Quick answer
Price a private booking from your costs up, not from a competitor's per-head figure. Add food, packaging, crew, travel, power and pack-down time, then the profit you'd expect from the public event you're giving up. Set that total as your minimum spend, charge travel beyond a set radius, and take a deposit that covers your genuine costs if the client cancels.
Key points
- Your floor price is cost plus the profit from the public event you'd otherwise trade that day.
- A minimum spend protects you when guest numbers drop; per-head pricing alone doesn't.
- Charge travel and extra service hours separately so long-distance jobs don't eat your margin.
- Deposits and cancellation terms should reflect genuine costs and be clear before the client books.
- From 1 October 2026, surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard and Visa cards are gone — build card costs into the quote.
Price a wedding or private booking from your costs up. Add every cost of the day (food, packaging, crew, travel, power, set-up and pack-down), then add the profit you’d have made at the public event you’re giving up. That total is your minimum spend. Quote a per-head menu on top, charge travel beyond a set radius, and take a deposit that covers your genuine costs if the date falls over.
Spring is when the enquiries roll in. Couples are locking in summer and autumn dates, offices are booking Christmas parties, and every second message in your inbox starts with “how much for 120 guests?”. It’s tempting to fire back a quick per-head number. This guide shows you how to price private gigs so they pay as well as a good public day.
Why private bookings are worth chasing
A private booking is the opposite of a festival. At a festival you pay to be there and hope the crowd turns up. At a private booking someone pays you to be there and tells you how many people are coming.
That gives you:
- Known numbers. You can prep to a headcount instead of guessing.
- Money in advance. Deposits arrive months before the date, which helps through the quiet months.
- Less waste. A set menu for a set crowd means less stock thrown out at pack-down.
- Bookings that lead to more bookings. Guests at a good wedding become the next client asking for your rate card.
The catch is that a private gig usually takes your best day of the week. A Saturday in December is worth a lot to a truck that could be at a busy market instead. So the price has to reflect what you’re giving up.
Step 1: work out what the day really costs
The business.gov.au guide to pricing starts in the same place: work out what it costs to deliver the product, overheads included, then add a margin that makes the business viable. For a truck, list every cost the booking creates:
| Cost line | What to include |
|---|---|
| Food and drink | Ingredients per serve × guaranteed guests, plus a buffer |
| Packaging | Plates, napkins, cutlery, boxes, compostables if the venue requires them |
| Crew | Wages for every hour including travel, set-up and pack-down, with weekend and public holiday penalty rates where your award requires them |
| Travel | Fuel, tolls, and wear on the rig for the return trip |
| Power | Generator fuel or battery charging, and any power hire the venue doesn’t supply |
| Extras | Bins, ice, water, lighting, a second staff member for long service windows |
| Overheads | A fair share of insurance, registration, permits, phone, software and maintenance |
| You | Your own hours at a real rate, not zero |
The last line matters. A wedding that only covers costs because you worked eleven hours for free hasn’t made money.
If you’ve already done the maths for public events, use it. Our guide to festival break-even maths uses the same building blocks, just from the other side of the counter.
Step 2: add what you’re giving up
This is the line most trucks miss. If you’d normally trade a weekend market that day, the wedding has to beat that market’s profit, not just its takings.
A simple rule: minimum spend = full cost of the private booking + the profit you’d expect from your next-best public option that day.
On a quiet Tuesday in June, that second number might be close to nothing, so you can sharpen your price. On the Saturday before Christmas it could be your biggest profit of the year. Many trucks keep two rate cards (peak and off-peak) for exactly this reason.
Step 3: per head, minimum spend or both?
There are three common ways to structure a private quote:
- Per head. Simple for couples and easy to compare. The risk sits with you: if numbers drop from 140 to 90, so does your income, but your crew, travel and day are already committed.
- Flat minimum spend. You charge a set amount for a service window (say, three hours) regardless of how many guests eat. It protects you, but it can feel steep to a small party.
- Per head with a minimum spend. The most common middle ground. Guests are priced per head, but the total never falls below your minimum. A smaller party simply tops up to the floor.
Whichever you choose, write down exactly what’s included: service hours, the number of menu items, serves per guest, and whether staff meals or vendor meals (for the photographer, the band and so on) are extra.
Got a run of bookings and need a second set of gear, a bigger fridge or extra crew before the deposits land? See if you qualify. It’s a short form and there’s no credit check to enquire.
Step 4: travel, time and the “just one more hour”
Private gigs drift. The ceremony runs late, speeches go long, and the couple asks if you can stay for a late-night snack round. Price for that before it happens:
- Free radius. Include travel up to a set distance from your base kitchen (many trucks use 30–50 km) and charge beyond it per kilometre or by zone.
- Service window. Quote a fixed number of service hours. Add a clear hourly rate for extra time, covering crew and generator fuel.
- Arrival and bump-in. Check access, ground conditions and how early you need to be on site. A paddock wedding in the wet needs more time than a car park.
- Overnight jobs. Add accommodation and meals for crew, and think about whether the rig can safely stay on site overnight.
If you’re staffing several private jobs in a busy month, our guide to hiring casuals for event season covers rosters and Payday Super.
Step 5: deposits and cancellations that hold up
The deposit does two jobs: it locks in the date and it funds the costs you’ll carry before the event. Common structures include a booking deposit to hold the date, then the balance a set number of days before the event, once final numbers are confirmed.
