the ex-VAT price, is the commonest error in pub margin calculations and overstates margin by several points. For more on food menu costing using the same principle, see How To Calculate GP Margin On UK Pub Food Menus.
Manual calculation works for a few lines. When the list grows across multiple dishes and drinks, Jelly automates this calculation across every item and updates in real time as invoices arrive.
Worked Examples: GP On A Pint, Wine, Spirits And A Main Course
How To Calculate GP On A Pint Of Draught Beer
- Take the keg cost ex-VAT: £150 for an eleven-gallon keg.
- Divide by saleable yield, about 84 pints after line cleaning and foam.
- Cost per saleable pint = £150 ÷ 84 = £1.79.
- Net selling price = £4.89 ÷ 1.2 = £4.07 (using the Morning Advertiser 2026 average lager price).
- GP% = ((£4.07 − £1.79) ÷ £4.07) × 100 = 56%.
UK pubs lose around 40 million pints a year to line cleaning, roughly 20 pints per week for the average pub. That waste is real cost paid for and never sold. For a full breakdown of VAT and wastage adjustments, see the Pub Gross Profit Calculator UK 2026: VAT & Wastage Guide.
How To Calculate GP On A 175ml Glass Of Wine
A 75cl bottle yields four full 175ml glasses with roughly 50ml of residue, so cost the bottle across four serves because the residue is real cost you cannot sell. A £21 bottle is £5.25 per 175ml serve. At a £7.50 menu price, net is £7.50 ÷ 1.2 = £6.25, and GP = ((£6.25 − £5.25) ÷ £6.25) × 100 = 16%. That margin is thin, and it is the accurate figure. Pricing the same bottle across 4.286 theoretical serves gives a flattering £4.90 cost per serve and a GP that does not match what the bank shows. For a full drink GP% guide, see Profit Margin Calculator For Pubs: Calculate Drink GP%.
Bar GP Calculator: Spirits And Cocktails
A 70cl bottle yields 28 × 25ml measures or 20 × 35ml measures. Under the Home Office's September 2026 licensing guidance, gin, rum, vodka and whisky must be available in 25ml or 35ml measures. A £15.50 bottle at 25ml is £0.55 per serve. At a £3.50 menu price, net is £2.92 and GP = ((£2.92 − £0.55) ÷ £2.92) × 100 = 81%. Moving to 35ml without a price change drops GP to approximately 77%, a four-point reduction from a single measure change that nobody notices until the stocktake.
Worked Example: GP On A Pub Main Course
Net plate cost, including ingredients and wastage allowance, sits against the ex-VAT menu price. A £4.52 plate cost at an £18.50 menu price gives £15.42 net and 70.7% GP.
The table below brings these four worked examples together so you can compare cost per serve, net price and GP% across a pint, a glass of wine, a spirit measure and a main course.
| Serve | Cost Per Serve | Menu Price Inc-VAT | Net Price | GP% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pint of draught lager (11-gal keg, 84 saleable pints) | £1.79 | £4.89 | £4.07 | 56% |
| 175ml glass of wine (75cl bottle, 4 serves) | £5.25 | £7.50 | £6.25 | 16% |
| 25ml house spirit (70cl bottle, 28 serves) | £0.55 | £3.50 | £2.92 | 81% |
| Pub main course | £4.52 | £18.50 | £15.42 | 70.7% |
Free Pub GP Calculator Excel Template: The Columns You Need
A pub GP spreadsheet does not have a single fixed structure. A stock control spreadsheet typically lists each line with unit, cost ex VAT, par, stock count, stock value and reorder quantity, and many pubs add sales and GP% per line with GP% calculated as (Net price − Cost) ÷ Net price. A simple GP template usually includes these columns:
- Cost ex-VAT — the supplier invoice price per serve, already net of VAT.
- Menu price inc-VAT — the price on the board or menu.
- Net price — a formula: = Menu price ÷ 1.2. This is the only correct UK method.
- GP% — a formula: = ((Net price − Cost) ÷ Net price) × 100.
- Target GP% — a backwards-pricing formula: = (Cost × 1.2) ÷ (1 − Target GP% ÷ 100).
The limitation is clear: a spreadsheet is a snapshot. A spreadsheet does not know a supplier put the keg up £8 last Tuesday, and it only flags a price change once someone enters the new invoice line. A static spreadsheet cannot automatically flag that a dish costed in March is now running at 61% instead of 68% because it stores the ingredient cost typed in and only updates when someone manually re-keys it. Every delivery that changes a price makes the spreadsheet stale.
What Is A Good GP Percentage For A UK Pub?
The UKHospitality and Christie & Co Benchmarking Report 2022, based on actual profit and loss accounts across 4,791 managed outlets for the six months to 31 December 2021, put wet sales GP at 66% and food GP at 67%. Wet GP ranged from 64% in accommodation-led venues to 72.7% in nightclubs. Community locals sat at 65%.
The same report found a 7.8 percentage point structural gap between tied and free-of-tie leases: 68.9% wet GP on commercial leases versus 61.2% on tied leases. That gap comes from the tie mechanism and purchasing terms rather than day-to-day operational performance.
Draught typically trails wine and spirits because of dispense loss, with 60–65% a solid draught result and 68% or higher realistic for wine and spirits. A spirits line running below the 70–80% gross profit starting range for pubs warrants a check on bottle size, legal measure, garnish and promotion before anything else.
