Service Fees

Every event requires me personally to come out weeks in advance to the event site, meeting, and inviting all people involved, with the party, to discuss the logistics. Even if 70 miles away, it’s a necessary trip prior to see exactly what we’re getting into. Every event has options, variables, and travel time to fulfill our client’s specific needs. At this time, if signing a contract, 50% is due to cover costs, which locks in the date. Balance is due on the day of the event. Pulling the trailer, we get 7-8 miles per gallon.

At Nightlife Mobile Bartending, if using the trailer, the service fee is always built into the trailer rental cost, except for mileage fees. If no trailer, we charge extra for a good reason. It’s different when the restaurant comes to you, as opposed to you going to a restaurant. Every event we cater is a full production, built from the ground up.

When we prepare food, it’s fresh and made entirely from scratch. Depending on the menu and event size, it often takes multiple team members just for prep. We hand-cut all meats and shop from numerous specialty stores to source the best ingredients — typically making 5 to 7 stops to purchase ingredients for each event, which alone can be very time-consuming.

Each event requires us to:

• Load truck and/or trailer to haul everything needed to the site. Unload and set up a temporary kitchen on-site. We arrive 3-4 hours before the event begins.
• We fire up charcoal grills, cook and serve fresh, high-quality food, then break it all down and clean up the premises.
• After that, we load everything back up and return to our commissary to unload again, clean the equipment, trailer, and truck to restock for the next event. It’s a very physical, labor-intensive process. There is much more behind the scenes than meets the eye.

Restaurants reuse plates and silverware. Our high-quality, durable plasticware is throw-away and purchased for most events. We supply warmers, tables, tablecloths, and serving utensils for each event as well. We buy bags of ice, but require many more without relying on the trailer’s refrigeration system. We go through many carry-out containers, not just for hosts, but also for guests. These costs have all skyrocketed!

As far as pay, the “going rate” for party bartenders and servers is much higher than in restaurants. We pay all employees for all travel time going to and from each event. Additional fees may apply for events requesting cocktail table service or individual table serving in place of the standard buffet setup.

Our team is made up of experienced, uniformed professionals. Even our behind-the-scenes prep team receives a portion of the tip for their hard work, whether or not they’re on-site.

While our menu pricing is on par with quality restaurants, the work involved is far more extensive. Rather than inflating food prices, we keep menu costs reasonable and clearly outline the service fee so everything stays transparent and fair. We take pride in what we do and we do it right! Service fees are determined on party size and a combination of all things mentioned above, and not everything listed is needed for each party, such as additional special insurance. Every event has different logistics.