Freelance Chef Invoice Generator
Updated 25 September 2026
Line layout: Hourly, shift and day rate Private dining, per guest Switching replaces only the line items; your names, notes, expenses and deposit stay.
Blank freelance invoice template: PDF · Word (DOCX) · Excel (XLSX)
About the chef invoice editor above
- Chef Services lines billed by the hour, the shift or the day, with unit prices left blank for your own rates, plus a per-guest private dining layout
- Service date and venue placeholders in Notes, and placeholders for your payment terms and bank details
- An Expenses total for ingredients or other costs, printed as its own Expenses row when it is above zero
- A Deposit Paid field: any amount entered is subtracted and the total is shown as Balance Due
- An editable tax label and rate (starting at 0), eight preset currencies including GBP (£) plus a custom symbol, and logo upload (PNG, JPEG or WebP)
- Live preview and free PDF download
Free to use — no signup, no account. Unmetered for normal use, with an anti-abuse cap of 20 generated PDFs per device per day. Each PDF carries a one-line credit for this site, on by default — one free checkbox in the settings turns it off. Your draft autosaves in your own browser, and when you download, its content is sent to us over an encrypted HTTPS connection to create the PDF. The blank template downloads above are the general freelance invoice and are not metered.
What a UK freelance chef’s invoice must include
| GOV.UK: “Your invoice must include” | Where it goes in this editor |
|---|---|
| a unique identification number | Invoice # (starts at 2026-001; keep your own sequence) |
| your company name, address and contact information | From (Sender): name, address, email, phone |
| the company name and address of the customer you’re invoicing | To (Client): client name and address |
| a clear description of what you’re charging for | Line descriptions (Chef Services — Hourly / Shift / Day Rate, or per guest) |
| the date the goods or service were provided (supply date) | Notes: the “Service date” line the editor starts with |
| the date of the invoice | Date (defaults to today) |
| the amount(s) being charged | Quantity × your rate on each line; Expenses for costs at cost |
| VAT amount if applicable | Tax line (starts at 0; only if you are VAT-registered, see below) |
| the total amount owed | Calculated automatically; shown as Balance Due if you enter a deposit |
About this page
GOV.UK sets out what goes on an invoice in its guide Invoices: what they must include. Here is each item, word for word, and where it goes in the editor above.
If you are a sole trader, GOV.UK adds that the invoice must also include “your name and any business name being used” and “an address where any legal documents can be delivered to you if you are using a business name”. Put both in From (Sender): your own name with the trading name (for example “[Your name], trading as [Business name]”) and the address on the line below. Our sole trader invoice guide goes through these lines in more detail.
When an invoice is required by law: GOV.UK says “you need to give them an invoice (bill) by law if both you and the customer are registered for VAT (a business to business transaction)”, and that “an invoice is not the same as a receipt, which is an acknowledgement of payment.”
Freelance chef invoice example
Placeholder figures to show the layout and the arithmetic. They are not market rates.
#2026-014
| Description | Rate | Qty | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chef Services — Day Rate | £100.00 / Day | 2 | £200.00 |
| Chef Services — Shift | £100.00 / Shift | 1 | £100.00 |
Service date: [date]
Venue: [venue]
Terms
Payment terms: [as agreed]
Arithmetic: 2 × £100.00 = £200.00; 1 × £100.00 = £100.00; subtotal £300.00; plus £50.00 of ingredients at cost in Expenses = £350.00. No VAT line, because this example chef is not VAT-registered.
Hourly, shift, day rate or per guest
The editor starts with three lines so you can keep the one that matches the booking and delete the rest. Nothing is priced: you type your own rate into each line you keep.
- Chef Services — Hourly (unit: Hour). Quantity = hours worked.
- Chef Services — Shift (unit: Shift). Quantity = number of shifts, for example across a week of cover.
- Chef Services — Day Rate (unit: Day). Quantity = days.
- Private Dining Service — per guest (unit: Guest), loaded by the “Private dining, per guest” link above the editor. Quantity = number of guests.
Add a line for anything else you agreed to charge separately, such as travel, a tasting session or extra preparation time, and describe it clearly: GOV.UK asks for “a clear description of what you’re charging for”. If the client paid a deposit when booking, enter it in Deposit Paid; the invoice then shows it and the remaining Balance Due.
Ingredients and other costs you pay for
If you buy the food for a booking, you have two ways to put it on the invoice:
- One Expenses total. Type the amount into Expenses under Totals & Adjustments. It prints as its own “Expenses” row, separate from your fee. The +Tax box beside it controls whether the tax line applies to it.
- Itemised lines. If the client wants each purchase listed, add lines such as “Ingredients — [supplier], at cost”, with quantity 1 and the amount you paid.
Either way, keep the receipts and agree how ingredients will be charged before the booking. If you are VAT-registered, check with HMRC guidance or your accountant how recharged costs should be treated.
VAT: only if you are registered
The editor starts with the tax rate at 0, which suits a chef who is not VAT-registered. GOV.UK’s when to register for VAT page says you must register if either:
- “your total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000 (the VAT threshold)”
- “you expect your taxable turnover to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days”
Below that you “can choose to register for VAT” voluntarily. Once registered, a VAT invoice needs more than an ordinary one. HMRC’s VAT Notice 700 (paragraph 16.3.1) lists, among other details, “your name, address and VAT registration number” and “the total amount of VAT chargeable — this must be expressed in sterling”. For that, use our VAT invoice generator, which has VAT-number fields for you and your client, and see the VAT and GST invoicing guide. This is general information, not tax advice.
Sources
Official pages quoted on this page, checked on 25 September 2026:
- GOV.UK, Invoicing and taking payment from customers: Overview
- GOV.UK, Invoices: what they must include
- GOV.UK, Register for VAT: when to register
- HMRC, VAT guide (VAT Notice 700), paragraph 16.3.1
General information for freelance chefs, not legal or tax advice. You are responsible for the details and amounts you enter and for the invoices you send.