When A Free Calculator Is Not Enough: Multi-Supplier Price Drift And Live Costing
A free pub GP calculator gives you a snapshot. It cannot see that your beef supplier moved price on Tuesday, that your keg went up £8, or that a dish costed in March is now running at 61% instead of 68%. The cumulative causes of GP erosion are rarely dramatic. A dish costed years ago and not repriced since inflation hit. A bar pouring generously without a consistent measure. A kitchen drifting on portion sizes because no one checked.
Jelly gives you ongoing, automated GP control across a growing pub. Where a free calculator gives you a snapshot, Jelly delivers live, automated GP across every dish and drink. It starts with automated invoice scanning, which captures every line item, including quantity, SKU and price, the moment an invoice arrives by email or photo. From there, the Price Alert feature flags every supplier price increase or decrease, giving you the hard data to challenge a supplier and claim credit notes. The Flash Report then delivers a daily, weekly or monthly view of GP margin calculated from live costs and POS sales, while the Insights Dashboard shows total spending by supplier in real time. Menu Engineering (Sales Mix) connects with POS systems including Square, EPOS Now, Lightspeed and Toast to show which dishes are most popular and most profitable, and the Cookbook and Live Dish Costing tools update every dish margin the moment a new invoice lands. Finally, accounting integration with Xero (Sage coming soon) pushes digitised invoices with one click and delivers a large reduction in bookkeeping time.
The numbers from operators using Jelly show what that automation delivers in practice: 10–20 hours of admin saved per month, 2 percentage points added to gross margins and a 3% food cost reduction in the first three months. Dish costing time drops from 28 minutes to 3 minutes, and onboarding value arrives in the first week. The price is a flat £129 per month per location with no variable charge per user or feature.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Is The Free Pub GP Calculator Really Free?
Yes. No sign-up and no card required. It is a utility tool, not a trial. Enter your cost ex-VAT and menu price inc-VAT and it returns your net price, GP% and target menu price in one calculation.
Does It Remove VAT Correctly?
Yes. It divides the inc-VAT menu price by 1.2, which is the correct UK method for removing 20% VAT. Subtracting 20% from the menu price removes 20% of the gross figure rather than 20% of the net figure, which understates your net price and drags your calculated GP down. On a £4.89 pint, the difference is 16p per serve.
How Do I Calculate GP On A Pint With Yield Loss?
Divide keg cost by saleable pints rather than container size. An eleven-gallon keg holds 88 pints by volume but yields about 84 after line cleaning and foam. Using 88 understates cost per pint and overstates GP by several percentage points. For cask, the yield is lower still, with a 72-pint firkin typically delivering mid-60s saleable pints after sediment loss and conditioning pull-through.
How Do I Calculate GP On A 175ml Glass Of Wine?
As shown in the worked example, cost the 75cl bottle across four full 175ml serves because the roughly 50ml residue is real cost you cannot sell. Using the theoretical 4.286 figure flatters your cost per serve and produces a GP that will not match your stocktake.
What Is A Good GP Percentage For A UK Pub?
As mentioned earlier, the UKHospitality and Christie & Co Benchmarking Report 2022 puts wet GP at 66% and food GP at 67%. Community locals sit at around 65% wet GP. Draught-heavy bars typically run 60–65% on draught, while wine and spirits can reach 68% or higher because sealed bottles carry no dispense waste. These figures act as benchmarks, and the right GP for your pub depends on your sales mix, purchasing terms and operating format.
Can I Get A Free Pub GP Calculator Excel Template?
Yes. The five columns you need are:
- Cost ex-VAT — the supplier invoice price per serve.
- Menu price inc-VAT — the price on the board or menu.
- Net price — = Menu price ÷ 1.2.
- GP% — = ((Net price − Cost) ÷ Net price) × 100.
- Target GP% — = (Cost × 1.2) ÷ (1 − Target GP% ÷ 100).
That structure handles VAT removal and backwards pricing in one sheet. The limitation is that it is a snapshot and does not update when a supplier changes a price.
When Should I Move From A Free Calculator To Software Like Jelly?
Move when you are running multiple suppliers, when prices move faster than you can re-cost, or when you need live GP across every dish and drink rather than one price at a time. A free calculator is the right tool for checking a single price quickly. Jelly is the right tool when a snapshot is no longer enough and you need automated invoice scanning, live dish costing, price alerts and a Flash Report that tells you your GP margin before the week is out.
Conclusion
The GP% formula is ((net selling price − cost per serve) ÷ net selling price) × 100. The net selling price is always the menu price divided by 1.2. Subtracting 20% from the menu price gives a different, incorrect result. The cost per serve comes from keg cost divided by saleable yield rather than container size. Get those three elements right and a free pub GP calculator gives you a correct number in minutes.
The correct number only helps if it stays current. A wine bottle costed across 4.286 serves instead of four or a spirit line pouring 35ml on a 25ml price each moves your real GP away from the number on the calculator without anyone noticing until the P&L lands. Jelly gives you ongoing, automated GP control across a growing pub. A free calculator gives you a snapshot. Jelly gives you live GP across every dish and drink, updated with every invoice and flagged with every price change.
