Pub food sales revenue varies sharply by operating model. In the BBPA’s 2023 weighted-average examples, weekly food sales range from £244 for a small community local to £8,131 for a town/country food-led pub. The figures are exclusive of VAT and are examples for tied tenants and leaseholders, not a time series.
Contents
- Weekly food sales by operating model
- How food-led revenue is divided
- Food cost and gross-profit benchmarks
- Operating costs and profit measures
- Food-sales turnover bands in valuation
- UK pub-sector employment and turnover context
Weekly food sales by operating model
The clearest comparison is between the BBPA’s operating models and their stated weekly turnover levels. The guide records total food sales per week, exclusive of VAT. For the small community local, food sales were £244 per week in 2023, while the community wet-led examples recorded £731 at approximately £5,000 weekly turnover, £1,312 at approximately £8,000, and £2,147 at approximately £15,000.
Rural character pubs show a much stronger food contribution in the same guide. At approximately £5,000 weekly turnover, the rural-character example recorded £2,454 in food sales per week. At approximately £8,000 weekly turnover, it recorded £3,834. These are weighted-average model figures, so they describe the selected operating examples rather than every rural pub.
The town-centre and food-led examples extend the range. A town-centre pub/bar at approximately £10,000 weekly turnover recorded £2,921 in food sales. A town/country food-led pub at approximately £10,000 recorded £4,986, and at approximately £15,000 it recorded £8,131.
| Operating model and stated weekly turnover | Weekly food sales | Measurement period |
|---|---|---|
| Small community local | £244 | 2023 |
| Community wet-led, c£5,000 turnover | £731 | 2023 |
| Community wet-led, c£8,000 turnover | £1,312 | 2023 |
| Community wet-led, c£15,000 turnover | £2,147 | 2023 |
| Rural character, c£5,000 turnover | £2,454 | 2023 |
| Rural character, c£8,000 turnover | £3,834 | 2023 |
| Town centre pub/bar, c£10,000 turnover | £2,921 | 2023 |
| Town/country food-led, c£10,000 turnover | £4,986 | 2023 |
| Town/country food-led, c£15,000 turnover | £8,131 | 2023 |
Source: BBPA, Running a pub: A guide to costs for tied tenants and lessees. The guide says the underlying data primarily relate to 2023 and should not be used to infer year-to-year trends.
How food-led revenue is divided
The UKHospitality Christie & Co Benchmarking Report 2022 gives a different kind of statistic: the composition of revenue for the food-led pub segment. In its 2021 survey period, food sales represented 49.1% of revenue. Wet sales represented 40.2%, accommodation sales 7.1%, other revenue 3.1%, and machine income 0.5%.
That mix places food just below half of food-led segment revenue in the survey. It also shows why a pub’s food-sales revenue should not be treated as its total turnover. Wet sales remain a substantial component, while accommodation, other revenue, and machine income account for smaller reported shares.
The same report recorded operating costs averaging 56.8% of revenue for the food-led pub segment. Operating profit after rent was 1.0%. These percentages belong to the survey segment and period; they are not a universal margin for an individual pub.
The report also measured like-for-like revenue against a pre-pandemic comparison. Food-led segment like-for-like revenue was 1.8% below H2 2019 levels in the 2021 survey period. That comparison is a historical benchmark, not a forecast of current revenue.
Food cost and gross-profit benchmarks
Food sales need to be read alongside food cost. The BBPA examples provide both values, while also reporting gross-profit margin across total sales. The small community local recorded £72 in food cost per week alongside £244 in food sales and a 55.4% gross-profit margin across total sales.
For the community wet-led examples, food cost was £238 per week at approximately £5,000 weekly turnover, £437 at approximately £8,000, and £780 at approximately £15,000. The corresponding total-sales gross-profit margins were 54.9%, 55.4%, and 55.5%.
The rural-character examples recorded £853 in food cost per week at approximately £5,000 weekly turnover and £1,279 at approximately £8,000. Their corresponding gross-profit margins across total sales were 58.0% and 59.4%.
