What Metrics Should an F&B Director Track for Wine

In most hotel and restaurant groups, wine is managed as an appendix to the food menu. The F&B director reviews food cost, labor cost, average spend… but rarely digs into wine detail with the same rigour. And that's the problem: wine is potentially the highest-margin product line in a restaurant. But only if you measure it as such.

The 8 Metrics You Should Track Each Month

1. Weighted Gross Margin on Wine Not the theoretical average margin — the actual margin weighted by what really sells. If your high-volume references have a 55% margin but your low-volume ones are at 75%, your real margin is closer to 55% than you think. Benchmark: between 62% and 72% depending on venue type. 2. Glass/Bottle Ratio What percentage of your wine sales comes by the glass vs. by the bottle. Glass generates higher relative margin when well managed. | Venue type | Recommended glass ratio | |---|---| | Casual restaurant | 25-35% | | Fine dining | 15-25% | | Hotel restaurant | 30-40% | | Wine bar | 50-70% | 3. Waste Rate on By-the-Glass How many litres are lost per month through open bottles that expire or are not served. The standard target is less than 3% of the total volume served by the glass. 4. Wine Share of Total Beverage Revenue What percentage of total beverage revenue comes from wine. If wine represents more than 40% of your food menu but generates less than 30% of revenue, the list or the service is failing. 5. Average Turnover per Reference How many days it takes each reference to sell one unit. Stars are under 15 days. Dead stock is over 90. How to read it: - < 15 days: star reference. Protect. - 15-30 days: good performance. Maintain. - 30-60 days: monitor. Does it need more visibility? - > 60 days: action plan or removal. 6. Capital Tied Up in Dead Stock The total value of bottles that have gone 90+ days without selling. It's money that isn't working for you. Target: less than 10% of total cellar value. 7. Sales Concentration (Top 10 / Top 20) What percentage of your wine sales is concentrated in your top 10 or 20 references. If the Top 10 accounts for more than 60% of sales, the rest of your list is practically decorative. 8. Obsolescence Index How many references on your current list have gone more than 6 months without a single sale. This isn't a rotation problem — it's a list architecture problem. Target: less than 5% of total references.

Why Most F&B Directors Don't Track These Metrics

1. They lack tools. These data don't come from the POS. They require cross-referencing stock, sales, margins, and turnover — something Excel doesn't do well at scale. 2. Wine is delegated to the sommelier. And the sommelier manages with oenological criteria, not always financial criteria. 3. There's no standard wine report. Food cost has its report, labor cost has its own. Wine rarely has one. 4. It's assumed wine is doing fine. Until someone looks at the numbers and discovers 15% dead stock and a real margin of 54%.

Additional Metrics for Groups

For F&B directors managing multiple venues, there are extra metrics only possible with internal benchmarking: - Margin variation between venues for the same base list references. - Turnover difference for the same wine across different venues. - Average purchase cost for the same references per unit (detects if one venue pays more than another). - Comparative waste between venues: who controls by-the-glass better. These metrics are the invisible competitive advantage of a well-managed group.

Frequently Asked Questions

How often should these metrics be reviewed? Monthly minimum. Weekly is ideal for glass ratio, waste, and dead stock. Can I get these metrics from a POS system? Some, but not all. You need a specific wine management tool to cross-reference sales with stock, margins, and turnover at reference level. Which metric matters most? Weighted gross margin. It tells you whether your wine programme is truly profitable or just appears to be. --- → [Winerim Core: wine list analytics](/producto/winerim-core) → [Winerim Supply: purchasing intelligence](/producto/winerim-supply) → [Monthly margin review template](/recursos/plantilla-analisis-margenes) → [Request a demo](/demo)