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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that £4.50 is a ridiculous price for a scone?

278 replies

emsyj · 07/04/2011 16:23

I have just been to a new cafe that has opened on my local high street (small town in the north west, not a big city, not central London - just a bog standard local high street).

There were 4 of us and 3 tried to order carrot cake. The waitress returned a few moments after taking the order to say there was no carrot cake left, all they had was Victoria sponge or scones. So without the benefit of the menu in front of us listing the prices, two of us went for the sponge and one for the scone.

When it came time to pay, the person who had the scone was charged £4.50 for the scone and another £2.45 for a black coffee. I thought it must be a mistake so went to ask if it was right and the cafe owner was quite aggressive in saying that yes, it was £4.50 for the scone because they are 'baked fresh every day with locally-sourced ingredients'. I said I thought that £4.50 was a silly price for a scone, even if it were embellished with gold leaf.

So AIBU? Needless to say, we won't be going there again which is a shame as the cafe is seeking to be family-friendly with buggy parking, lots of high chairs, paper and drawing stuff for the older kids etc and we had high hopes for it being a nice weekly meeting place.

OP posts:
BrandyAlexander · 09/04/2011 16:29

beesimo, very kind of you, but no I am no genius. I am a business advisor by profession. In the past, I have also been a mentor (volunarily a for a well known charity) to people starting small businesses. Now do me a favour and jog on love.

onlion · 09/04/2011 16:41

OMG I knew it was that cafe as soon as I read the first line. I was going to go there this week except i find the concept a little odd and dont have children young enough. Freaks me out so many people near me though.

onlion · 09/04/2011 16:53

If there is a sign in the window that says "home of the famous scone", I might just bring my friends next week ;)

bullet234 · 09/04/2011 17:13

In the town where I live there is a lovely cafe that manages to combine reasonable prices with being child friendly and they do it by just a few small, but helpful things. (Or they did, I think they've changed owners now). Firstly they have some picture books for the children to look at. They have child sized cutlery and small tumblers. They have a child toilet seat and a changing mat on the toilets upstairs. And they are as quick as they can be when they are making the meals at bringing the food at. Which is what I personally want. If I go in there with Ds2 especially I can't have the luxury of dawdling over one cup of coffee and a scone for hours, before the picture books won't hold his attention for more than a minute (but they would occupy Ds1) so I couldn't offset it against any very high prices.
In answer to the OP, I think that the cafe owner needs to widen their demographic, because by tailoring it so much towards one group they are in danger of isolating others.

cookcleanerchaufferetc · 09/04/2011 18:38

So I am intrigued ..... How much is the famous scone now?!

Original poster
emsyj · 09/04/2011 18:42

I will have to leave it to another Wirral-based MNer to find out the new price of scones - I won't be going back there after being on the receiving end of the owner's rudeness twice in two days!

OP posts:
onlion · 09/04/2011 18:42

I wont be going if its full of screaming kids and buggies...i'll be over in flavours

hissymissy · 09/04/2011 18:57

Definitely a ripoff yanbu!

lololizzy · 09/04/2011 19:21

insane - i work somewhere where we serve them in summer and served fresh every day. ie baked on premises. organic eggs etc from the hens on the premises. £3.50 in total for scones, clotted cream, jam and tea or coffee.

JudysDreamHorse · 09/04/2011 19:22

The Orchard in Grantchester (near Cambridge) is a tourist trap in a lovely location by the river and sells massive scones for £2.25 with jam and cream extra at 60p each. The cream is a quite large pot though which is big enough to make my DH say each time we should share.

hairfullofsnakes · 09/04/2011 22:19

How much are they now?!!!

plupedantic · 10/04/2011 11:50

Cutting costs is as important as cutting prices. That list of facilities may be rather overkill, if it means scones and other items have to subsidise it so heavily.

sittingsidesaddleonthefence · 10/04/2011 15:04

i have been into the spotty blue teapot with my family today. we had lunch.

there are some teething troubles, no doubt, but nothing that cannot be sorted if liz is listening to her customers.

which she definately is.