At approximately £10,000 weekly turnover, the town-centre pub/bar recorded £1,025 in food cost and a 58.4% gross-profit margin across total sales. The town/country food-led example at the same stated turnover recorded £1,624 in food cost and a 61.2% gross-profit margin. At approximately £15,000 turnover, the town/country food-led example recorded £2,773 in food cost and a 61.8% gross-profit margin.
| Operating model | Weekly food sales | Weekly food cost | Gross-profit margin across total sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small community local | £244 | £72 | 55.4% |
| Community wet-led, c£5,000 | £731 | £238 | 54.9% |
| Community wet-led, c£8,000 | £1,312 | £437 | 55.4% |
| Community wet-led, c£15,000 | £2,147 | £780 | 55.5% |
| Rural character, c£5,000 | £2,454 | £853 | 58.0% |
| Rural character, c£8,000 | £3,834 | £1,279 | 59.4% |
| Town centre pub/bar, c£10,000 | £2,921 | £1,025 | 58.4% |
| Town/country food-led, c£10,000 | £4,986 | £1,624 | 61.2% |
| Town/country food-led, c£15,000 | £8,131 | £2,773 | 61.8% |
Source: BBPA, Running a pub: A guide to costs for tied tenants and lessees. The margin is reported across total sales, not as a food-only gross margin.
Operating costs and profit measures
The weekly operating-cost figures help put food revenue into a broader trading model. The small community local recorded £2,169 in total operating costs per week, exclusive of VAT. The community wet-led examples recorded £2,321 at approximately £5,000 weekly turnover, £3,413 at approximately £8,000, and £5,695 at approximately £15,000.
The rural-character examples recorded £2,735 in total operating costs per week at approximately £5,000 turnover and £4,035 at approximately £8,000. The town-centre pub/bar recorded £4,530 at approximately £10,000 turnover.
Food-led models carried higher reported weekly operating costs in the examples. The town/country food-led pub at approximately £10,000 turnover recorded £4,713 in total operating costs per week. At approximately £15,000 turnover, the figure was £7,156. All of these costs are exclusive of VAT and are presented as model benchmarks by the BBPA.
The survey-level measures provide a second perspective. UKHospitality and Christie & Co reported operating costs at 56.8% of revenue and operating profit after rent at 1.0% for the food-led pub segment in the 2021 survey period. Those figures should be kept separate from the BBPA’s weekly model examples: the sources use different formats, periods, and scopes.
Food-sales turnover bands in valuation
The Valuation Office’s 2026 public-house valuation scheme uses food turnover bands and percentage ranges. These are valuation inputs, not observed food-sales revenue, profit margins, or forecasts.
Food sales below £45,000 a year are treated as de minimis. At £45,000 food turnover, the standard food-scale maximum is 2.75% and the minimum is 0.00%. At £85,000, the standard range is 2.75% to 3.50%; at £175,000, it is 3.50% to 4.50%.
Higher standard bands are 4.75% to 6.00% at £350,000 food turnover, 5.25% to 6.25% at £500,000, and 5.50% to 6.25% at £650,000 or more.
The high-food scale applies from £650,000 food FMT when food is at least 55% of combined food-and-drink FMT. Under that scale, the range is 5.00% to 6.50% at £650,000, 5.25% to 6.00% at £1,400,000, and 4.75% to 5.75% at £2,200,000 and above.
These bands are useful for understanding how food-sales turnover enters a valuation framework, but they should not be read as a benchmark for the price a customer pays, a pub’s gross margin, or its operating profit.
UK pub-sector employment and turnover context
The ONS provides broader sector context, although its series covers the UK public-houses-and-bars sector rather than food-only revenue. In 2017, sector turnover increased by £847 million, or 3.8%, in real terms.
The employment mix also changed over the longer period covered by the ONS article. In 2003, bar staff made up roughly 4 in 10 employees in UK pub-and-bar enterprises, while food-service occupations made up roughly 3 in 10. From 2016 through 2019, food-service employees outnumbered employees working behind the bar for four consecutive years.
The employment figures do not measure food sales directly. They do, however, describe a sector in which food-service work became an important part of the enterprise workforce. That context is consistent with the distinction shown in the revenue statistics: food-led pubs can have materially different sales, cost, and operating profiles from wet-led community pubs.
Source: ONS, Economies of ale: changes in the UK pubs and bars sector, 2001 to 2019.