Pricing Zero-Proof Drinks and NA Beer Fairly

Price NA beer with the same per-ounce rule as every other beer, and price NA cans from what they cost you landed. Price zero-proof drinks at ingredients times 4 plus a flat prep charge, and keep them $3 to $4 under your cocktails. Below are worked numbers for each format, a size-for-size check against your beers, what to print on a zero-proof line, and a 5 question fairness check to run before the list goes up.

Why do guests push back on NA and zero-proof prices?

Guests push back when an NA price looks like someone subtracted the alcohol from a drink on the same list. Say the zero-proof sour is the house whiskey sour without the whiskey, in the same glass with the same garnish, at $1 under the real one. The guest reads that $1 as what the whiskey was worth, and nobody believes it.

Provi, a beverage ordering platform, calls this the "virgin" tax perception in its Dry January playbook for operators (December 15, 2025). Its example runs the other way: a "Virgin Mojito" for $8 next to a $15 Mojito "feels like you're charging for subtraction."

Provi also calls underpricing NA drinks one of the biggest mistakes operators make. So the problem shows up at both ends: a copy priced near the cocktail charges for a missing pour, and a cheap copy far below it looks like a lesser drink. Either way, price from what is in the glass and give each zero-proof drink its own build and name.

NA beer faces a simpler test. A guest ordering an NA IPA compares it with the IPA a few lines up, size for size. If you're still deciding how many NA lines to carry, start with how many NA options a bar should carry.

Unless a source is named, every drink, cost and price below is an example. Swap in your own invoices.

How do you price NA beer on draft?

Price an NA keg exactly like every other keg: cost per ounce, times the liquid ounces in the glass, times your multiplier, rounded by your house rule. In the example, a taproom with 16 beer taps adds an NA pale ale on tap 17 at $0.12 an ounce, uses a multiplier of 4 and rounds up to the whole dollar.

16 oz glass, 14 oz of beer:  14 x $0.12 = $1.68; x 4 = $6.72; board $7
10 oz glass, 9 oz of beer:    9 x $0.12 = $1.08; x 4 = $4.32; board $5

The regular pale ale on tap 4 also costs $0.12 an ounce, so it carries the same $7 and $5. The NA guest sees their beer priced like a beer because it went through the same math.

The $0.12 is the keg's landed cost divided by the ounces you ring up. Draft beer cost per ounce builds that number from the invoice, step by step.

If you haven't decided whether the NA beer earns a handle at all, NA beer on draft or in cans runs the checks. Cleaning the NA line goes into draft overhead with the rest of the system, and NA draft line cleaning covers the routine.

How do you price NA beer in cans?

Price an NA can at its landed cost times a can multiplier, rounded up to the whole dollar. Landed cost is the case price plus the case's share of delivery, divided by the cans in the case:

24 x 12 oz NA lager: ($32.00 case + $1.60 delivery share) / 24 cans = $1.40 a can

The example runs cans at 3 times landed cost:

Cans get 3 here and draft gets 4 because a can carries none of the draft system's running costs, such as gas and line cleaning, which the draft multiplier has to cover. Your own can multiplier comes from whoever does your books.

Hop water sits in the NA section even though it isn't beer. Hop water on the board covers what it is and how to list it.

Check landed cost against each new invoice, because can prices can move between orders. The Brewers Association reported on April 3, 2026 that sheet aluminum and finished aluminum cans carry a 50% tariff rate. When a can's landed cost changes, rerun its line, and change the price when you start selling from the new case.

How do you price a zero-proof drink?

Price a zero-proof drink at its ingredient cost times 4, plus a flat charge for the work. A straight multiplier alone comes out too low. The hibiscus highball in the example costs $1.10 in ingredients, and 4 times that is $4.40, about what the hop water can sells for, on a drink that takes as long to build as a cocktail.

The cocktail gets no prep charge because 4 times its $3.00 of ingredients already leaves $9 over cost to pay for the bartender's time. The highball at 4 times alone would leave $3.30.

How do you set your own prep charge?

Time a few builds, add each drink's share of the batch work behind it, such as brewing tea or making syrup, and price that time the way you price the liquid. In the example, a zero-proof drink takes 2.5 minutes more than opening a can, counting its share of the batch prep.

$18 an hour / 60 = $0.30 a minute
2.5 minutes x $0.30 = $0.75 of labor
$0.75 x 4 = $3.00 prep charge

The $18 is an example input. For reference, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook puts the median bartender wage at $16.51 an hour in May 2025, and BLS says that figure includes tips. Use what you pay through payroll.

How far under the cocktails should zero-proof drinks sit?

Keep each zero-proof drink $3 to $4 under the cocktails it sits beside. Cost sets the floor, and the cocktail list sets the ceiling. Provi's playbook says that if your cocktails are $14 to $16, your mocktails should be in the $10 to $13 range. Match the low ends and the high ends and the gap comes to $4 and $3.

In the example, the hibiscus highball is $4 under the $12 rye sour, and the grapefruit tonic is $3 under.

