Brunch pricing that survives unlimited drinks

The weekend brunch is the busiest service of the week. Every table is booked, the DJ starts at one, the sparkling package outsells the other two and the room is loud with birthdays and leaving parties. On paper it is the venue's best afternoon. Then the bar manager counts the empty bottles against the covers, and the sums show that the most expensive package, the one everyone chooses, earns the venue less per guest than the cheapest one.

Brunch pricing is a bet on consumption. A guest pays one price for a fixed time, and the venue pays for whatever that guest eats and drinks in it. Priced on a guess, a package can fill the room and still lose money on its busiest tier, because one drink is poured faster and costs more than anyone allowed for. Priced on measured consumption, the same brunch can be the most reliable afternoon of the week.

This guide covers how to cost a brunch package against what guests actually drink, how to measure that consumption, how to set tiers whose price gaps match their cost gaps and how to find the drink that breaks the model before it breaks the month. Every venue and figure in it is an example, and the prices, costs and consumption are illustrations to replace with your own.

A brunch price has more to cover than most menu prices. It has to pay for the food, which on a buffet or a sharing menu is whatever the kitchen produced rather than what guests ate; the drinks, poured freely for the length of the package; the extra team a full room for four hours needs; the entertainment, the flowers and the decoration; and then its share of the rent and the rest, with a profit at the end.

Most of those costs are fixed once the brunch is planned. The drinks are not. They rise with every glass, and because the package price is fixed, every glass poured beyond the plan comes straight out of the margin. That is why brunch pricing starts with the drinks.

A Dubai brunch is usually sold in tiers: a soft drinks package with juices, soft drinks and mocktails; a house package adding house wine, beer and spirits; and a sparkling or premium package adding sparkling wine or better spirits. Each tier includes the same food, and the guest chooses the tier for the drinks. Packages run for a set time, often three or four hours, with a last call before the end. The format has travelled a long way from the late-morning meal that gave brunch its name.

Where alcohol is served, the venue's alcohol licence and its conditions apply to brunch as to any other service, and packages with alcohol are sold only to guests of legal drinking age. Our guide to Dubai brunch: the format, run properly covers the format itself; this guide does the pricing.

The cost of a package is not the list of drinks it includes. It is the drinks guests actually consume: how many glasses, of which drinks, at what cost each. A package that includes an expensive spirit costs little if few guests drink it; one that includes a modest sparkling wine costs a great deal if every guest drinks it all afternoon.

So the first question is not "what should the sparkling package cost?" but "how much sparkling does a guest on that package drink?" The answer comes from counting, not from the menu. It changes with the length of the package, the crowd, the season and the way the team pours.

Measure consumption by counting the bar's stock. Before the brunch, count every bottle the bar will pour from; during it, record every bottle sent up from the store; after it, count what is left. The bottles used are the opening count, plus the bottles sent up, minus the closing count. Divide each drink's usage by the covers on the packages that include it, and you have consumption per guest.

Do it for several brunches before trusting the figure, because one afternoon can be unusual. A large birthday party drinks differently from a table of colleagues, and a cool day on the terrace differs from a hot one inside. Four or five brunches give a figure to price from.

The count is only useful if the venue knows how many guests were on each package. Many venues give each tier its own wristband or table marker, which helps the bar serve the right drinks and helps the count afterwards. Some ask that a whole table shares one package, which keeps the count simple and stops a sparkling glass being passed to a guest on the soft drinks package.

Record the covers on each package at every brunch. With the covers and the bottles, consumption per guest per tier is simple division, and it can be checked every week.

The cost of each drink depends on what goes into the glass. A sparkling glass filled to a standard measure gets a known number of glasses from a bottle; one topped up without a measure gets fewer. Spirits poured by eye rather than with a measure cost more with every pour, and over a long afternoon the difference becomes real money.

Set a standard measure for every drink in every package, and train the team to use it. Our guide to pour cost: the number behind every drinks price covers how to work out the cost of each pour, which is the number the package costing needs.

The food cost of a brunch is what the kitchen produced, not what guests ate. A buffet that is refilled until the end, or a sharing menu with second rounds on request, produces more than is eaten, and the food left over at the end is part of the cost. Food that has been on a buffet usually cannot be served again.

Cost the food from production: what the kitchen prepared for the brunch, divided by the covers. Then reduce the waste by planning quantities from the bookings, refilling in smaller batches towards the end and stopping refills before the last half hour.

Because the food is usually the same in every tier, the difference between the tiers is the drinks. That makes the costing clearer: the food cost per guest is one figure for the whole brunch, and each tier adds its own drinks cost on top.

