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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:
KatieMiddleton · 08/04/2011 23:49

Yeah but if you are bracket A/B you probably have the sense not to think spending £4.50 on a scone is a good idea...

GORGEOUSX · 08/04/2011 23:51

That's just it though, the £4.50 is not FOR the scone, it's for the rest of the facilities. OP could have sat at home and had a scone with her mates, but she didn't want to - she wanted to go out.

pigletmania · 08/04/2011 23:55

£4.50 is a lot despite the facilities, people wont remain going there with those prices, when the next coffee shop down the road is doing tea and scone for say £3.00, its not competative. These facilities are for the children, if i did not have any kids why should I pay for something i do not use in the price of a £4.50 scone.

KatieMiddleton · 08/04/2011 23:56

Then why aren't all the other products similarly marked up? And not everyone wants to use the other facilities but they still have to pay for them??

I did think you were joking but now I think you might actually be a bit dim

pigletmania · 08/04/2011 23:57

gorgeous your agument does not hold weight and I think you are the only one who agrees with those prices on this thread. Imagine all the posters on this thread are potential customers, she will loose a lot of business. Her business will not survive on one or two who are prepared to pay the prices.

pigletmania · 09/04/2011 00:01

do you actually know how to run a business, you need Mary Portas! I am sure that if she went into the coffee shop she would be shocked by the prices. Sure other coffee shops have the same overheads but they dont charge those prices!

pigletmania · 09/04/2011 00:02

that was in reference to Gorgeous not Liz the coffee shop owner

pigletmania · 09/04/2011 00:03

Its a competative market out there and people do not stay loyal, they go to who offers a reasonable price.

Original poster
emsyj · 09/04/2011 00:04

I want to be Mary Portas!

Sadly, the spirit in which I started this thread seems to have been lost on this particular cafe owner, so I am off to count my pennies into my coin purse and consider myself well and truly told off!

OP posts:
pigletmania · 09/04/2011 00:06

She is great emsyj even alas some business owners are so dim that they dont take her advice and their business suffers.

pigletmania · 09/04/2011 00:07

emsy was it only the scones that were overprices or were the rest of the confectionary on offer too

blackeyedsusan · 09/04/2011 00:08

how big was it? it must have been enormous to be that price... did it come with jam, butter and clotted cream as well?

ha I think the owner may go out of business rather soon, either that or there are a lot of stupid rich people near you.

gorionine · 09/04/2011 06:24

topspotter, are you only opened for parents accompanied with toddlers?

Whist I do understand your argument regarding your prices being very high because of what you offer for children, it would annoy me to come there with a friend (just us, no children) and pay 4.50 for a scone because you have children facilitied that I do not need.

hairfullofsnakes · 09/04/2011 06:55

The thing about having extra facilities holds no weight when trying to use it as a defence for charging ridiculous scone prices... These facilities are good and should draw people in but you can't use that as justification to charge silly prices!

whatsallthehullaballoo · 09/04/2011 07:25

I cannot believe topstpotter has made the situation worse for herself even though this was a great opportunity to make everything right!

What is the revised price for the scones now...£4.49? Saying that there are lovely facilities still does not lift the ceiling price for a bloody scone on its own. I say again TOPSPOTTER - if you include a pot of tea or a coffee people will not mind so much at all!!!

saltyseadog · 09/04/2011 07:29

Include the pot of tea or a cafetiere of coffee, re-brand it as a cream tea and you can charge 4.50.
You're being given sound advice by the massive here, I really suggest you take it on board.
All the best with your new business :-).

NoWayNoHow · 09/04/2011 07:36

topspotter the OP has been more than generous on this thread. She is perfectly entitled to ask an anonymous question about an anonymous venue - indeed, geographical information was kept to a minimum and was only to provide context.

She has refused to name and shame you on several occasions, despite overwhelming pressure to do so - to send that email laying responsibility for whether your business fails because of HER publicity was incredibly rude. If you yourself hadn't told us which cafe it was, we'd all still be none the wiser!

