To feel ripped off

[Bunny2607]

Nipped out to a local cafe at work today for some lunch to take back and eat at my desk. Very rarely buy lunch as either take it with me or nip home but circumstances today meant i ended up buying it.
small independent cafe, i got a mocha coffee, flapjack slice and a soup to take away. £12.60!!! I paid and didn’t say anything but i was so shocked at the price. Its been bugging me all day and tbh i don’t think i will go back due to the prices, it was only average at best as well.
when did you last feel ripped off?

I think that’s about average tbh

Seems about right, how much did you think it was going to cost

Probably £4.50 ish for the coffee, similar for the soup and the rest for the flapjack, everything is so bloomin expensive nowadays, but it's probably about right.

Yes that does sound right . It's insane isn't it. I rarely bother now

Did you not look at the prices first OP 😅

I actually think that’s reasonable, we had one hot chocolate and two cokes out today and it was £8.90. I was glad we didn’t need to eat at the time!

It depends where you are and what sort of cafe it was. Where I live there are basic cafes who would sell you that for around £7 and posher ones that would be about the price you paid.

Sounds right for the cafes around here.

£4.50 coffee
£5.00 bowl of soup
£4.00 flapjack/cake thing

Same. We have one in our village. All the cakes etc are 3.00/3.50. For one cake/flapjack/cookie slice!!! The do lovely toasted paninis but they're £4.50 each. For a bloody posh toastie!!

I honestly don't know how it keeps going. This is up north too.

Were the prices not posted anywhere? I would complain about that.

Agree with others if feels pretty standard. I'm surprised you didn't notice the prices before ordering though as most cafe's around here are very open with pricing.

I rarely buy food out so it seemed a lot. But a quick Google tells me that in Starbucks a mocha is over £5 and the flapjack probably £3.50. So I don't think your cafe was especially expensive, just prices generally are up.
I'd rather pay for the soup and drink water from home personally, the coffee and cake is the biggest cost and hot drinks are so expensive compared to just sticking the kettle on at home and cakes are generally just disappointing if you are a halfway competent home baker.

Was the pricing for eat in but you chose to takeaway. It doesn’t sound ridiculous price.

I bought a couple of thermos flasks, wide neck one for the soup. Turning into my parents more and more as the years pass

And my flapjacks are way better. Less dry and more fudgy

It's just pricey these days. Coffee and wrap or bun from Starbucks is between £8 and £10

We rarely eat out as recently took DC to local sushi train & it cost almost as much as a week's worth of home cooked meals.

I noticed recently the staff at work aren't going to the cafe up the road as much anymore. Only the younger ones still seem to, but.much less.

I paid £8.90 for a croissant and a cappuccino yesterday which neither of them were that great

That would be cheaper where I live oop North.

There is a Costa in my town and I’m always surprised it survives as local cafes are much cheaper. My favourite cafe has tea at £1.50 and a toasted tea cake for £2. They do home made pie, mash and peas with gravy for £8. Avocado on sourdough with salmon or an egg is £6.50, small fry up a fiver. All the coffees are £3 or under.

Given a cold and claggy sandwich in a garage is over £4 these days I don't think £4.5 for a panini is expensive tbh. There is a takeaway window of a small cafe in our local market town and pretty sure there's are over £5, depending on fillings.

Although I'm a cheapskate and just rarely buy food out, as a small scale food producer I can tell you over the last few years costs have gone up astronomically in the last few years.
Biggest one for us has been energy costs, 2 years ago our electricity bill more than doubled, and we were lucky it was only that.
Fats for baking shot up a couple years ago, mainly blamed on the Ukraine war (biggest producer of sunflower oil, then has a knock of effect to all other fats), I think my costs of making shortcrust pastry specifically has pretty much doubled in the last 2/3 years.
Although costs haven't gone up much again for us in the last year (or it's a slow creep now not a huge leap) I think a lot of small producers were afraid to pass on the increased costs and absorbed them as long as possible so there was a lag/cushion for a while, now it has got to rhe point where they have to either increase costs or go out of business so you are seeing prices still rising as they try and catch up.

Agree seems about right when broken down. £3.50 flapjack, £4 mocha, £5 soup.

Please remember that food costs have gone up massively in the hospitality industry and their gas and electricity do not have the price caps which apply to your domestic utilities. You have noticed your food has increased in price in the supermarket- the same applies to the local cafe who can't usually buy in such huge quantities that they get a discount. NI has gone up, minimum wage is going up and since covid insurance has increased hugely too - all things which contribute to the price of food and drink in your local cafe. If you don't like the price then don't go to the cafe but don't be surprised when the little independents disappear and you're left with the chains....

Sadly yes. Pisses me off. Today I paid £5.50 for two average (brake brothers frozen) sausages in stale bread when I had breakfast with mil as I do every Monday in a trendy bistro style cafe bar. Lunch in a very popular country pub about 3 miles from the first place £7.95 baguette with sausage (3), black pud and side salad. Meat products from local indi butcher who sources local products....so £2.45 for much more, much fresher and much more tasty meal.

Some places take the mick. Have you been to Greg's lately...most things £2+. For a tiny (they have had shrinkflation) bake.

I went to Greggs today - 4 sausage rolls, two ginger bread men, a cupcake, a chicken baguette and three drinks came to £13. That fed four people with some left. I don’t think that’s bad at all. And yes I know it wasn’t a very healthy lunch 🤣

Why did you order the stuff if you didn’t like the prices? Seems odd they’d have the menu with no prices