Worked example. These figures come from the starting values on the left, not from any bar. With JavaScript on, they follow your inputs.
What DrinkLync adds, expected case
$519,452 more in year onekept after pour cost and card processing, against $15,564 a year for DrinkLync. From month 3: $556,956 more a year
+224 drinks a busy night (+14%), 49 to 56 an hour per bartender at the rush
Drinks an hour per bartender at the rush, today and with DrinkLync49 to 56 +7 (+14%)
Time to get a drink, today and with DrinkLync8 min to 3.2 min –60%
Revenue on a busy night, today and with DrinkLync$21,437 to $24,349 +$2,912 (+14%)
Tips per bartender on a busy night, today and with DrinkLync$402 to $623 +$221 a shift, round-up included
An app order skips taking the order and running the card: about 40 seconds of bartender time instead of 59.
Drinks an hour per bartender at the rush: today 49, 40% of drinks on the app 56, 60% of drinks on the app 61, every order on the app 72. 90 an hour is the most we ever assume from one bartender (72 at a packed rail's 80%); batching identical drinks counts toward it but never past it.
0% of your sales, ever. Nothing is billed until you go live. Keep your POS. We measure your before and after from night one. Projection, not a guarantee.
Your monthly break-even
7 more drinks a busy night
The extra drinks needed to cover your ongoing plan after pour cost and card fees.
Needed to cover your plan7
Expected extra drinks224
On these inputs the projection covers a month of DrinkLync in about 1 busy night, and even the low scenario covers the monthly bill. Projection, not a guarantee.
Monthly plan coverage is not payback on your full investment. One-time setup and the full first-year bill appear below; staffing changes, taxes and other operating costs are not included.
Interactive projectionSee the range, not just one number.
Change the inputs to compare monthly added value with your ongoing plan cost.
Conservative$27,142
Expected$46,413
Upside$69,411
Plan cost$1,297
Added value is after pour cost and card processing, before the plan fee. One-time setup is shown below. All bars use the same dollar scale and start at zero.
Drinks on a busy night
Today1,649
With DrinkLync · expected1,873
What DrinkLync costs you
Your planCore Venue + 2 extra stations
Setup, once per location$500
To go live: setup plus month one (Insights free that month)$1,797
Year one, everything$16,064
After month one: $1,297/mo without Insights, or $1,496/mo with Insights. That is $15,564 or $17,952 a year.
No share of your sales, ever. Card processing is separate: customers pay into your own Stripe account, and Stripe bills you its standard card fees on those payments.
Projection, from the inputs
Does it pay for itself?
7 more drinks a busy nightcovers the whole monthly bill
On these inputs the projection covers a month of DrinkLync in about 1 busy night, and even the low scenario covers the monthly bill. Projection, not a guarantee.
Break-even counts what your venue keeps after pour cost and card processing: $10.14 on a $13 drink at a 78% margin, less $0.58 of Stripe fees paid by your venue, is $9.56 a drink, over 21.67 busy nights a month (5 a week x 52 / 12), against $1,297 a month for your plan without Insights.
Projection, from the inputs
More drinks out per bartender
49 to 56 drinks an hour per bartender at the rushexpected case, time per drink
Drinks one bartender gets out in a rush hour, today and with DrinkLync49 to 56
Throughput across the whole bar+15%
A drink takes about 59 seconds of bartender time today: taking the order, ringing up the card or tab and handing it over, plus about 29 seconds to make or pour it. That caps one bartender at about 61 drinks an hour; today the rail runs at about 80% of that, about 49 an hour, in the 5 hours of true rush. A DrinkLync order arrives already ordered and paid, so it takes about 40 seconds (+48% on app orders). At 40% of drinks ordered on DrinkLync, the rush goes from about 49 to 56 an hour per bartender, and the extra drinks never pass the demand the line turns away today. We never assume more than 90 drinks an hour from one bartender.
Projection, from the inputs
Added revenue, and what you keep
Drinks on a busy night, today and with DrinkLync1,649 to 1,873 +224 (+14%)
Revenue lift on a busy night+14%
Added revenue, each busy night$2,912
Added revenue, each month from month 3$63,093
Added revenue, each year from month 3$757,116
Added revenue, year one$706,135
Kept after pour cost, each month from month 3$49,213
Kept after pour cost, each year from month 3$590,556
Kept after pour cost and card processing, each year from month 3$556,956
Kept after pour cost and card processing, year one$519,452
From month 3, a year: Card processing: −$33,600 (Stripe's standard fees, paid by your venue directly to Stripe on its own account. DrinkLync takes 0%.)
