Soft drinks, juices, coffee, and other non-alcoholic beverage sales are included in food cost calculations, not beverage cost calculations. Working with your accountant and managers, set up a regular time frame to analyze beverage cost. Remember to use sales generated only within the allotted time frame. The costs associated with beverage sales are comprised of purchases and inventory level adjustments . In our experience, this part of the calculation is often computed incorrectly.
Many restaurants consider only purchases in determining beverage cost.
Additionally, this discrepancy makes it difficult to compare and track beverage costs. In calculating your beverage cost, it appears much higher than last month. While the increase may be due to theft or another operational issue, most likely it is due to calculating your beverage cost inconsistently and incorrectly. Your purchases reflect a large Thursday delivery, however, you do not log the sales from the weekend to offset these purchases, making your beverage cost appear out of line. Additionally, you have not factored in the inventory adjustment.