Pricing beer flights and tasting paddles for profit
Flights are the best way for a guest to meet your range. They also cost more per millilitre to serve than any other order. Here is how to price them so they work for both of you.
What a flight is for
A flight, or tasting paddle, is a set of small pours that lets a guest try several beers at once. It solves a real problem: a menu of ten beers is hard to choose from. It also starts conversations, gives your brewers a showcase and often leads to a full glass of the guest's favourite. Our beer flight guide explains how guests can taste one well.
The business question is whether the flight is a profitable sale on its own, a loss leader that drives later sales or an accidental discount. You want to know which.
The cost per millilitre is higher
A flight of four 150 ml glasses is 600 ml of beer, slightly more than a large pour. But it also means four glasses to wash, a paddle to handle, four separate pours and more staff time explaining. Breakage is higher with small glasses. Foam losses on small pours are proportionally larger. All of that makes a millilitre in a flight more expensive to serve than a millilitre in a pint.
Start from the beer cost. Our guide to cost per litre of beer shows how to calculate it including excise and taxes. Then add an allowance for the extra glassware, washing and service time.
Three ways to price
- Per millilitre with a premium. Take your standard price per litre and add a small premium for the extra handling. Simple and transparent.
- Fixed price for a set flight. A curated set of four at one price. Easy to sell, but strong or expensive beers can make it lose money.
- Build your own with tiers. Guests choose. Stronger or special beers carry a surcharge. More complex, fairer to your margins.
A worked example with made-up numbers: if your standard pour of 400 ml sells for ₹360, that is ₹0.90 per millilitre. A 600 ml flight at the same rate would be ₹540. Adding a modest premium for handling takes it to perhaps ₹580 to ₹600. Your own costs decide the exact premium.
Watch the special beers
Barrel-aged, imperial or limited releases cost much more to make and often sell at a higher price per pour. If guests can put them in a fixed-price flight, they will. Either exclude them, add a surcharge or serve them in a smaller pour. The same logic applies to beers with expensive hops or fruit. Our beer pricing strategy guide covers pricing by beer rather than one flat rate.
Make the flight sell the next glass
The flight earns its keep when the guest orders a full glass of what they liked. Train staff to ask which one they preferred and offer it. Put the full pour price next to the flight on the menu. Some taprooms offer a small credit off the next full pour after a flight. Track it: how many flight orders are followed by a full glass in the same visit? That number tells you whether flights are building sales or replacing them.
Track flights in the POS
Set up the POS so each flight records which beers went into it. That gives you useful data at no extra cost: which beers guests pick most often, which ones they choose for a full glass afterwards and which ones sit on the menu but never get chosen. Over a few months the flight data tells your brewers what is working better than any survey. Our guide to taproom economics covers the wider numbers worth tracking.
Count glass breakage on the small flight glasses separately, too. If it is high, a sturdier glass may pay for itself within months.
Serving well
Pour in a sensible order, light to dark and low to high strength. Label each glass or the paddle so guests know what they are drinking. Keep pours fresh: a flight that sits at the bar while four pours are poured slowly goes flat. Always offer a glass of water with flights. Small pours of strong beer add up. Responsible service is part of good hospitality.
Flights look like a small menu item. Priced and served well, they become one of the best ways to turn a curious first visit into a regular guest.
Common questions
How many beers should be in a flight?
Four is common, often 100 to 150 ml each. Enough to compare styles without overwhelming the palate.
Should a flight cost the same per millilitre as a pint?
Usually slightly more, because small pours need more glassware, washing and service time per millilitre.
Should barrel-aged beers be in a flight?
Only with a surcharge or a smaller pour, because they cost more to make than standard beers.
