Event Staffing Rates, In Plain Terms
Most staffing companies make you call to find out how they price. Here is how we do it.
How many people do you actually need? See published staffing ratios by service style →
The Numbers
What Trained Event Staff Costs
Rates set for your market, not one national card. Below are the starting rates in every Southeast market we serve. The Washington, DC metro (DMV) is quoted on request. Your exact quote is in writing before anything is booked.
Event Server & Crew
Plated and buffet service, bussing, resets, setup and breakdown. Briefed on your venue before they arrive.
Briefed on your venue before arrival. Uniformed, background-checked, and backfilled from our bench if anyone drops.
Bartender
Certified, insured, and staffed to the hour your bar actually gets hit, not to the guest count.
Alcohol certification current in every state we operate in, and producible to a venue or regulator on demand.
Banquet Captain
Runs the floor, briefs the team, owns the backfill, signs the shift report. Your planner should never have to manage our people.
The role most staffing firms do not send.
Starting hourly rates by market
Per-engagement is the one-off rate. The one-year agreement is your market's contracted rate. Figures tagged opening rate are negotiated per market, and your written quote confirms them. Crew covers servers, barbacks and runners, bussers, and setup and breakdown.
| Market and terms | Crew | Bartender | Captain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loading the starting rates for each market. | |||
Outside these markets? Request a quote and a person will tell you whether we can staff it.
Four-hour minimum
Four hours per shift, Saturdays and weddings included. Long enough to hold people who could take a longer shift elsewhere, short enough that covering one call-out is not a five-hour purchase.
Saturday and Sunday
Weekend crews cost more to hold, and we would rather say so than bury it. Any weekend premium is set in your market agreement and shown on the quote before you book.
Rapid deployment fee
Per-engagement bookings inside 48 hours of call time: the greater of $150 or 25% of the booked staffing, 40% inside 24 hours, a custom quote for 9 or more people. Contracted clients never pay it. How it works
If you cancel a one-off
The 50% deposit comes back more than 72 hours before call time and is forfeited inside 72 hours. Inside 24 hours the full booking is billed at card rates for the booked hours, 4-hour minimum. Headcount reductions inside 72 hours are billed as booked. Contracted: inside 24 hours bills at the 4-hour minimum.
Overtime
Hours a worker goes past 40 in our workweek bill at 1.5x the card rate for that role, on every card. The worker is paid 1.5x, as the law requires.
Holidays at 1.5x
Ten published days, on every card, staff paid 1.5x: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve.
Tips and gratuity
Never included, and never added unless you ask us to. On one-off events a gratuity is your call, after the event: customary guidance is 15 to 20 percent of staffing, and all of it goes to the servers, bartenders and crew who worked, through payroll. Want it fixed in advance? That is a staff service charge, paid to your staff as wages, with our payroll costs on it shown as a separate line.
If you hire one of our people
The norm in staffing: a conversion fee of $2,500 or 15% of first-year compensation, whichever is greater, waived after 400 hours worked for you through TWF, on any hire within 12 months of their last TWF shift for you.
Ninety-minute deployment
Our newest product, and a perk we are rolling out as we grow. Today it covers contracted clients within 45 minutes of Greenville, NC.
Nothing hidden
Recruiting, training, uniforms, briefing, captain oversight, bench backfill, insurance and the written shift report are in the rate. The number you are quoted is the number you pay, plus any gratuity you choose to give.
How Our Rates Are Built
Built from what our people earn in your market.
Every rate starts with what a trained hospitality professional earns locally. Then we add what it takes to put that person on your floor, trained and led.
- 1What a trained hospitality professional earns in your market
- 2Payroll taxes
- 3Workers' compensation
- 4Insurance
- 5Training
- 6Captain supervision
- Your market's rate
Then negotiated per market on
- Cost of living
- Local economic factors
- Local competitiveness
- Your volume
- Contract length
That is why there is no national card. Steadier volume and longer commitments earn a better rate, and the agreement ladder below shows by how much.
Rates are all-inclusive, with a four-hour minimum, and cover recruiting, training, uniforms, briefing, captain oversight, bench backfill, insurance and the written shift report. Every quote is itemized and in writing before anything is booked, and the number you are quoted is the number you pay, plus any gratuity you choose to give.
The Agreement Ladder
Longer commitments earn a lower rate.
In dollars, on every line: crew, bartender and captain. The steps stack.
- Per-engagement one-off, no agreementYour market's per-engagement rate50% deposit, refundable more than 72 hours out. Rapid deployment fee inside 48 hours.
- One-year agreement contractedYour market's contracted rate3 days' notice. Billed per your agreement, no rapid fee.
- Two-year agreement contracted$0.50 an hour less2 days' notice.
- Exclusive one-year contracted$0.50 an hour less2 days' notice.
- Exclusive two-year contracted$1.00 an hour less1 day's notice. Both steps, stacked.
Each step is measured from your market's contracted rate and never goes below our market floor. Inside your notice window we confirm or decline within four hours where the local bench allows.
No hours minimum. Agreement rates hold while you book with us: if a full quarter passes without a booking, the next one bills at per-engagement rates, then your agreement rates pick up again. Two-year and exclusive rates assume the volume you tell us; a quarter under half that volume bills at the one-year rate.
