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# Wet GP explained, for a new bartender and for an owner
- URL: https://www.ciaran-murray.com/wet-gp-explained/
- Published: 2026-10-23T08:30:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T08:29:59.000Z
- Description: A €16 cocktail in Cork is €13.01 to the house before a drop is poured. Here's wet GP in one glass, for the bartender and the owner.
- Author: Ciaran Murray
- Tags: People & Craft

A €16 cocktail in Cork is €13.01 to the house before a drop is poured. A £16 one in Inverness is £13.33\. Everything in the glass has to come out of what's left.

That's wet GP, the number owners quote and new bartenders are never told. In the bars I ran I held it at 70 to 75 per cent with a stocktake every week, while the head chef held food cost on his side of the pass. Here's the whole thing, in one glass, for both of you.

## Start after VAT

The first mistake, and I've seen it made by people who sign the accounts, is working GP on the menu price.

In Ireland, alcohol carries VAT at the standard rate, 23 per cent. Food and catering moved to the second reduced rate on 1 July 2026; Revenue's own note says the rate "excludes alcohol, soft drinks and bottled water", so the bar didn't move. In the UK, everything over the bar is at 20 per cent: HMRC's notice on catering says the temporary hospitality rate "ended on 31 March 2022", and its note on food products says you "must standard rate all your supplies of drinks containing alcohol".

So the €16 drink is €13.01 to the house (16 ÷ 1.23). The £16 drink is £13.33 (16 ÷ 1.2). That is the number every sum starts from. Work from the menu price instead and your GP looks about five points better than it is, which is how a bar can "hit 75" and still be losing money.

![An adding machine with a paper roll on a white table.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/fri23-1-till-roll-1200x800.jpg)

Photo: Elisabeth Zink on Unsplash

## The sum

Gross profit is the net price less the cost of what's in the glass. Wet GP is that, as a percentage of the net price:

**GP % = (net price − cost of ingredients) ÷ net price**

At 75 per cent, the Cork cocktail can cost €3.25 to make: spirit, liqueur, citrus, syrup, garnish, ice, every drop. The Inverness one, £3.33\. Spend €3.60 and you're at 72 per cent. Spend €4 and you're at 69, and nobody noticed, because the drink still tasted right.

That's why the spec sheet exists. Every drink to the millilitre, costed on the current invoice price, with a line at the bottom that says what it costs and what it earns. A new bartender should be able to pick up any spec and see both numbers.

![Slices of grapefruit, orange and lime laid out side by side.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/fri23-2-citrus-1200x800.jpg)

Photo: Tammy Chan on Unsplash

## What's reachable, and what isn't

A cocktail list can live at 75\. Spirits and liqueurs are expensive per bottle but cheap per 25 millilitres, and the price on the card does the rest.

A pint is harder, and it's worth knowing why. Before the brewer sends an invoice, the state has taken its share: Irish excise on beer is €22.55 per hectolitre per cent of alcohol, which is about 55 cents on a pint at 4.3 per cent; UK duty is £22.58 per litre of pure alcohol, £19.45 on draught, so about 44 pence on a draught pint at 4 per cent. Spirits are heavier still: a 70cl bottle at 40 per cent carries €11.92 of Irish duty and about £9.52 of UK duty before anyone has made a profit on it.

So the benchmarks sit lower than a cocktail bar's target. UKHospitality and Christie & Co's survey of 4,791 managed outlets put the average wet margin at 66 per cent: 65 in a community local, 68 on the high street, 69 in a wine bar, 72 in casual dining and nightclubs. Commercial-lease estates ran at 68.9 against 61.2 for tied pubs, because tied tenants pay more for the same barrel. If you run a wet-led local and someone tells you to hit 75 across the board, ask them which drinks.

![A row of beer taps along a dark, warmly lit bar counter.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/fri23-3-beer-taps-1200x800.jpg)

Photo: Haberdoedas on Unsplash

## The three habits that protect the number

**Spec every drink.** To the millilitre, with the cost on the sheet. A free pour is a GP you don't control.

**Count weekly, not monthly.** A weekly stocktake turns a mystery into a conversation: this bottle, that week, those shifts. Monthly, the same loss is a number nobody can explain. Sunday's piece is the stocktake itself.

**Nobody makes a drink bigger without a price review.** It belongs on the last line of every spec sheet, and it's the one most often broken with the best intentions.

![Three cocktails on a wooden bar, one garnished with a cherry.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/fri23-4-three-cocktails-1200x800.jpg)

Photo: Daniel on Unsplash

## For the owner

Two questions find most of the gap between the GP you quote and the GP you have. Is it worked before VAT or after? And does the person making the drinks know the target, with the reason attached? A target handed down on its own gets gamed or quietly resented. A target with the sum beside it gets hit. That's also the story of the rota: see [the rule I'll never break](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/the-rota-rule-ill-never-break/).

**Owners:** what's your wet GP target, and do you work it before VAT or after? Tell me in the comments on LinkedIn, or hit reply if this came to you by email.

New here? My Monday stories and Thursday craft notes can come straight to your inbox: [subscribe free](https://www.ciaran-murray.com/#/portal/signup).

Saturday: the Scottish personal licence, sat from Ireland.

![A calculator and pens on top of printed spreadsheets.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/7e/0c/7e0cc755-8e3f-401d-be56-1e2d9109123e/content/images/2026/10/fri23-5-calculator-1200x800.jpg)

Photo: FIN on Unsplash

### References

- Revenue Commissioners (2026) *Second reduced rate of VAT*, 1 July 2026\. Available at: [revenue.ie](https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-rates/what-are-vat-rates/second-reduced-rate-vat.aspx?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Revenue Commissioners (2026) *Restaurant, catering and canteen services*, 7 May 2026\. Available at: [revenue.ie](https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-on-services/restaurant-catering-and-canteen-services/index.aspx?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Revenue Commissioners (2026) *Standard rate of VAT*. Available at: [revenue.ie](https://www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-rates/what-are-vat-rates/standard-rate-vat.aspx?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- HM Revenue & Customs (n.d.) *VAT rates*. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/vat-rates?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- HM Revenue & Customs (2026) *Catering, takeaway food (VAT Notice 709/1)*, updated 8 June 2026\. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/catering-takeaway-food-and-vat-notice-7091?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- HM Revenue & Customs (2026) *Food products (VAT Notice 701/14)*, s. 3.7.1, updated 8 June 2026\. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/food-products-and-vat-notice-70114?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- UKHospitality and Christie & Co (2022) *The UKHospitality Christie & Co Benchmarking Report 2022* (abridged). Available at: [ukhospitality.org.uk](https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/UKHospitality-Christie-Co-Benchmarking-Report-2022-FINAL-abridged.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- British Beer and Pub Association (2024) *Running a pub: a guide to costs for tied tenants and lessees 2023*. Available at: [bii.org](https://bii.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Guide-BBPA-Guide-to-Costs.pdf?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- Revenue Commissioners (2025) *Alcohol Products Tax rates*, 5 December 2025\. Available at: [revenue.ie](https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/excise-and-licences/excise-duty-rates/alcohol-products-tax.aspx?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
- HM Revenue & Customs (2026) *Alcohol Duty rates*, updated 1 February 2026\. Available at: [gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/alcohol-duty-rates?ref=ciaran-murray.com) (Accessed: 20 October 2026).