Card processing on the added revenue at Stripe's standard US online rate, 2.9% + $0.30 per charge (stripe.com/pricing), one charge per in-app order of about 1.5 drinks. Your venue's own Stripe rate is what applies. Stripe's standard fees, paid by your venue directly to Stripe on its own account. DrinkLync takes 0%.
Founder target (not yet measured): +20% to +40% revenue on a busy night. Not a projection; we report your measured numbers from night one.
1873 = 1649 today + 58 from faster rail: rounds the line used to cost + 66 from bigger tickets on app orders + 100 from customers who no longer walk away
Year one counts the ramp while customers learn the app: about 20% of drinks ordered on DrinkLync in month 1, 30% in month 2 and 40% from month 3 (DrinkLync estimates). Every yearly figure not marked year one is month 3 onward, x 12.
5 busy nights a week is 260 a year and 21.67 a month. A year is 52 weeks and a month is a twelfth of a year, so every monthly figure times 12 is the yearly figure.
Their income, and time, not money
Your staff and your customers
Tips per bartender+$221 a shift per bartender (+55%: $402 to $623, round-up included), +$1,105 a week, +$57,460 a year from month 3
How often drinks get tippedToday about 75% of drinks get tipped at a packed rail, at about 15%. On DrinkLync every app order asks, with 20% preselected: about 90% tipped, plus the round-up (DrinkLync estimates).
Tips on a busy night$402 to $623 per bartender
Extra tips a year from month 3, per bartender$57,460
Extra tips in year one, per bartender$53,733
Extra tips a year from month 3, your whole team$344,760
Bartender time back to pouring, each year from month 31,196 hours
Time to get a drink at peakAbout 8 min today, 3.2 min with DrinkLync
Bartender seconds per drink, app orders59 s to 40 s (–32%)
Minutes freed per bartender46 min a shift, 230 a week
Customer time in line given back, a busy night47.1 hours
Manager close-out, next morning45 min by hand to 5 min to read the automatic recap (–89%)
Errors avoided on app ordersabout 40 a busy night, 10,343 a year from month 3 (wrong or misheard drinks remade, drinks handed to the wrong person, walk-outs and unpaid tabs, cards declined at the rail, tab disputes and refunds at close, 86'd drinks sold after they ran out; DrinkLync estimates)
Tips are your staff's income, never counted as yours. Bartender time is shown as hours and never turned into dollars above, so nothing is counted twice.
The numbers we used
Assumptions, and where each came from
Venue type (you chose)Broadway honky-tonk (Nashville)
Busy nights a week (default: typical for a Broadway honky-tonk)5
Peak hours a busy night (default: typical for a Broadway honky-tonk)6
Bartenders at peak (default: typical for a Broadway honky-tonk)6
Drinks per bartender-hour today (default: typical for a Broadway honky-tonk)45.8
Average drink price (default: typical for a Broadway honky-tonk)$13
Gross margin on a drink (default: industry bar margin)78%
Bartender hourly rate (default: BLS Nashville bartender wage)$14
Bartender time per drink today, at the rush (default: order 20s (DrinkLync estimate) + card or tab 20s (tap or dip 5-10s, nfcw.com) + handoff 5s, per order of 1.5 drinks, plus 29s to make or pour (draft 45s, wine 30s, classic cocktail 60s: tastingtable.com))59 seconds (61 drinks an hour)
How hard a packed rail runs at the rush, today (default: DrinkLync estimate (restocking, glassware, re-rings); replaced by your POS numbers once live)80% of that ceiling: about 49 drinks an hour per bartender
True rush hours on a busy night (default: DrinkLync estimate; only these hours get a throughput lift, the rest are demand-bound)5 of 6 busy hours
Bartender time per drink on a DrinkLync order (default: arrives ordered and paid; 8s to read the ticket and set it out (DrinkLync estimate); never above 90 drinks an hour (high-volume benchmark))40 seconds (90 drinks an hour)
Drinks ordered on DrinkLync (default: DrinkLync estimate; Starbucks mobile orders are 31% of its U.S. transactions)40%
Peak demand that walks away today (default: DrinkLync estimate)12%
Card processing on the added revenue (default: Stripe's published US rate (stripe.com/pricing); paid by your venue directly to Stripe at its own rate; DrinkLync takes 0%)2.9% + $0.30 a charge
Tip rate today, and on app orders (default: planning assumption, not a measured result)15% to 20%
Projection, not a guarantee.
