Invoice templates for food stylists covering commercial shoots, cookbook production, advertising campaigns, and editorial food photography.
A food stylist invoice records fees for preparing, arranging, and presenting food for photography and video shoots. Food stylists work alongside food photographers on commercial advertising campaigns, cookbook and recipe development, restaurant menus, packaging photography, and social media content. The role requires both culinary skill and an artistic eye for composition, colour, and texture. UK food stylists are freelancers who typically charge a day rate for shoot days and a separate prep day rate for sourcing, testing, and preparing hero dishes before the shoot. They often work closely with food photographers on long-term client relationships. Expenses for food, specialist ingredients, and props purchased for the shoot are reimbursed at cost. Food stylists should invoice promptly after each job — production budgets close quickly in the advertising and publishing industries.
| Service | Typical Rate | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| Food stylist shoot day rate | 550 | day |
| Food stylist prep day rate | 450 | day |
| Food stylist return/wrap day rate | 400 | day |
| Kit fee | 75 | day |
| Food and ingredient expenses | 1 | at cost |
| Food styling assistant (per day) | 270 | day |
| Travel and mileage | 0.45 | per mile |
Food stylists should invoice immediately after the final shoot day. Include all prep days, shoot days, and return days as separate line items, each at the applicable day rate. Expenses should be itemised or summarised with a note that receipts are available on request. For long-running recipe development or cookbook projects, milestone invoicing works well — invoice at completion of each chapter or recipe batch. Agree milestones at project commencement. If a shoot is cancelled at short notice, your terms should allow you to charge a percentage of the day rate for lost time. Industry standard for same-day cancellation is 100% of the day rate; 2 days notice is typically 50%.