One the most commonly asked questions by new photo booth owners is also the most difficult question to answer. Before a business professional invests in a photo booth, they will want to know what their potential profit will be based on their situation. The only way to address this question is to use estimates to come up with a ballpark figure. But it is safe to say that, on average, the ballpark figures we use here tend to be fairly typical among all photo booth owners.
When we talk about revenue, we will discuss it from the perspective of a photo booth owner who rents out their booths. Determining a ballpark number for revenue for a coin-operated booth is almost impossible because there are too many variables. If you intend to set your booth up and make it a coin-operated attraction, then a good rule of thumb is to take 10 percent of the number of people who visit your business each day and multiply that by whatever you are charging to use your booth. The harder you work, the higher the percentage will be of foot traffic that uses your machines.
Rental Profits
If you want to get business with renting your photo booth, then you should develop a flat rate for your rental. Most owners offer a rate for four hours, which means the owner drops off the booth and then picks it up four hours later. If you charge $500 for that four-hour span and your expenses (truck gas, your time, etc.) are $100 for the night, then you make a profit of $400 on each job. Since it is a four-hour rental, that means you are making $100 per hour for your business. That is not bad money at all.
This does not take into account any business-related expenses such as additional liability insurance and employee costs. If you have those costs, then you will need to separate them out for yourself. The $100 in operating costs for a four-hour rental includes your time, truck insurance, gas, and any other expenses you incur during the drop-off and pick-up process. This also does not take into account any loan payments you have to make for the purchase of your booth. The good thing about loan payments is that eventually you are done with them and you can stop deducting them from your profit.
Part-Time
Some people get into photo booths as either a part-time or summer only gig. For example, many teachers will buy photo booths as a way to generate revenue during the summer. But how much money can you really make during the summer renting out a photo booth? If you only rented out on Saturdays, then you would rent your booth out 26 times a year. At $400 in profit per event, you would make $10,400 for the summer. Not bad money for just dropping off and picking up a photo booth. If you add in Fridays and Sundays to your weekend rentals, then you are looking at $31,200 for the summer.
Full-Time
There are 52 Saturdays in a year, and renting out a photo booth all 52 Saturdays at $400 in profit each event would bring in $20,800 per year. Add more days and more machines, and you can just start to see the profit add up.
These numbers are all estimates, but they give you an idea as to what you can expect with a photo booth renting business. Considering the low overhead and the low number of hours you would have to put into this kind of business, it makes pretty good sense to get one started as soon as you can.