SCONES ARE £3, with jam and cream, £2.50 for a buttered scone, well done liz for responding

as for customer comments, liz was bending over backwards to make things right, our baby wouldnt eat lunch so liz brought out some lovely juicy grapes, at no charge, even though it was our baby being fussy not her food which was wrong.

OP i do think you were right to bring these issues up, it is only through things like this that people can change, and LIZ whatever happened between you and the OP, i can see that comments on here have been noted and responded to.

teething troubles i would like to see remedied now liz,

  1. get some latte spoons, my husband lost his teaspoon down the long latte glass
  2. try to ensure that playthings and children do not obstruct the relatively narrow access to the loo. i had to step over toddlers and duplo which was a pain but as the loo is the disabled loo if i happened to be disabled i would not have managed it at all.
pigletmania · 10/04/2011 17:33

Its still dear without a pot of tea. Whats a tea bag and boiling water costHmm

Bogeyface · 10/04/2011 17:46

Do you think Piglet? £3 with jam and cream is reasonable imo, especially if the place is nice. You would pay about that, or not much less, for a mass produced one from Costa and that doesnt have any of the extras in there that this cafe seems to have.

expatinscotland · 10/04/2011 17:49

I wouldn't pay £3 for a scone.

But then, I bake my own because I find most cafes a rip-off.

Bogeyface · 10/04/2011 17:52

So are we now saying she should lower her prices even more?! Give the woman a break!

I think £3 is fine for a nice cafe, as I said it is comparable to the chain coffee places pricewise and is probably nicer food and servicewise.

I dont go to cafes often because of the sheer cost involved with 7 of us, but I wouldnt object to that price if I was on my own or with adult friends.

BrandyAlexander · 10/04/2011 17:52

I agree pigletmania. I think the maximum they can charge without people walking away thinking its very expensive (and therefore never returning) is £3.50 but that would have to include a pot of tea.

sharbie · 10/04/2011 18:01

just to stick my oar in

i went to a nice hotel here this afternoon for a cream tea - we had a cake standy thing with two tiers - 2 scones jam cream and selection of cakes (not huge pieces more dainty portions)
and pot of tea for £5.95.

StealthyKissBeartrayal · 10/04/2011 18:08

"While we're at it, £2.45 for a black coffee is unreasonable too."

Surely costa, starbucks etc charge around that for coffee?

pigletmania · 10/04/2011 18:29

Whats a teabag going to cost and boiling water, next to nothing, so whats wrong with including that in the price, thats what other nice cafes (not mass produced do), and would make the customer happy thus coming back again and recommending people to it.

northerngirl41 · 10/04/2011 18:45

Topspotter - I think you've had some valuable feedback, and personally I'd be perfectly happy to pay inflated prices for food/drink for somewhere nice that I could spend the afternoon and keep the kids entertained - when you compare it to softplay, swimming, country parks etc it's not extortionate at all - especially since you aren't charging an entry fee - perhaps you should do? (Just a thought - make it an arts and crafts afternoon for example and price per head is £5 which includes a drink and materials?)

gorionine Non-parents subsidise parents all the time. Think about your council tax, a big slice of that goes towards education and healthcare for kids. Think about all those "kids go free" type offers on holidays or in restaurants or in hotels - the kids don't really go free, the adult prices (whether or not they have kids) subsidise the children. Having said that, if this is a specific kid-friendly place, I can't imagine that too many non-parents would want to have tea surrounded by kids.

pigletmania · 10/04/2011 19:08

With the lowered prices i would go in though if i lived nearby

EricNorthmansMistress · 10/04/2011 20:44

You can still get a black coffee in every chain coffee shop for under £2.

NoWayNoHow · 10/04/2011 21:06

stealthy, I only drink black coffee/Americanos and I've never paid more than £2 at any of the chains (including Starbucks, Costa, Coffee Republic, Muffin Break).

If it was a cappucino or a latte, £2.45 would be more reasonable.

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