Some guardrails:
- Tie the deposit to real costs. The ACCC’s guidance on unfair contract terms applies to standard form contracts with consumers and small businesses. A term can be unfair if it isn’t reasonably necessary to protect your legitimate interests. A deposit that reflects the date you turned away and the costs you’ve incurred is easier to defend than one that’s simply as big as possible.
- Spell it out before they pay. Put the deposit, the balance due date, the cancellation scale and what happens with bad weather in writing, and get the client to agree before money changes hands.
- Plan for the weather. Say what happens if an outdoor event moves indoors, the venue bans trucks on wet grass, or a fire ban stops gas cooking.
- Final numbers lock in. Set a date after which guest numbers can go up but not down.
Get your template terms looked over once, then use them every time.
The card fee rule that changed on 1 October 2026
If you used to add a card surcharge to booking invoices, stop. On 31 March 2026 the Reserve Bank announced its final decision to remove surcharging on debit, prepaid and credit cards on the eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks. That took effect from 1 October 2026.
For a truck taking a large wedding balance by card, the processing cost is now yours to absorb. The fix is to include it in the price: add your typical card costs into the overheads line in Step 1 so the quote already covers them. Bank transfers for large balances avoid the issue, but don’t make it awkward for clients who want to pay by card.
Illustrative example: one Saturday, two options
This example is illustrative only. The figures are made up to show the method, not drawn from any real business.
A two-person taco truck in regional Victoria gets an enquiry for a 120-guest wedding on a Saturday in February. The same day, they’d normally trade a weekend market.
The market option: after the site fee, stock, crew and fuel, a typical February Saturday leaves them around $1,400 profit.
The wedding’s costs:
| Line | Cost |
|---|---|
| Food (120 guests, two tacos plus a side, with buffer) | $1,150 |
| Packaging | $160 |
| Crew (two staff, nine hours including travel and pack-down, weekend rates) | $760 |
| Travel (90 km each way, beyond the 40 km free radius) | $180 |
| Generator fuel and ice | $70 |
| Share of overheads and card costs | $220 |
| Owner’s time (ten hours) | $450 |
| Total cost | $2,990 |
Minimum spend: $2,990 cost + $1,400 market profit given up = $4,390, which they round to $4,400 for a three-hour service window.
Per head, that works out to roughly $37 for 120 guests. If numbers fall to 100, the client still pays the $4,400 minimum. If they rise to 150, the per-head price applies above the minimum. Extra service time is quoted at an hourly rate, and the booking needs a deposit to hold the date, with the balance due two weeks out.
Without this maths, it would have been easy to quote a “competitive” $25 a head — $3,000 in total, which barely covers the day and leaves the truck about $1,400 worse off than going to the market.
Plug your own numbers into the truck-stop calculator’s event planner to see how a run of private bookings changes your season.
When bookings outrun your gear
Good private work snowballs. One great wedding leads to three referrals, a corporate client wants you every Friday, and before long you’re turning down dates because the truck can only be in one place. That’s often when traders think about:
- a second rig or a trailer for smaller private jobs (see second truck finance);
- quieter power for venues with noise rules (see generator and equipment finance);
- carrying wages, stock and travel costs before a summer of balances comes in (see event season cash flow).
Our page on mobile catering business loans explains how lenders look at businesses that earn from bookings rather than walk-up trade.
Booked out? Let’s look at what’s next
A diary full of private bookings is a great problem to have, but deposits rarely cover a new rig or a second crew before the season starts. If you’re ready to take on more weddings and functions, we’d like to hear how your business runs: your booked dates, your public events and what you need to grow.
Enquiring takes about 60 seconds, and there’s no credit check when you first enquire. Your details aren’t sent to a pile of lenders, so your phone won’t light up with calls from strangers. A real person who understands booking-driven trade looks at your situation and calls you.
Please fill the form in accurately, including your turnover, how many private bookings you’ve got confirmed and what the money is for. It helps us find the right option the first time.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a food truck charge for a wedding?
There's no standard price. Work out your full cost for the day — food, packaging, crew, travel, power and your own time — then add the profit you'd make at the public event you're giving up. That figure is your minimum spend. Per-head prices vary widely by cuisine, guest numbers and distance.
Should I quote per head or as a minimum spend?
Many trucks do both: a per-head menu price with a minimum spend underneath it. Per head is easy for couples to understand; the minimum protects you if 140 guests becomes 90 on the day.
How big should my wedding deposit be?
Big enough to cover the genuine costs and lost opportunity if the client cancels, and no bigger than you can justify. The ACCC warns that standard form contract terms can be unfair if they go further than needed to protect a business's legitimate interests, so set it with your real costs in mind.
Can I still add a card surcharge to a booking invoice?
Not for eftpos, Mastercard or Visa debit, prepaid and credit cards. The RBA's reforms removed surcharging on those networks from 1 October 2026. Build your payment costs into your prices instead.
Should I charge for travel to a regional wedding?
Yes. Set a free radius from your base, then charge per kilometre or a flat fee by zone beyond it. Add accommodation and crew travel time for anything you can't do as a day trip.
Do I need different insurance or permits for a private event?
Often the venue or client asks for a certificate of currency for your public liability cover, and your food business registration still applies. Private land can sometimes avoid a street-trading permit, but check with the venue and local council before you quote.