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…

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

But the ingredients are a tiny fraction of the cost. They both require staff time to prepare, serve and charge the customer, plus clean tables etc after,/tidy or wash cups. They are both being served in the same premises, with the same furniture. They both require refridgeration, plus equipment to make.

You are not buying the 100mls or whatever of milk. You are buying cafe service.

Is it bearabke for you?

That would make you look like someone with too much time on your hands.

@kisstheblarney I have no idea what your point is. Maybe that people didn't seek low-cost entertainment options for their children before Costa was established.

@anothernamechangeagainsndagain I see your point.

I guess it's kind of hard to know how that one table will be occupied though. It could be three mums squashed together, or one adult reading a book, or two friends who buy everything on the menu.

I guess it depends if you like the coffee shop enough that you want it to be sustainable. Just don't moan if it shuts because the bills are unaffordable and you lose the option entirely

That would have to cost more than £2! Milk, chocolate, marshmallows, preparation, serving, washing up afterwards, profit, tax.....

Ask them how much their utilities have increased by. There's no cap on commercial electricity like there is domestic. A shop near me had to close because their monthly electricity bill went from £70 to £900.

I very much agree with you; and I love you for using the fabulous word 'comestibles'!

Of course pre Costa no low cost entertainment was available!!

I read it that OP was making the same point as you (which I completely agree with): that the bulk of the price for a cup of tea isn't for the ingredients, but for all of the other many significant costs of providing it in a cafe setting; so why would you expect the price of a babycino containing 'just' frothed milk and a dusting of chocolate to be mainly based on the cost of the ingredients, when that isn't (and can't be) the case for all of the other drinks that the business sells?

I would expect a small independent coffee shop to be having quite a tough time at the moment, so I don't think £2 is unreasonable without knowing their margins.

If you're really interested you can probably look at their accounts on companies house, it may well give you quite a different perspective.

As a young child I used to wear my mums high heels, handbags and hats not necessarily to feel grown up more because it was fun and I wanted to be just like my mum. Maybe that’s what Zaffa is saying…. Her daughter wants to be like mummy

I work in a small cafe (less than 30 covers) and we generally provide what you describe for free. At most we would charge £1.50 (a glass of milk on the menu) but that would only be if there was say 4 kids with 2 adults who are just having a single coffee each. (One charge of £1.50, not 4x btw!) I use my discretion. Costs are spiralling but we have so many returning customers because of food quality, value, service, atmosphere etc. that we have to get the balance right.

I'm not a 'proper' grown-up, as I don't drink tea or coffee; so when I'm with others in a coffee shop environment, I have a hot chocolate.

I'm presuming that Costa's coffee must be better, but their hot chocolate is terrible: it looks like loose stool water and doesn't taste of anything at all. It's really expensive too.

Much as I love hot chocolate (or maybe because!), I always decline if it's a Costa one with no alternative. By contrast, I've never had a bad one from a small independent (and, to be fair, Gregg's do nice ones too).

YANBU, but it's the same with £3 for a cup of semi-hot water and a tea bag!

£2.30 at our local National Trust place cafe! I did think that was taking the piss a bit, and took DC elsewhere for coffee.

Think of it as £2 for your child playing with toys for 30-45 minutes and a free babycino chucked in to boot, whilst you get to sit down and relax a bit not having to worry about entertaining a small person.

Bargain.

Dress up and playing house isn't the same as buying into a gimmick.
Also, how does the word baby make a 3 year old feel grown up?

So for £5 you can take your toddler somewhere they can have a treat and you can have a brew, and the child play with toys for an hour? Seems fairly normal cost wise.

£2 seems expensive but if they are providing toys for toddlers too I'd just think of it as £1 babychino and £1 for hire of toys for an hour.

Fuck offffffffff...

The OP is being asked to paying a measly £1 extra for her kid to play with their toys indefinitely and have a warm milk to drink. If she thinks £2 is too expensive then fine, she can find somewhere else to entertain her child and provide a hot drink for under £2.

You pay that kind of price to go to playgroups run by churches etc and all you might get there for refreshments is a jug of weak squash and a cheapy custard cream.

And the cafe owners certainly don't have to justify their prices to her!

I thought this. Cheaper than the soft play, I'm guessing.

Quite
Noone would bay an eyelid at paying £2 to go to a playgroup in a church hall and be offered a bit of squash and biscuit.

The semi-hot water is the worst part. It never brews properly! Even worse if it’s a teapot and they fill it to the top so that it’s very weak lukewarm tea… I never order (breakfast) tea purely for this reason.

You are paying for the service and space you take up, if the charge 3 -3.50 for a grown up coffee it seems ok to me.

But things are worth what people will pay. It people won’t, they’ll drop the price.