To think £2 for a babycino is extortionate

[Prrambulate]

The lovely independent coffee shop near me has raised the price of its babycino from £1 (already steep imo) to £2. Babycino in this case = an espresso cup of frothed milk with a dusting of cocoa powder on top.

This place has a selection of toys in a dedicated corner so lots of parents tend to go there to unwind and have somewhere their kids can play for a short while. I sense the business opportunity here but it also seems exploitative to me! Especially since their usual coffees are all at the £3 - £3,50 range.

Working up the courage to complain…

They may be served in an espresso cup but you typically get a lot more drink as a single shot of espresso is around 30ml and babyccino's can be 100/150ml. So for £2, given that includes vat and other overheads, it's probably in proportion to what you are paying for a coffee.

Something with the name baby in it makes someone feel grown up?

I only came here to find out what a babycino is.

WTF🙄

Agreed.

All eating out is extortionate these days

Yes @Perhapsanorhertimewouldbebetter when 'someone' is almost four and gets a coffee cup just like mummy and she hears me ordering a cappuccino and a babyccino then that makes her feel about as grown up as a three year old would.
Not sure why you find that so odd?

When every menu calls them babycinos I don’t know what else you’re supposed to call them…

They are free in tesco. My kids love getting one, even the child who doesn’t like milk at home 🤷‍♀️

Are people actually expecting these drinks with a silly name to be free? Clearly no idea about the costs of running a business.

No OP was expecting them not to increase by 100% in one swoop actually.
I mentioned that the chains I've been in all offered them for free so I also think that doubling the cost of OPs is expensive ....

This is exactly right!

Because one's coffee, and one's half a small cup of milk. Those things cost different amounts...

Aren't coffees mainly milk? And £4+ seems to be the ball park for them. So a bargain in my book. Free from other outlets is just to get you through the door, popular places can charge what they like and will only change if you vote with your feet.

Tesco is big enough of a business to offer incentives for parents to take their kids there and then do some shopping. An independent cafe only has its drinks and comestibles to sell.

Yep, the milk costs more

It’s a lot when you consider what it is but I’d still pay it as it’s still a pretty negligible amount in the grand scheme of things.

You'll get lots of people wittering about rising costs and how much it costs to rinse a cup, but YANBU, they've doubled the price and it's a preposterous amount to charge. Greedflation; there's a lot of it about.

Don't complain that's silly just don't buy it

£2 is compensation for the bar staff having to wipe down a table full of toddler snacks, dirty baby wipes and banana peels after all the mums have left. Perfectly reasonable price. YABU.

Chains have different settings to independents. The buying power allows for larger discounts on supplies, the name for premises with more foot traffic etc. Hence why they can afford to gove bits. And it's not "free" really for tjhem anyway. It's accounted in prices of other items

Sounds fine to me. Particularly as they're kindly providing toys etc.

Unfortunately mums slowly sipping one coffee in their warm coffee shop for 2hrs while their child plays in the corner and the buggy takes up half the floor space does not make much profit.

Most of the cost of any food and drink is, in order; staff costs, location costs, taxes and other costs, profit, the ingredients.

You're not paying 2 quid for milk. You're paying 2 quid to drink milk that's made for you in a nice place.

£2 for 30 mins of your little one being entertained is sod all.

Of that 2 quid, 33p is vat. The cafe doesn't keep that.

£1.67 left. They'll be paying the waiter or waitress at least £10/hour and their costs as an employer will be higher, pronably more like £12/hour with national insurance, pension costs etc. At a quiet time of day that waitress may only serve 20 or so people, so thats 60p per drink of service cost.

Ingredient cost - a few pence.
Cup OR washing overheads if its reuseable - another few pence

It leaves barely anything to cover the premises rent, business rates, the equipment, chairs and tables, the owner making any money at all for their time running the business. Let alone toys provided for young kids.

You are unbelievably entitled to be considering complaining. If you don't like the price, don't buy one.

I went to buy a small Coconut Matcha in Starbucks today. £4.85 😱. For a fucking hot drink!!

Reader, I walked out.

£2 for big of froth seems like a bargain in compassion.