In a juice bar the cost of a cup depends on two numbers that move every week: what you pay for a kilo of fruit, and how much juice that kilo gives you. One week the oranges are full of juice and the next they are not. Mango and berries are cheap in season and expensive out of it. If you set your prices once and never look again, there are weeks when each juice leaves you far less than you think.
Where the money slips away in a juice bar
- Fruit yield. Peel, seeds, pulp and bruised parts. What you buy by the kilo is not what reaches the cup.
- Seasonal prices. Mango, passion fruit, berries and pineapple go up and down through the year.
- Cut fruit that does not sell. Prepped fruit browns in the fridge and gets thrown out the next day.
- Cups, lids, straws and ice. On a $7 juice they add up to cents that nobody counts.
- Overfilling. The cup poured to the brim, the extra left in the blender jug.
- Toppings. On smoothie bowls, a generous hand with granola, nut butter or berries changes the cost fast.
The guide on fresh juice yield and cost per glass shows how to measure it fruit by fruit, and the one on smoothies and açaí bowls does the same for bowls and toppings.
Worked example: fresh orange juice at $7
You squeezed several batches and each kilo of oranges gives you 400 ml of juice. Each cup takes 400 ml. Cup, lid and straw cost $0.30, and ice $0.05. You sell it at $7.00.
| Case | Fruit per cup | Fruit cost | Cost per cup | Leaves you | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normal: $2.00 per kg, 400 ml per kg | 1 kg | $2.00 | $2.35 | $4.65 | 66.4% |
| Less juicy fruit: 320 ml per kg | 1.25 kg | $2.50 | $2.85 | $4.15 | 59.3% |
| Price rise: $2.80 per kg, 400 ml per kg | 1 kg | $2.80 | $3.15 | $3.85 | 55.0% |
How each row works:
- Fruit per cup: 400 ml ÷ your yield per kg. At 320 ml per kg: 400 ÷ 320 = 1.25 kg.
- Cost per cup: fruit + 0.30 + 0.05. In the normal case: 2.00 + 0.35 = $2.35.
- Margin: what it leaves ÷ 7.00. In the normal case: 4.65 ÷ 7.00 = 66.4%.
The same juice, at the same price, leaves you $4.65 one week and $3.85 another. At 80 orange juices a day, that gap is 80 × 0.80 = $64 a day.
These prices are before sales tax. Check your local tax rules for what to add.
The numbers that matter most
Yield per fruit. Weigh the fruit, juice or blend it, measure what you get. Do it three or four times and use the average. The guide on building your own fruit and vegetable yield table gives you a simple sheet, and the yield and trim calculator shows what each usable kilo really costs.
Price per kilo, every purchase. Write down what you pay at the market or the wholesaler each time. The guide on tracking ingredient prices shows how, and the one on seasonal ingredient prices covers planning your menu around them.
Disposables per cup. Cup, lid, straw and ice by size. The guide on cups, lids, straws and ice breaks them down.
Batch drinks. If you make lemonade or iced tea by the jug, cost it per litre after straining. The guide on batch drinks cost shows how.
Fruit thrown away. Weigh what goes in the bin at close, by fruit. The guide on measuring the cost of food waste helps you put a number on it.
How to keep track
One sheet per fruit: date, price per kilo, kilos bought, juice you got and what was thrown out. At the end of the week you see the real cost per cup of each juice. When a fruit gets expensive, decide whether to raise that juice, change the blend or take it off the board for a while.
Do it with the calculator
The food cost calculator costs one recipe at a time and saves nothing, so note the result or copy the link. Treat one round of squeezing as a batch: enter the cups it makes as units, the fruit as an ingredient with what you paid and what you used, and the cup, lid and straw as packaging per unit. It returns the cost per cup and what each one leaves at your price.