Cafe prices

Every year we open our garden for a charity.
I bake 150/200 scones, dozens of biscuits and friends provide cakes.
It takes 6 of us working flat out serving tea, coffees cream teas etc between 1 and 5pm.
We take about £700.
If you deduct the ingredients, gas and electricity, the time taken to bake then consider 6 people working 4 hours at say £12 an hour then it’s not a lot of money.
Obviously we do it for free but if it were a business we wouldn’t be raking it in!

I went to my Mum’s grave today as it would have been her 99th birthday. There was a delicious aroma of bacon coming from the church! We had just missed the monthly breakfast which is free but donations welcome. Eggs, bacon, toast, croissants, cereal, scrambled eggs and bacon rolls.

Once a month they do a lunch as well. Both are apparently very well attended by locals, holidaymakers, people just passing through who see the signs, the school is next door so often kids come too.

We keep saying we will go but keep forgetting.

I rarely eat out. I do, on occasions have a coffee though, but it's a treat because my income is limited. Generally I eat at home.

Cafes have to make money to stay in business, costs are high.

I much prefer our home, calm and cozy with perfect coffee.

It's easier for cafes attached to other places like galleries, stately homes, churches etc to charge lower prices but independents will have much higher costs and no buffer and they can't survive for long if they don't put their prices up.

If they have overheads that have now probably doubled they need to put the prices up but this is at a time where everyone else has higher outlays, so I imagine a lot of them will go out of business.

I do wish the government would give tax relief or a similar support to small businesses, as shortly these people will loose their livelihoods and then have to be on benefits.

Kim19

I ate in a favourite restaurant recently. In chat with the proprietor he revealed that his monthly electric bill had gone from £2700 to £7000 monthly. I was aghast. Probably would have been equally so if he had said annually!

Our small business has its energy charge capped. - don’t know for how long as it only brought it down to what we were paying so we were told it wasn’t relevant, but I do wonder when businesses say how much their electricity rates have gone up. And we got a £150 rebate.

Calendargirl

I just have a coffee at home.

Have never gone out for coffee on a regular basis, only as a treat if out somewhere different.

As for paying heaps for a jacket potato….

Mostly me too, though to be fair our big shopping centre with cafes is a short bus ride away - it’s not as if it’s a long drive or lengthy trek on the bus.
Though now and then I do visit the cafe in the town centre church - a haven of peace, especially during the run up to Christmas when everywhere is noisily packed.

I agree with you,Kim19. It is supposed to be for good service and voluntary! Probably they are not paying good rates so they try to make the public pay the difference.

Aah....service charge, that's a huge bone of contention with me. I know I can have it removed and have done so without problem but I think it is presumptuous to have it on the bill automatically.

No wonder our local cafes are always busy. A cafetiere 1 and a half cups is £2.20 with a fresh homemade scone for £1.50 at the art centre .
The community store where I work it's a bit more but a latte or flat white is £2.75 a huge hot scone £2
I don't pay for mine as I volunteer.
and sometimes make my own

Cafe’s/Bistro’s and even Michelin started Restaurants have to be profitable.

Energy, ingredients, wages along with breakages and replacement have all increased in cost.

In our High Street we have three cafes all independent, latte is £3.50, tea £3, sandwiches £4-£6, light lunches from £8-£10 (jackets, fish cakes, daily specials etc) breakfasts £9-£10.

They are always busy, and booking is advised to avoid disappointment. It is the only human interaction some folks have nowadays, what with working from home, stay at home Mums or those living alone.

We called in at a cafe attached to a country house just off the Monsal Trail on Saturday and I thought their prices were pretty steep, but the food is extremely good and all the meat they use is free range and estate reared, so I suppose that comes at a price. It will be an occasional treat rather than a regular visit!

I just have a coffee at home.

Have never gone out for coffee on a regular basis, only as a treat if out somewhere different.

As for paying heaps for a jacket potato….

Our golf club latte is £2 to members. I hadn't realised what a good deal this is....it has a small biscuit too.

One coffee shop in Oxford charges £4.10 for a Latte.
Yesterday I had lunch with a friend, in an Italian restaurant. We both chose the same baked aubergine dish, plus a small white wine and a beer. The bill, including service charge was £47!!!

In our local (Tyneside) garden centre cafe, jacket potato prices range between £5.49 and £7.49, dependent upon the filling, and a large Latte is £3.50. That's about average around here.

£3.50 for a latte where I am. ☕️
Ironically London can be cheaper because there is more competition.

Just curious- but what do you pay for a coffee in the UK? A small one here is $4.50 and a large one can be $6. That is in a shopping centre so it should normally be cheaper than elsewhere. £2.40 that is and £3.25. I reckon it is a rip off. We just went to one of those sushi train things and it was $30 for 5 little plates which we actually thought was reasonable.

The free coffee in Waitrose is back if anyone is interested.

I took DMiL and her son to tea at the botanic gardens recently. A pot of tea for one and a scone is £7.
A picnic next time!

While appreciating the pressure food outlets are under we now gravitate towards the more reasonable and make full use of any loyalty schemes. My mobile account currently gives me one drink per week at £1 in Cafe Nero, it’s been very useful especially when ordering more than one the most expensive is charged at £1.

If we want lunch out we try to aim for our local, tiny garden centre with an excellent and reasonable cafe. Food cooked to order with a smile and delicious cake as my waistline can attest.

There is a small cafe at my local shopping centre which sells coffee for £1.85. Admittedly it took weeks for us to tell him that 1/4 of a cup without milk was not acceptable but he has now learnt and it appears to be working. His burgers with chips and a cold drink are under £6 and this is London. All of the eating places like KFC and Burger King are on one floor so I assume they share the cost of the energy etc.

I am so glad that we have our Church coffee shop.
Coffee is £1.50, as is a pot of tea. (with a free biscuit)
Toasted tea cakes are £2.00
Soup and a roll with a hot drink is £3.00
Jacket potato with a variety of toppings is £4.00. These come with a side salad.

I am hoping these prices are correct, as I'm doing it from memory.

Forlornhope

I would pay £9.95 for a hot drink and filled jacket potato with a bit of salad. Cafes have a multitude of overheads not just the cost of ingredients and cooking.

The hot drinks were on top of that. £3.50 for coffee.

My daughter works in a beach side cafe at weekends and said that what with the increased costs of electricity, food ingredients, business rates, staff wages and rent, the proprietor has had to put prices up by 150% just to cover his costs alone. To keep costs down he won't be employing extra staff during the full holiday season. And that will annoy the holiday makers when they have to wait too long to be served.