Setting a wholesale keg price for other bars
Pricing a keg for another bar is where a brewpub's taproom habits stop working. You need a price that covers your full cost, leaves the bar a margin it will accept and pays for the steel you are lending out. Here is the working.
Start from the bar's menu, not your costs
A bar decides whether to list your beer by one question: what will it make per pint? So begin there. Find out what similar craft beers sell for on that bar's menu. As an illustration, say a 330 ml pour sells at ₹350 before any taxes the bar adds.
A 30 litre keg holds 30,000 ml. After foam, line flushing and the last pint that never quite comes out, assume around 85 usable pours of 330 ml rather than the theoretical 90. That is about ₹29,750 of sales for the bar. Most bars want beer cost to sit somewhere near a quarter to a third of the selling price on draught. At 30%, the most that bar will pay you is roughly ₹8,900 for the keg, with any taxes they carry on top.
That figure is your ceiling. It is not your price yet.
Build your floor from full cost per litre
Now work up from your side. Your cost per litre for a keg sold to another venue includes more than ingredients:
- Malt, hops, yeast, water, energy and CO2.
- Excise duty and any fees your state charges on the beer or its movement.
- Labour for brewing, cellar work and keg cleaning.
- Delivery to the bar and collection of the empty.
- A share of overheads such as rent, licences and the lab.
If the full cost comes to ₹180 a litre, a 30 litre keg costs you ₹5,400. Our guide to cost per litre walks through the calculation. Anything below that floor loses money with every keg, however good the volume looks.
Your price lives between the floor and the ceiling
In this example the room is ₹5,400 to about ₹8,900. Where you set it depends on how much you need the account and how strong the beer is on its menu. A price around ₹7,500 gives you ₹70 a litre over full cost and leaves the bar a beer cost near 25%, which most owners will accept for a beer that sells.
If the ceiling sits below your floor, do not cut the price to win the listing. Either the bar is the wrong venue for that beer or your costs need work. Selling below cost to "get the name out" trains every account to expect it.
Price the keg itself separately
A new stainless steel keg is a real asset, often several thousand rupees each. Every keg sitting in a bar's cold room is your capital doing nothing. Charge a refundable deposit per keg, separate from the beer price. Show it as its own line on the invoice. It changes behaviour. Bars return deposit kegs far faster than free ones.
Our guide to keg deposits and returns covers how to set the deposit and track it. Keep the deposit out of your revenue figures: it is a liability you owe back.
Check what your licence allows before quoting
Whether a brewery may sell kegs to other licensed venues at all depends on the state and on the type of licence. Some brewpub licences restrict sale to the premises. Others allow supply to other licence holders with permits for each movement. Rules change, so confirm with the excise department or a licensing consultant before quoting any bar. Check too whether duty is charged when beer leaves your premises or when it is sold, because that changes when the cash goes out and whether it belongs inside your keg price or on top of it. Our guide to selling kegs to other bars in your own state sets out the process.
Keep one price list and review it twice a year
Publish one wholesale list with clear tiers, for example a standard price and a lower price for accounts taking four or more kegs a month. Avoid private deals for individual bars. They leak. Then every owner asks for the best one.
Review the list every six months against your actual costs. Malt and hop prices move, freight changes and duty can be revised in a state budget. A price set in your first year and never touched will be eating margin by your third.
One more check that founders miss: compare your wholesale price per litre with your own taproom price per litre. If a bar can sell your beer cheaper than your taproom does, your regulars will notice.
Make the first price sheet this week
Setting prices is one decision inside a bigger plan for selling beyond your own bar: which venues to target, how to manage credit and how many kegs you can afford to have in the field. That plan is what turns a brewpub into a supplier.
Your first step: take your best-selling beer, find its menu price at three bars you would like to supply and work out the ceiling for each. Put your full cost per litre next to it. You will know within an hour whether the account is worth chasing.
Then call the owner of the bar where the numbers work best. Ask what they currently pay for a comparable craft keg and how many they move a month. That one conversation tells you more about your price than any spreadsheet.
Common questions
How much beer does a 30 litre keg pour?
Around 90 pours of 330 ml in theory. Allow for foam and line losses and plan on about 85.
What beer cost percentage do bars expect on draught?
Many bars aim for beer cost of roughly a quarter to a third of the selling price. Ask the owner what they target before you quote.
Should a keg deposit be part of the beer price?
No. Charge it as a separate, refundable line on the invoice so bars have a reason to return kegs and your revenue figures stay clean.
Can a brewpub sell kegs to other bars in India?
It depends on the state and the licence type. Some licences allow supply to other licence holders with permits and others do not, so check with the excise department first.