It also means the price gap between two tiers should pay for the difference in drinks between them, and more. If the gap does not cover the extra drinks, the upgrade loses money for the venue every time a guest chooses it.

An invented venue runs a weekend brunch with three packages. Prices include the 5 per cent VAT, which is taken out before costing. The food cost is AED 70.00 a guest, the same in every tier. Consumption is the measured average over several brunches, and the drink costs are the venue's pour costs.

After the food and the drinks, the soft drinks package leaves AED 194.95 a guest, the house package AED 216.19 and the sparkling package AED 236.43. Food and drinks take 31 per cent of the soft drinks package, 43 per cent of the house package and 50 per cent of the sparkling package.

On these figures, every tier earns, and the most expensive earns the most. But look at the steps between them. The house package costs AED 95.24 more before VAT than the soft drinks package, and its drinks cost AED 74.00 more. The upgrade is worth AED 21.24 a guest to the venue, not the AED 95.24 its price suggests.

The beverage cost percentage of a package is the cost of its drinks as a share of the part of the price that pays for them. On a package, the clearest way to see it is on the upgrade: the extra drinks cost divided by the extra price. In the example, the house upgrade's AED 74.00 of extra drinks on AED 95.24 of extra price is a beverage cost percentage of almost 78 per cent.

The same drinks sold one by one at the bar would run at a far lower percentage. On a package, a high percentage on the upgrade can be acceptable, because the guest is already paying for the brunch, but it leaves little room for error. Our guide to sales by category: food, drink and the gap covers the bar's wider figures.

Every brunch has one drink that decides its margin: the one guests drink most of, at the highest cost per glass. In the example, it is the sparkling. Each glass costs AED 30.00, and the sparkling package is the one guests choose for a celebration, when they drink most.

Suppose the measured consumption on the sparkling package turns out to be six glasses of sparkling and two house drinks, not four and three. The drinks cost rises from AED 165.00 to AED 210.00, and the package leaves AED 191.43 a guest. The most expensive package now earns the venue less per guest than the cheapest one, and nobody notices, because the room is full and the sparkling package sells best.

To find the drink that breaks your own model, rank the drinks in each package by cost per guest: the measured glasses per guest times the cost per glass. The drink at the top of the list is the one to watch. It is often not the most expensive bottle, but a mid-priced drink that guests drink a great deal of.

Then ask what happens to the package if that drink's consumption rises by two glasses a guest. If the package would still earn, the price is robust. If it would fall below the cheaper tier, the price, the drink or the pace of service needs to change.

There are four ways to fix a tier that breaks. Raise its price to match its measured consumption: at AED 545.00, the sparkling package leaves AED 239.05 a guest even at the heavier consumption. Change the drink to one that costs less per glass and that guests still value. Shorten the time the drink is poured, for example by serving it for the first two hours only. Or change how it is served, so that it is poured on request rather than topped up automatically.

Each fix has a cost in guests' eyes, and the right one depends on the crowd. A price rise that matches the market is often the least noticed; a change to the drink is the most noticed. Test one change at a time, and measure again.

Tiers work when each step up is worth paying for and worth selling. The guest should see a clear difference in what each tier includes, and the venue should earn more from each step up than from the tier below, even at heavy consumption.

Three tiers are usually enough. Two leave no middle choice for guests who want more than soft drinks but less than the top package; four or more make the choice harder and the costing harder still. Price the steps from the measured cost of the extra drinks, with a margin on top, not from what the venue across the road charges.

The length of the package changes consumption as much as the drinks list does. A four-hour package is not a third longer than a three-hour one in cost: the last hour is often the heaviest for drinks, as tables relax and the music rises.

If the brunch runs long, cost the package at its real length, including the time guests stay after the last call. A clear end time, a last call half an hour before it and a team that closes the bar on time all keep consumption inside the plan.

How the team serves changes how much is poured. Servers who top up every glass as soon as it is half empty pour more than servers who refill on request. A bar where guests order at the counter paces itself; table service with bottles on the table does not.

Neither is wrong, but they cost differently, and the costing should match the service the venue actually runs. Decide the service style first, then measure consumption under it, then price.

Unlimited drinks do not mean unlimited service. The team must stop serving any guest who has had too much, whatever package they paid for, and the venue's licence conditions apply throughout. Train the team to recognise when to slow down or stop, and support them when they do.

Responsible service protects guests first. It also protects the brunch: a room where drinking is managed well stays a room guests want to return to, and the team's judgement keeps the afternoon safe for everyone in it.

Many brunches offer a children's price, and some offer a lower price for guests who do not drink alcohol. Cost each one the same way: the food, which children usually eat less of, and the drinks, which are soft drinks and mocktails at a low cost per glass.