Rates are fixed for the term. The one exception is statutory employer cost: if unemployment insurance rates, workers' compensation premiums, minimum wage, payroll taxes or mandated benefits change, the change passes through to your bill rate at cost, on 30 days' written notice, with the calculation shown.
Included unless you opt out
- A captain on site with each deployment.
- Quarterly integrated training between your staff and ours.
Both come with a staffing agreement by default. Opt out of either and the agreement records it.
What we ask of our partners
- At hotel venues, your team-member (employee) room rate for up to two TWF executives supervising a shift.
- Meeting space and/or a private workspace on site, at no cost.
Both are written into the agreement.
Your vendor packet
Our W-9 and certificate of insurance come with every approved agreement, so your accounts payable team can set us up as a vendor before the first invoice. Request a COI
Fair Questions
Rate Questions, Straight Answers
How much does event staffing cost per hour?
It depends on your market, and the table on this page shows where each one starts. Rates are negotiated on local cost of living, local economic conditions, what is competitive there, your volume and contract length, and we pay well above typical local hotel rates for this work, which is the reason our people show up and stay. Rates are all-inclusive with a four-hour minimum. Floor supervisors and senior leadership are quoted per engagement.
Why not publish one rate card?
Because Greenville and Atlanta are not the same market. We price each market on its own so the rate is fair locally and our people are paid well locally, and we publish each market's starting rates instead. What stays the same everywhere is the shape of the team, the captain on the floor, and an exact quote in writing before anything is booked.
Why is there a range instead of one number?
Role mix, market, event size, and how much lead time we have all move the number. A Tuesday corporate lunch in Greenville and a Saturday gala in Atlanta are different jobs. You get an exact quote in writing before anything is booked.
What is included in the rate?
Recruiting, training, professional TWF uniforms, pre-shift briefing, an on-site captain on every team, backfill from our bench when someone drops, and a written shift report your managers sign off on.
Do longer agreements cost less?
Yes, in dollars. A one-year agreement is your market's contracted rate. A two-year agreement takes $0.50 an hour off every line, an exclusive agreement takes another $0.50 off, and the two stack. No rate goes below our market floor, and the floor is the exclusive two-year line: every line's one-year rate less $1.00. Nothing bills below it, in any tier or negotiation.
Is there a minimum?
Each shift is billed at least four hours. Beyond that, no hours minimum. Agreement rates hold while you book with us: if a full quarter passes without a booking, the next one bills at per-engagement rates, then your agreement rates pick up again. Two-year and exclusive rates assume the volume you tell us; a quarter under half that volume bills at the one-year rate.
What is the rapid deployment fee?
A fee for per-engagement (one-off) bookings inside 48 hours of call time: the greater of $150 or 25% of the booked staffing (card rates for the booked hours), 40% inside 24 hours, and a custom quote for 9 or more people (a person calls within the hour). It comes with a 4-hour minimum, a 50% deposit and a signed Rapid Deployment Agreement. The clock starts when your deposit and fee have arrived and the agreement is signed, and if we cannot confirm your crew, everything comes back. Contracted clients never pay it.
What if I cancel a one-off booking?
Every one-off booking carries a 50% deposit. Cancel more than 72 hours before call time and the deposit comes back. Inside 72 hours it is forfeited. Inside 24 hours the full booking is billed at the card rates for the booked hours, with the 4-hour minimum. Headcount reductions inside 72 hours are billed as booked. Contracted clients are different: a cancellation inside 24 hours bills at the 4-hour minimum.
How is overtime billed?
Hours a worker goes past 40 in our workweek bill at 1.5x the card rate for that role, on every card. The worker is paid 1.5x, as the law requires.
Do holidays cost more?
Yes. Ten published days bill at 1.5x the card rate, and the staff are paid 1.5x: New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve. The list is the same on every card, and the calculator applies the holiday rate when your event date is on it.
Can I hire one of your people?
Yes, and it is the norm in staffing. A conversion fee applies: $2,500 or 15% of the person's first-year compensation, whichever is greater. It is waived once they have worked 400 hours for you through TWF, and it applies to any hire within 12 months of their last TWF shift for you. The terms are the same on one-off bookings and on agreements.
What about tips and service charges?
Gratuity is not included in our rates, and we never add one unless you ask us to. On weddings and other one-off events it is entirely your choice. Customary guidance is 15 to 20 percent of the staffing total, given after the event on the final invoice or in cash. Every dollar goes to the servers, bartenders and crew who worked your event, through payroll, and it never reduces your invoice. Contracted rates are all-inclusive, with no gratuity line. If you want a fixed amount settled before the event, we add a staff service charge to your quote instead: it is paid to your staff as wages, and our payroll costs on it are shown as a separate line.
Do rates change during the term?
No. Rates are fixed for the term. The one exception is statutory employer cost: if unemployment insurance rates, workers' compensation premiums, minimum wage, payroll taxes or mandated benefits change, the change passes through to your bill rate at cost, on 30 days' written notice, with the calculation shown.
Are there hidden fees?
No. Your quote states the full price, plus any gratuity you choose to give, before the work begins. If the scope changes, the price change is agreed in writing first.
Comparing options? See staffing app vs. staffing team or the Qwick comparison.
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