What does a beer really cost? We did the maths

At the bar of Café De Kroon on the Oude Markt, some four hundred beers cross the counter on an ordinary Thursday. Owner Wim Peeters worked out with us where every euro goes.

From €3.40 to 38 cents

First, 21 percent VAT comes off, leaving €2.81. Buying the beer, including excise duty and empties, costs about 70 cents a glass. Staff is the biggest item: count on around €1.10 per beer once you include the hours behind the tap, washing up and clearing.

Then come rent, energy, insurance, the till, broken glasses and servicing the tap system. Together that's another 63 cents. What's left for the owner, before tax: 38 cents.

Why the price can't simply go up

“Ten cents more and you hear about it at the bar straight away,” says Peeters. “Guests compare a beer with the supermarket, not with a five-euro coffee.” Many cafés therefore prefer to raise prices on speciality beers and soft drinks, and keep the lager below a psychological threshold.

Peeters' advice to colleagues: know your cost per glass, down to the cent. “If you don't know what a beer costs you, you don't know what you earn either.”✦