Would you pay £11 for a baked potato in a cafe?

[NeverAlways]

I went to a garden centre today and teen dc wanted a drink and a lunch/snack. There wasn’t much choice on the menu at the cafe apart from toasted sandwiches and cakes so dc chose a baked potato with beans which was £11. I nearly fell over. They don’t even particularly like baked potatoes. I said, No sorry I’m not paying that for a potato. I’ve got a four pack of Tesco baking potatoes at home that cost 79p. We left the cafe and went somewhere else where a proper meal was £13.

Anyway am I behind the times with prices or does that seem a lot to you?

Oh the joys of the past when a pound of potatoes used to be less than 10p. Chips at my chippy were great and only 12p. Shocked I tell thee when they rose to 20p!

Anyway aren't spuds an Autumn/winter food? They are kind of like the emergency dish when the rest of the menu sucks. Not that I don't enjoy a good home cooked jacket.

This thread makes me grateful for the lovely volunteer-run cafe near me that does jacket with cheese and beans with a decent salad and coleslaw for £4.50. For £11 I could have that, two coffees and a slice of homemade cake.

Potato with filling was £10 in a local Fife cafe last week. I had a Caesar Salad which was very nice for £10, but mainly consisted of lettuce....

I can’t imagine ever ordering a jacket potato when out, they’re so boring but I reckon they’d only be nice homemade in the oven for an hour and a half with a hard crispy skin.
£11 doesn’t seem too steep for a very filling lunch (or it would be to me, I’d have one for dinner/evening meal, if I had one at lunch I’d probably not need to eat again!).
Obviously looking at the ingredients it’s a lot for what you’re getting but as pointed out so much of what you’re paying for isn’t the cost of the food.
restaurants/cafes are likely to take short cuts meaning the inside of the potato wouldn’t be fluffy, severely lacking in proper salty butter and no crispy skin. It’s a no from me!

£11? Taking the piss

Take yourself and your kids to Wetherspoons or somewhere where kids eat free. Our local Greene King pub offers free food to kids.

The other pub where I live closed down because rates too high. It was beautifully refurbished but prices were very high and the Manager was horrible.

I'm not the best barometer as I begrudge eating out most of the time.

However, business costs have risen by crazy amounts and the overall cost of the food will only be a tiny portion of the £11. Gas and electric, water, staffing costs, rent will all cost much more than the 40 or so pence for the potato. Therefore the cost of actually doing business for them means that they won't be making that much from the £11.

Also, the garden centre won't be buying a pack of 4 potatoes from tesco. They'll be buying boxes from the cash and carry, which will work out dearer.

I pay anything between £8-£12 for jacket spud n beans!
Theres not much on any menu that I can safely eat so it’s always my go-to

Garden centres are expensive now . Last year a roast was 11.95 and we went on Sunday to find them 17.95. A slice of bog standard Victoria sponge was 6.95 . Shocking .

I can get a really great fry for 9.95 at a local cafe. 2 bacon, 2 sausages, 2 eggs, beans, mushrooms, tomato, black pudding, potato bread and soda bread.

Costs have skyrocketed. We’re well on our way to being as expensive as Norway or Switzerland. I’d say £11 was standard these days. I bought three coffees, two cakes and a scone in a garden centre recently and it came to £28. Our local (not fancy) pub is doing burgers that cost £15+ If you want bacon and cheese on it you’re looking at paying over £18.

I usually make 4 at once so I can have extras another day.
— 4 medium to large potatoes - prick the outside to piece skin
—Heat oven (to 180C) and tray with a tablespoon olive oil
—microwave potatoes for 10 minutes
—Place potatoes in tray and coat well with the oil. Season with sea salt
—place in oven for about an hour or until skin is nice and crispy.

Tuna sweetcorn mayo filling
1 can tuna steak (in oil)
1/2 can sweetcorn
Hellmen’s mayo - enough to mix
Black pepper

I serve mine with a salad of leaves rocket or whatever, diced onion, sliced green olives, sliced plum tomatoes, 1/2 avocado plus olive oil and apple cyder vinegar dressing. Sometimes add a few walnuts or boiled egg for extra protein.

Oh to reheat, I put in microwave for 1.5 mins, then air fryer on roast at 170C for 6 or 7 mins to get the crispy skin back.

Most I’ve seen them for was £14, paninis were £14 too - we went down to the bakery instead, £4.95 for a meal deal

Thank you so much @BurntBroccoli , I appreciate you responding to my request :-)
The corn and the tuna sound complementary together, and the mayo very nice to bind the mixture.
Good idea to microwave the potatoes and then finish them by crisping the skins in the oven.
Your side salad sounds delicious and nutritious, thank you for including it!
My DCs have always liked baked potatoes, but this is going to take it up to a whole new level and I know they're going to love it!
Thank you also again to @ohsososo I noticed both your recipes are similar but don't include cheese on top. I might do that as my DC's do love a bit of cheese!

Well, yes, "volunteer run" is the key -not paying everyone minimum wage and probably also cheap subsidised rent of the premises. Not really a fair comparison.

Probably small enough now to be vat registered - that would be £12 if VAT had to be added.

Cafe at one of our local garden centres.
Plain seems reasonable, as do the tuna, chicken and prawns options.

I wouldn't pay £2 extra for just beans.
(Cheese is £1.50 extra yet cheese + beans is the same as just beans - doesn't make sense).

Edit: removed as duplicated.

No

Garden centres are so expensive, but if it was a similar price to other items then I would. I don't make them at home since energy prices went up (I don't have a microwave, I like them crispy and oven-cooked and used to take an hour and a half to cook) so it's a treat when I go out

I guess if you have beans + cheese you get fewer beans than if you have just beans, so the completed portions look about the same amount of something or other.
This thread has caused me to put large potatoes on my shopping list. I already have tuna and sweetcorn and mayo so I'm halfway there.

Edit to put in a missing full stop and to wonder if a little side salad of lettuce, avocado and walnuts - amall amounts - would be a nice change.

Yeah, I do understand that - but £2 for the beans is still ridiculous. Although Heinz baked beans have been stupidly expensive for years (compared to Tesco own for example, which personally I prefer).
I have no idea what brand they use, as I only like baked beans on toast and really don't like them on jacket potatoes 😊

I suppose if they were genuinely nice baked potatoes (I bet they aren't) then they'd have to have been baking them slowly in the oven all morning, so there'd be the cost of fuel plus the risk that they wouldn't sell them all. But they're probably pre-baked, frozen, and then microwaved, which is what the cafe I worked in as a teenager used to do. You'd then put them in a bowl and smother them in toppings to disguise the sogginess.

There is an actual baked potato shop in my town, where a potato with cheese and beans would be £7.50. I would probably buy one of those because they specialise in potatoes so they've had loads in the oven all day and they'll be fresh and crispy.