A J2O costs a pub about £1.12 before VAT from a free-trade wholesaler, so it needs to sell at £3.85 to make 65% gross profit. A 330ml glass bottle of Coke costs £1.16 and needs £3.98. The same Coke in a can costs 67p and needs £2.28. Softs carry no duty, only VAT, so they should be the easiest GP in the building, but the premium bottles, the energy drinks and the mixer nobody rings through are where a lot of pubs quietly give it away. A pint of lemonade poured from 2-litre bottles costs about 54p.
Nobody argues about the price of a lemonade the way they argue about the price of a pint. That's exactly why soft drinks drift. The price got set years ago, the wholesale cost has crept up every few months since, and nobody's looked. So I priced the common lines on a free-trade wholesaler's list this morning and worked out what each one needs to charge.
Why softs should be your best GP
On a pint of beer, a big chunk of the price never reaches you. There's VAT, which is a sixth of whatever you charge, and there's beer duty buried in the cost price. A soft drink only has the VAT. No duty. So every penny between the cost of the bottle and the ex-VAT price is yours to keep.
The sum for any line is the same. Take the cost per serve before VAT, divide by 0.35 and multiply by 1.2. That's the price on the board for 65% gross profit. For 70%, divide by 0.30 instead. If the GP side of that is new to you, the GP% guide walks through it step by step.
What the common lines cost and need
Costs are Inn Express list prices, ex VAT, checked 16 October 2026, divided down to one serve. Your own wholesaler or pubco list will differ, so swap your numbers in.
| Line | Case price ex VAT | Cost per serve | Price for 65% GP | Price for 70% GP | GP if you charge £3.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J2O 275ml | £26.95 for 24 | £1.12 | £3.85 | £4.49 | 55% |
| Coca-Cola 330ml glass bottle | £27.86 for 24 | £1.16 | £3.98 | £4.64 | 54% |
| Coca-Cola 330ml can | £15.99 for 24 | 67p | £2.28 | £2.66 | 73% |
| Pepsi Max 330ml glass bottle | £24.95 for 24 | £1.04 | £3.56 | £4.16 | 58% |
| Pepsi Max 330ml can | £11.87 for 24 | 49p | £1.70 | £1.98 | 80% |
| Appletiser 275ml | £29.88 for 24 | £1.25 | £4.27 | £4.98 | 50% |
| Red Bull 250ml | £32.68 for 24 | £1.36 | £4.67 | £5.45 | 46% |
| Britvic orange juice 200ml | £25.11 for 24 | £1.05 | £3.59 | £4.18 | 58% |
| Fever-Tree tonic 200ml | £19.98 for 24 | 83p | £2.85 | £3.33 | 67% |
| Schweppes tonic 200ml | £15.71 for 24 | 65p | £2.24 | £2.62 | 74% |
| Schweppes tonic 150ml can | £11.25 for 24 | 47p | £1.61 | £1.87 | 81% |
The column on the right is the one that should make you go and look at your price list. At a flat £3, a can of Pepsi Max makes 80% and a Red Bull makes 46%. Same price, same effort to serve, and one of them makes nearly twice the margin of the other.
Glass bottle or can
The glass Coke is the one I'd look at first. It costs 49p more per serve than the can. On 50 a week that's about £1,286 a year, and that's before you've charged a penny more for it.
There are fair reasons to stock glass. It looks better on the back bar, and a food pub can feel a can lets the table down. That's fine, but then it needs pricing like the premium line it is, nearer £4 than £3. What doesn't work is buying the dearer bottle and charging the can price. You can always pour a can into a glass with ice and lemon and nobody at the bar knows the difference.
The pint of lemonade
Schweppes lemonade in 2-litre bottles is £11.37 for six. That's about 54p for a pint. At £2.50 a pint it's making 74% GP, and at 65% GP it only needs to be £1.85. Lemonade and lime for the drivers is about the most profitable thing you sell, even with the lime: a litre of lime cordial is £2.59, so a 10ml dash is under 3p.
The catch with big bottles is flat waste. An opened 2-litre that loses its fizz overnight goes down the sink, and on a quiet week that eats the margin. Buy the size you get through in a day or two.
Cola from 1.25-litre bottles works out at 98p a pint, and from cans it's about £1.15. If you're on post-mix, that's a different sum depending on your box size and yield, and the post-mix page covers how to count it. I haven't put post-mix in the table because I couldn't find a manufacturer's dilution figure I'd trust to print.
The mixer nobody rings through
This is the real leak. A gin and tonic goes through the till on one button. If that button only takes the gin off stock, every tonic you pour is a missing bottle on stocktake day. Same with the splash of lemonade in a lager top, the Coke in a vodka Coke, the orange juice in a Buck's Fizz at a function.
On a single night it's pennies. Over a stocktake period it's a column of missing mixers that looks like someone's been helping themselves, and it isn't. It's a till button. The till buttons guide goes through how to set spirit-and-mixer buttons so both come off, and the comps guide covers the free lemonade for the kids and the designated drivers.
If you're counting softs, count them in units, bottles and cans, not cases. A case with four missing looks full from the front of the shelf. StockTap lets you set packaged lines to count each, so the number on the count is the number of bottles on the shelf.
My take
Go down your soft drinks price list this week with your latest invoice next to it. Anything under 60% GP on the table above, put up or swap to the cheaper pack. The premium tonics and the glass bottles are worth stocking, but they need a premium price, and the energy drinks need the most attention of all because they're the dearest thing in the fridge.
Don't overthink the lemonade. It's already your best GP. Just stop it going flat.
When you do put prices up, the price rise guide has the bit about how much custom you can afford to lose and still come out ahead. On softs, the answer is a lot.
Common questions
How much should a pub charge for a J2O?
At an Inn Express list cost of £26.95 for 24, a J2O costs £1.12 before VAT. To make 65% gross profit it needs to sell at £3.85 including VAT, and £4.49 for 70%. At £3.00 it makes about 55%.
What GP should a pub make on soft drinks?
Soft drinks carry VAT but no alcohol duty, so they should beat your wet GP average. Cans of cola, house tonic in 200ml bottles and lemonade from big bottles can all make 70% to 80% at ordinary prices. Glass bottles of branded cola, Appletiser and energy drinks are the lines that drag the average down if they're priced like the cans.
Is it cheaper to sell Coke in cans or glass bottles?
Cans, by a long way. On Inn Express's list a 330ml can costs 67p before VAT and a 330ml glass bottle costs £1.16. That's 49p a serve, or about £1,286 a year on 50 a week.
How much does a pint of lemonade cost a pub?
Poured from 2-litre bottles at £11.37 for six, about 54p before VAT. At £2.50 a pint that's 74% gross profit. Flat waste from opened bottles is the thing to watch.
Sources
- All case prices: Inn Express trade price list, ex VAT, searched 16 October 2026: J2O, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Appletiser, Red Bull, Britvic, Fever-Tree, Schweppes. Prices change; check your own supplier.
- Standard rate of VAT, 20%: GOV.UK, VAT rates, checked 16 October 2026.
- Cost per serve, price for 65% and 70% GP, GP at £3.00, the glass-versus-can yearly figure, the per-pint costs and the lime dash are my own arithmetic from the list prices above (65% price = cost ÷ 0.35 × 1.2).