Journal · Planning
How Many Bartenders and How Much Alcohol Do You Need?
Two questions come up in almost every first call: how many bartenders do we need, and how much should we buy? These are the working numbers the industry uses. Treat them as a starting point and adjust for your crowd.
How many bartenders
- Beer and wine only: one bartender for about every 50 guests.
- Full cocktail service: one bartender for every 35 to 40 guests.
- Over 100 guests: add a barback, who restocks ice, glassware and fruit so the bartenders never leave the bar.
Shaken and stirred drinks take longer than a pour of wine. If the menu is ambitious, staff toward the lower end of the range, or keep the cocktail list to three or four drinks so the line keeps moving.
How many drinks
Plan for one drink per guest per hour, plus one extra per guest for the first hour, when everyone arrives at once.
| Guests | 3-hour party | 4-hour party | 5-hour party |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 200 drinks | 250 drinks | 300 drinks |
| 100 | 400 drinks | 500 drinks | 600 drinks |
| 150 | 600 drinks | 750 drinks | 900 drinks |
Daytime events, older crowds and wellness gatherings drink less. Weddings with dancing drink more, and later.
Turning drinks into bottles
- Wine: a 750 ml bottle pours about five glasses.
- Spirits: a 750 ml bottle makes about sixteen cocktails at a standard 1.5 oz pour.
- Champagne for a toast: one bottle for every six to eight guests. For champagne served all evening, count it like wine.
A common split for a full bar is half cocktails, a third wine, and the rest beer, sparkling and spirit-free drinks. For 100 guests over four hours, that works out to roughly 250 cocktails (about sixteen bottles of spirits across your menu), 165 glasses of wine (about 33 bottles), and 85 other drinks.
Ice, the thing everyone forgets
Plan for one to one and a half pounds of ice per guest, and more for an outdoor event in summer. Ice chills bottles, fills shakers and goes into glasses, and running out stops a bar faster than running out of anything else.
Do not forget the guests who are not drinking
At most events a meaningful share of the room will not drink alcohol. Plan at least two spirit-free drinks made with the same care as the cocktails, and count water at one bottle or large glass per guest per two hours.
