Hourly rates

Need your help. A friend if mine who provides sound & music for local business has approached me about adding food service. We think that a hotdog cart would work the best. I want to know how much you would charge for renting yourself and your cart out for. I have already calculated food cost for what we plan to serve. I would like a figure based on your hourly rate minus food cost. Most of events last from 11:00am to 2:00pm or 11:00am to 7:00pm. (Half day / full day).

I wouldn't charge him anything if he isn't asking for a percentage of the sales. Most of the places we go to ask for 10% to 15% of sales.

What I am looking for is an hourly rate that you would charge for yourself and your cart. Don’t include food cost in the rate. We plan to charge for food service in increments of 50 people served. The businesses would be billed for number of hours that you served plus the cost of food service based on number of people that want served. My friend is a DJ and provides music and entertainment by the hour with established rates for half days, full days and multiple days.

Thanks

Jody

I think you should not charge by the hour, unless they actually want that number. Your cost will also include your travel and setup/take down time. If it takes you an hour to get on location and set up and an hour to take down then you have six hours committed to a four hour gig. Also include your prep time and clean up time in the equation. Then consider what your time is worth to you. Is it worth spending 6 hours of your time to earn $150 dollars? If so then the rate is $25 per hour. Adjust the rate if they want a quote for four hours. Hope this helps.