Mocktails can be a highlight rather than an afterthought. Guests who do not drink alcohol deserve drinks made with the same care as the cocktails, and a good mocktail list raises the value of the soft drinks package without much cost.

A brunch has fixed costs of its own: the extra team, the entertainment, the flowers and the decoration. In the example, they come to AED 7,000 for the afternoon. With a mix of 30 guests on the soft drinks package, 60 on the house package and 30 on the sparkling package, the food and drinks leave an average of about AED 216 a guest.

Divided into AED 7,000, that is about 33 covers just to pay for the brunch's own extras, before the rent, the regular team and the profit. A brunch that sells 120 covers clears its extras comfortably; one that sells 40 barely covers them.

A brunch price sits alongside the venue's other menu pricing, and guests compare them. A brunch that costs less than a dinner with two drinks at the same venue invites regulars to switch, and a brunch priced far above the dinner menu may look out of reach.

Set the brunch price with the rest of the menu in view. Our guide to menu pricing: six methods and when each works covers the methods, and the package costing here is a form of cost-based pricing checked against the market.

Brunch deals are common: a free upgrade for early bookings, a discount for large groups or a lower price in the summer. Each one changes the margin, and the sum is worth doing before the deal is published.

A free upgrade from the house package to the sparkling one gives away the extra drinks cost, AED 75.00 a guest at the planned consumption and AED 120.00 at the heavier one, on a price that has not changed. Our guide to offer margin: the sum to do before you publish covers how to test each deal.

Dubai's seasons change brunch as they change every service. The cooler months bring visitors, terraces and the busiest brunches of the year; the hottest months bring fewer residents and visitors, and the brunch moves indoors. Many venues lower their brunch prices in the summer, or offer deals, to keep the room full.

A summer price must still pass the costing. A lower price with the same consumption leaves less a guest, so check that each tier still earns, and adjust the drinks or the length if it does not.

Large groups are a big part of brunch: birthdays, leaving parties and teams from the same office. They fill the room but often drink more than smaller tables, and they may ask for a discount for their size.

Cost a group discount the same way as any other deal, and be cautious about discounting the top tier for large groups, which are the guests most likely to drink at the heavier rate. A group price for the house package, with the sparkling package at its full price, is often the safer offer.

After every brunch, record four things: the covers on each package, the bottles used for each drink, the food produced and the food left over. Work out the consumption per guest for each tier and compare it with the costing.

Look for drift. A drink whose consumption rises a little every week, a package whose share of covers is growing, or a food cost that creeps up as the buffet expands are all signs that the price needs a fresh look. Catching them in a month is cheaper than catching them in a year.

When the costing shows a price must rise, raise it at a natural moment: the start of a season, a new menu or a change to the entertainment. Tell guests what the package includes, clearly, and keep the inclusions consistent so the new price is easy to understand.

Avoid raising the price and removing a drink at the same time, which guests notice twice. If both are needed, change one this season and the other the next.

In servearound, each brunch package can be set up as a set menu or offer on the brunch menu: a fixed price, what it includes and the dates it is available, and servers sell it at the table as one line at its set price. The brunch menu can run on its own schedule, the days and hours of the brunch, and bookings for it come from a brunch shift with its own booking times.

Reservation analytics show bookings and covers by shift, and payment analytics show what was collected by day and by hour. servearound does not count pours, hold stock or record drink costs, so the consumption per package is counted by hand from the bar's stock, as above. See the menus module and Analytics.

From measured consumption: the food produced per guest plus the drinks each tier's guests actually drink, at their pour cost, with a margin on top.

Count the bar's stock before and after each brunch, add the bottles sent up during it and divide by the covers on each package.

Usually three: soft drinks, house and sparkling or premium.

Big enough to pay for the extra drinks at heavy consumption, with a margin on top.

The one with the highest cost per guest: glasses per guest times cost per glass. It is often a mid-priced drink guests drink a lot of.

Yes. The last hour is often the heaviest for drinks, so cost the package at its real length.

Carefully, and preferably not on the top tier.

After every brunch, with a fuller review each season.

Brunch pricing is a bet on consumption, so price each package from what guests actually drink, measured by counting the bar's stock before and after each brunch, not from the drinks list. Cost the food from what was produced, pour to a standard measure and set the gaps between tiers to pay for the extra drinks, with a margin on top.

Find the drink that breaks the model, the one with the highest cost per guest, and test the package at heavier consumption. Fix a tier that breaks with its price, its drink, its pouring time or its service. Keep the brunch in line with the rest of the menu pricing, cost every deal for its offer margin, and check the numbers after every Dubai brunch.