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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:
BootyMum · 07/04/2011 22:29

Waves to summershereatlast from across the heath!

mitochondria · 07/04/2011 22:41

I looked to see how much they are in Bettys too! Bettys is nice, but I do think it's overpriced. Grandma-in-law once had a funny turn when she saw the price of a pot of tea and had to go out for some fresh air.

But yes, in Bettys you are paying for the ambience. £4.50 in a normal cafe is taking the piss.

bigTillyMint · 08/04/2011 11:04

emsyj, where on the Wirral?

FWIW, Linghams on Heswall do the best milkshakes - we HAVE to go there every time we visit GrandmaSmile

Original poster
emsyj · 08/04/2011 11:09

Have you tried the milkshakes in Toast in West Kirby? I love that place, their cakes are fab and really reasonable and the Oreo milkshake is great too.

I spend way too much time in cafes - I blame mat leave!!!!!!

OP posts:
bigTillyMint · 08/04/2011 11:56

Ooooh, where in WK? We're going up at half-term....

HipHopopotomus · 08/04/2011 12:05

scone = flour, little butter, baking powder & milk. Bake for about 10 - 15 minutes so minimal electricity too.

Locally sourced ingredients my arse - they are making the mistake for thinking they can charge customers a premium for applying 'fancy/trendy' words to their menu. I work in fancy/rip-off cafe world (Chiswick, West London) and would expect to pay max of HALF that even in this unreal world.

EricNorthmansMistress · 08/04/2011 13:02

My mum used to have a tea room in somerset on national trust property - all scones cooked fresh that day, she would cook them as the afternoon went on, massive scone, homemade (by her) jam, local organic clotted cream, cafetiere of fairtrade coffee or pot of proper posh leaf tea all for under a fiver and they were her biggest profit margin.

plupedantic · 08/04/2011 13:08

Ten to one, this cafe owner can't actually cook, and is instead paying profit margins of Messrs Sainsbury, Morrison et. al., then wants her own profit on top (a bit like the icing on the cake, only she probably can't make that, either).

HipHopopotomus · 08/04/2011 13:50

I have daydreams about being your Mum ENM

EricNorthmansMistress · 08/04/2011 13:54
Grin The tea room was only part of it though, housekeeping for the family that owned the house was less idyllic!
HipHopopotomus · 08/04/2011 14:02

ok - I'd be totally rubbish at that part of it.
Just the tearoom bit if you please - scones, tea, cakes, sandwiches, lovely views.......

Quenelle · 08/04/2011 15:29

Seven quid for a cup of coffee and a scone is totally unrealistic. What proportion of a customer's weekly pension or maternity pay is that??

My PILs are limiting their visits to cafes now because they just can't afford the prices on their pension (imagine, £14 for the two of them!). Pensioners and mums with young children are a cafe's target audience, they're crazy to try ripping them off.

mrsmellow · 08/04/2011 15:34

Wow, that's even more expensive than a Hummingbird Cupcake - and they're 'fashionable' and in London!

Terpsichore · 08/04/2011 15:49

Anyone who's ever made scones knows that £4.50 per scone is completely and utterly rubbish. Their profit margin must be astronomical. A bit of flour, not much butter (or marge? - maybe 'hand-sourced' from the local sustainable marge-mines?), a tiny bit of sugar and a couple of sultanas. That's what goes into a scone, and then it's baked for 15 mins or so. Make a dozen in a batch and you're still looking at very considerably under £4.50 for the lot.

I predict they won't last long with that sort of pricing - nor with the attitude when politely questioned.

chateauferret · 08/04/2011 16:49

Perhaps the most famously posh afternoon tea in Scotland is to be had at the Gleneagles Hotel. Its website advertises:

Assorted fruit and plain scones with clotted cream, strawberry jam and
a choice of freshly brewed coffee or tea £6.95

That works out to about £4.50 for at least a couple of scones with all the trimmings in the poshest place I can think of. I guess your place isn't quite the Gleneagles Hotel, is it?

GinSlinger · 08/04/2011 16:50

I'm dying to know if you've sent a link of this to the owner and what her reaction is.

chateauferret · 08/04/2011 16:51

The poshest place I can think of is the Gleneagles Hotel. There, an assortment of scones with clotted cream and jam and a pot of tea or coffee is £6.95. Is your cafe posher than the Gleneagles Hotel? Unless it is, YANBU.

plupedantic · 08/04/2011 16:53

I love this thread; I keep coming back for more schadenfreude. Now, that's a grande caffeinato with endless refills - most excellent value! I shall recommend you to all my friends.

weblette · 08/04/2011 16:57

How the hell are the ingredients 'locally sourced' in London apart from buying them at the local Tesco/corner shop?? Haven't noticed many wheat fields of late and ignoring the animals at London Zoo, Coram Fields and in city farms, bit short on eggs/fresh milk too.

Hmm
walkingonthemoon · 08/04/2011 17:07

Emsy - I think I have just been to the cafe you mentioned today. Did the cream, jam and butter come in a 3 sectioned blue and white serving dish with a tiny spoon perchance?

I agree, it was a bloody rip-off and I only stayed coz I was with my mum and didn't want to spoil her trip out... the cafe was nice but nothing special?

Carrotsandcelery · 08/04/2011 17:15

I would expect a home baked scone to be about £1.95 or less. With a decent amount of clotted cream then as far as £2.50 but no further. I would prefer the cheaper scone to the locally sourced ingredients if that is the difference. I would expect to be able to have tea and a scone with my friends in a cafe for less than a fiver really - and I would expect a large home baked scone for that too. Grin
I am surprised by the retailers reaction as surely a new venue would welcome feedback, especially if they are obviously trying to be thoughtful with the buggy park, paper etc.

Original poster
emsyj · 08/04/2011 17:19

Yes, walkingonthemoon I think you have been to the same place!

I have emailed the cafe owner attaching a link to this thread, but no response as yet. I did get an automated reply saying (essentially) "we would love to reply but we're too busy preparing to open" - bit out of date as they opened a week ago. I suspect they never check their emails.

Would it be churlish to print off the thread and take it in??? I am so irked that she would not accept that her prices were silly!

Oh bigTillyMint Toast is next to the railway station in the same building as the Lloyds pharmacy. It is not super-pretty inside, but the people who run it are absolutely lovely and their tiffin, rocky road and milkshakes are fab.

OP posts:
NoWayNoHow · 08/04/2011 17:21

Haven't read rest of thread, sorry, but I'm in South East and our local cafe (also made on premised, locally sourced ingredients) does two scones (one plain, one fruit), jam, cream and a pot of tea for £5.50!

They're kidding themselves if they think people are going to pay that.

ashamedandconfused · 08/04/2011 17:36

I would not pay more than £2.50 for a scone, unless it was a cream tea with jam/cream/refillable pot of tea, then i would pay £4-5, depending on venue (lashings of proper cornish clotted cream in a chocolate box cafe for example)

Local market does 4 huge fruit scones for 1.50, they are homemade, fresh and delicious

do not go back, ever!

biggest rip off I have seen on a menu - beans on toast, 2 slices of toast with beans £5.75 !!! probably costs about 50p to make!

ashamedandconfused · 08/04/2011 17:42

shame you lot can't all come to a fund raiser i am hoping to do in the summer

fruit or plain scone, with jam and cream
plus a slice of cake (victoria sandwich/ choc/lemon)
tea or coffee

all cakes/scones homemade, but not the jam though will be a nice quality brand

I was thinking of charging £3.50 a head

what do you think? will i get people or will I be left with mountains of scones to eat?

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