The markup on a zero-proof drink can look steep, but guests never see it. Axios Charlotte broke down a $14 NA drink at a Charlotte restaurant that cost about $4.44 to make, a little over 3 times ingredient cost. The rest, roughly $10, goes to labor, equipment and everything else, plus profit.

The example highball at $8 on $1.10 runs over 7 times. Cheap ingredients make the ratio look high, and guests judge the price against the build and the cocktail on the next line.

What about a zero-proof copy of a house cocktail?

Be strictest with a zero-proof drink that copies a cocktail on your list, because guests read the 2 lines against each other. Give the copy at least the full gap, or give it its own build and name. Axios Charlotte closed its September 2, 2026 story with advice to guests: "If someone just removed the vodka, skip it."

What if the floor lands above the ceiling?

Change the build and keep the price under the ceiling. A bought NA spirit or an expensive juice can push cost times 4 plus prep past the cocktail it sits beside. In the drink Axios Charlotte broke down, 2 ounces of NA tequila cost the restaurant $1.66. Put that in a build with $0.90 of other ingredients:

$1.66 + $0.90 = $2.56 of ingredients
$2.56 x 4 = $10.24; + $3.00 prep = $13.24

That lands over the $12 rye sour. Pour less of the spirit, move the drink to a smaller glass, or take a lower multiplier on that one drink.

One Charlotte cocktail bar charges around $10 to $12 per NA drink, according to the same Axios Charlotte story. Its owner said the bar keeps prices down by steering away from alcohol-free spirits and relying on fresh house-made ingredients and teas.

How should NA beer prices compare with the beers beside them?

Each NA beer should cost about what its closest beer costs per ounce, size for size. Read every NA line against the nearest beer on the list, counting the beer that goes in the glass rather than the glass size:

Every NA line comes in at or under its closest beer per ounce. The NA stout matches the oatmeal stout, but a guest doesn't do this math. They see $6 against $7 and, with no size on the line, assume the same pour. Put "12 oz can" on the NA stout's line.

If an NA beer comes out above its closest beer, staff should be able to say why in one sentence. The same size-for-size read works for a light beer, which low-ABV beer pricing covers.

What should a zero-proof line say next to its price?

A zero-proof line should name the drink and give its build in one short line, so the guest can see what the price pays for. A guest who reads 4 ingredients next to $8 sees something a person put together. If you brew the tea or make a syrup in house, say so, because the guest can't see that work.

Provi makes the same point with a "Garden Smash" of cucumber, mint, citrus and sparkling water at $11, which it says "feels like a menu item worth ordering." From the example list:

ZERO PROOF
Hibiscus Highball   house-brewed hibiscus tea, lime, house ginger syrup, soda   $8
Grapefruit Tonic    grapefruit juice, house rosemary syrup, lime, tonic         $9

COCKTAILS
House Rye Sour      rye whiskey, lemon juice, honey syrup, aromatic bitters     $12

Keep the build to one line. A paragraph starts to read like a defense of the price. Names, builds and where the section sits are covered in writing a zero-proof drink menu.

How do you check that NA prices are fair before the list goes up?

Hand the priced list to someone who didn't price it, ideally someone who doesn't drink, and have them order from the NA side. Ask 5 questions:

1. Does each NA beer make sense against its closest beer, size for size?
2. Is every zero-proof drink at least your set gap under the cocktails, and further under any cocktail it copies?
3. Does every zero-proof line have a build, and every can its size?
4. Does any NA price look set as if the spirit were still in the glass? A zero-proof copy $1 or $2 under its cocktail is the giveaway.
5. Can the bartender answer "what am I paying for?" in one sentence without mentioning the missing alcohol?

Fix any no before the list goes up. Rerun the check whenever a cocktail price or an NA invoice changes, since the gap moves with either side.

These are everyday prices, meant to hold well past January. A Dry January deal is a separate decision with its own end date. The Dry January prep list lays out the weeks before January 1, and happy hour specials without price fights covers deals that run for set hours.

How do NA prices show on a TapDisplay board?

On a TapDisplay board, an NA beer or a zero-proof drink is a line like any other, with its name, maker, style, your own stats such as ABV, and a price per pour. Tag an NA beer with the NON-ALC badge from the fixed badge list, and the badge shows next to it on every screen. Cocktail menus use ZERO PROOF instead.

Add any pour size, growler and crowler fills included, with its own price, and label each pour with its size. A screen shows 2 pours per item by default and can be set to show up to 4, so the NA pale ale can carry its 16 oz and 10 oz prices side by side.

You set every price, and the board shows what you type. Change a price from a phone, a tablet or a computer. Each connected screen checks for changes every 30 seconds, so a new price shows within about 30 seconds of the edit.

One list can be split across several screens, or each screen can show its own sections, so the NA section can sit on a screen of its own. Setting up a non-alcoholic section on a digital tap list walks through the build.

The bottom line

Run NA beer through the same per-ounce rule as your other beer and NA cans through landed cost, then read each NA line against its closest beer, size for size. Price zero-proof drinks at ingredients times 4 plus a flat prep charge, $3 to $4 under the cocktails, with the build printed on the line. Rerun the numbers whenever an invoice or a cocktail price changes.