£4.50 for one scone with no tea/coffee in a cafe in the NW is utterly ludicrous. I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways and lowered the price. A few pieces of child friendly equipement/toys is not a licence to overcharge customers.

For future reference, when a customer approaches you with a complaint, they are ALWAYS RIGHT. If you want your business to stay open, you need to let go of your defensiveness about it being "your baby" and start to focus on what it is that people want and start listening to feedback at the time it is given. Maybe in this way you can avoid future threads like this.

You should count yourself very lucky - there are pages and pages here of free business management advice, feedback and market research. Use it wisely.

Oh, and btw, this is Mumsnet - we're ALL tired, love.

MyGoldenNotebook · 09/04/2011 07:42

I know the cafe in question. I have had time to go in with my little boy yet but I was planning to visit over half-term. Actually lots of people in my staffroom at school have been talking about it because it is quite unique (for the area) and seems attractive from the outside.

I would like to suggest that the cafe owner was possibly quite emotional when she wrote the email - it seems like quite a dramatic thing to say to someone you don't know. I can imagine that when something like this happens (and it is a big deal) the first week of business it's quite distressing - even if there are positive PR benefits to be gleaned (although the email information has not helped this).

So I am still going to visit the cafe because I like to support new businesses and this is potentially a nice one. But I will not pay anywhere near that much for a scone! Hopefully the price has been reduced to something sensible, and not £3.95 say. Mmmm scones ... may bake some this afternoon.

MyGoldenNotebook · 09/04/2011 07:43

Have not* had

ilovemyhens · 09/04/2011 07:47

If it included a drink and lots of cream and nice jam and it was in a posh area, then that would probably be okay.

beesimo · 09/04/2011 09:07

Topspotter

I expect you are shattered by this thread and feeling very tired grumpy and misunderstood so step away from laptop and take a few deeep breaths.

Firstly I don't think OP was being malicious she was giving her point of view.

Secondly as you will find out running any business that deals with the Great British Public is like riding a horse that every now and then tries to buck you off and believe me EVERYONE has a better idea how to control a bucking horse than the one holding the reins!

Thidly how to deal with complaints, buy a impressive looking red notebook, when someone complains say hand on a minute madam I'll need to take a few notes as we are VERY interested in customer feed back, then if the grievence has any merit learn from it if not write twonk in the the margin and move on.

Fourthly all the best to you get your pinny on and 'smile though your heart is breaking' and rise above this because at the end of the day it is 'only a storm in a teacup'. and try try try and try again

bigTillyMint · 09/04/2011 10:17

Just come back to this - topspotter, I hope you review your pricelist and customer services. Lots of places in London offer facilities similar (though maybe not quite so plush and not everything on your list) and keep their prices much lower than that - if they can do it, so can youSmile

emsyj will look out for that one if we go to the beach!

want2bSupermum I agree - Nichols' fab ice-cream isanother fav of ours, and clambering about on Thurstaston Rocks!

dixiechick1975 · 09/04/2011 11:11

Have been following this thread. I think the op has done you a huge favour - most people would have not said anything and just never returned. And when someone at toddler group suggested it as a meet up - said oh no they charged X £4.50 for a scone - how much? oh lets meet at Y cafe instead.

I used to go to a cafe every week with a friend for lunch. On the dear side for our small northern town, but our treat. After going there for over a year we ordered cake - a lucious carrot cake was on the counter. Instead they brought stale pieces from the back and were funny about swapping it. We muttered how rude amongst ourselves and have never been back - £16 a week business lost.

The op didn't just post on the internet - she raised it in person first and didn't name and shame.

GandTiceandaslice · 09/04/2011 11:37

In Devon, you'd pay £4.50 & have 2 scones, jam & clotted cream. And a pot of tea for 2.

lesley33 · 09/04/2011 12:26

I and my OH have often seen new shops opening and predicted rightly that they won't stay open for long. The obvious problems have ranged from poor location to rude staff. I think sometimes it is easier for people from outside to see the potential problems with a service industry business than it can be for the people running the business.

And I say that as someone who runs a small company.

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