Every venue in the country is short in the last six weeks of the year. Book a named core team now and the same faces return to your venue every night of the season, at one festive rate agreed in writing today.
From 1 December to 2 January every tier on our rate card carries a festive uplift of £3.00 an hour, of which £2.00 goes to the person working the shift. Core bar, waiting and event crew are £28.00 an hour ex VAT across the season, paid £16.00 plus 12.07% holiday. Skilled roles are £31.00, Leads £37.00 and senior chefs £43.00. Christmas Day, the Boxing Day bank holiday on Monday 28 December and New Year's Day fall inside the window, so the bank holiday uplift does not stack. You pay the festive rate.
New Year's Eve is the one exception. It carries +£6.00 an hour (we pay +£4.00), which replaces the festive uplift rather than adding to it. Core is £31.00 an hour on 31 December. That is the whole of our December pricing. There is no surge rate for a Friday, no premium for a party booked the week before, and no travel charge within 15 miles of the person's base. Inside the M25 the London uplift of £3.00 applies as it does all year.
The festive season is where the big-agency model breaks. Demand doubles, the pool does not, and the answer is to send more bodies at minimum wage to venues they have never seen. Guests notice the difference between a bar that is staffed and a bar that is run.
We look at the same party and ask how few excellent people it actually needs. Three well-briefed bar staff who know your taps, your card machines and your fire exits will serve a Christmas party of 150 faster than six who arrived at 6.55pm and asked where the ice was. On an eight-hour festive shift that is three people at £28.00, or £672 ex VAT, against six at a typical agency rate of £19.50, or £936. Lower invoice, better night, and the people we send are paid £16.00 an hour plus holiday for it.
Book a core team for the season and the same people return to your venue on every date. They learn your set-up once. Your festive brief is written once and refreshed for each night. Standby people in your city cover sickness and surprise numbers, and your named account manager answers the phone from 7am to 2am on every day we have people working.
Office Christmas parties in hotels and function rooms. Shared party nights where a venue runs the same show for five weeks. Christmas markets and light trails with bars, admissions and stewards outdoors in the cold. Restaurant cover when the rota is broken by sickness. Boxing Day and New Year's Day service in hotels. Private dinners with a sommelier or a chef de partie. In Newcastle, London, Manchester and anywhere else in the UK a team can be booked into a hotel at cost.
Festive rates, per hour, excluding VAT, 1 December to 2 January. What we pay is shown next to what you pay.
| Tier | We pay them | You pay us |
|---|---|---|
| CoreBar staff, waiting, runners, kitchen porters, event crew, stewards, cloakroom, admissions | £16.00 + 12.07% holiday | £28.00 |
| SkilledCocktail bartenders, baristas, fine-dining and box waiters, hosts, brand ambassadors, team leaders | £18.50 + holiday | £31.00 |
| LeadSupervisors, event managers, chefs de partie | £22.00 + holiday | £37.00 |
| Senior chefSous chefs, head chefs | £26.00 + holiday | £43.00 |
Every client booking carries the same five guarantees, written into our terms of business.
Written, itemised, ex VAT, 8am to 8pm every day. Three hours outside that.
Your account manager's mobile is on the booking confirmation, answered on any day we have people working.
Anyone not right? Tell us in the first hour. No charge for them and a replacement on the way.
New clients get one person for one four-hour shift free on their first booking. See what you are buying.
Names confirmed within two hours of booking. If we cannot fill a position we say so at booking, never on the day.
Standard rates plus £3.00 an hour from 1 December to 2 January, of which £2.00 goes to the worker. Core £28.00, Skilled £31.00, Lead £37.00, senior chef £43.00 per hour ex VAT. New Year's Eve is +£6.00 on the standard rate and replaces the festive uplift.
By Friday 16 October for a named core team across the season. By Friday 13 November for individual Friday and Saturday nights in December. After Friday 27 November we fill from standby and tell you honestly at booking what we can deliver.
No. Christmas Day, the Boxing Day substitute on Monday 28 December and New Year's Day all fall inside the festive window, so you pay the single festive rate. Only New Year's Eve is different.
Free more than 48 hours before the start, 50% between 24 and 48 hours, 100% inside 24 hours. Whatever you pay is passed to the person who cleared their diary.
Yes, if you book a named core team by 16 October. The team accepts your December dates as a block, learns your venue once, and standby people in your city cover sickness.
Or start at the home page for the whole rate card, the instant estimate and how we take people on.
Your brief lands with Tasmyn or Liam, not a queue. A written quote within 60 minutes (8am to 8pm) and a call if anything needs clarifying. A named mobile is given to every client at booking.
Every person paid through our PAYE payroll, so you carry no status risk. Right-to-work checks before day one. Employers' Liability £10m, Public Liability £10m. Certificates with your first confirmation.
Keep them. Use us for the shifts they cannot fill, or the ones that matter most. Overflow is where most first clients start.
Short on people for a big weekend? We supply overflow to other agencies on the same published terms.