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 understand that, but local small cafes also need to be run by professional people who realise they are running a business not a hobby. Harsh, but hear me out.

Mil loves eating out, coffees etc she's in her 90s so we go out a lot. Next town to us has a very nice cafe, we go in one Saturday, it's being run by two teenagers....who cannot deliver 3 coffees at the same time. They cannot also toast tea cakes other than one at a time.

Our local cafe, where we had gone something like 5 times in 2 weeks...again on a Saturday 40 minutes for 4 bowls of soup....they only had a domestic microwave so warming one at a time (mine was cold) but home made soup is on the menu permanently. The next Saturday, just teenagers running it again...we got 3 out of 4 meals.

It's simply isn't good enough. I have refused to visit either cafe again. If you are running your own business you have to be there or at least train staff to a level of professionalism...not employ 6th formers because they are cheap.

Yep, a disgrace. Met a friend a few weeks ago, and had a hot drink each and a cake each (Starbucks.) Came to £17. 😱

I managed to spend £60 on breakfast for three the other day, nearly had a heart attack. I really don’t begrudge paying inflated prices for decent food, but might start taking my own flask of coffee out!

Probably the going rate all over the place but it is ridiculous that coffee, cake and soup costs more than an hour's wage for many people. I would feel ripped off too.

Another northerner here.
Bloody hell, that's insane! 😬

Don't do it, don't allow yourself to be ripped off.

Don't blame you.

I bought possibly the worst sandwich from the work cafe the other day - wasn't paying attention and paid £4.50 for a dry as fuck pre-packaged sandwich! Really disappointing.

Yeah i agree i think obviously prices have absolutely rocketed recently and as i rarely buy lunch i am probably out of touch.
to answer a couple of questions there was a chalkboard up with the soup flavour on (no price - i assumed about £3 for this) and i obviously knew they did coffee again assumed this would be about £3 for a takeout and then flapjack in a fridge maybe a couple of quid. It was only a small piece. I only noticed the menu after which didn’t actually have soup or flapjack on as i was trying to work out how much the individual items were after i paid (and nearly fell through the floor).
the coffee was only 2/3rds full and half of that was foam and the soup was in a little polyestryne (sorry can’t spell that word 😂) cup so just felt abit shortchanged i guess.
also agree with the poster who said about businesses employing 6th formers etc, a young girl served me and she didn’t have a clue what she was doing
Appreciate they are a business and also facing huge costs but i am still allowed to feel ripped off (like everyone is with energy costs and food/fuel etc its all out of control)
lesson learnt anyway to be prepared with lunch!

Yes a table for 4 people we’re paying as i was waiting for my order and their bill was £86! Thats nearly a weeks shopping for our household (2 adults 2 children) and i was astounded as they’d only had breakfast items and coffee etc from what i could tell.

Older we get the more we understand where they were coming from, huh?

I agree OP that’s a fortune! The fact soup is seems reasonable to be a fiver is beyond me

I got given a Starbucks voucher for £15.
I got a coffee. Maybe a caramel latte can’t remember
one wrap
one croissant

I asked how much was left on the card. 60p

£14.40 for that!!! It is absolutely ridiculous and I’m glad it was a voucher. The fact this seems the norm nowadays is ludicrous. It was all take away as well!

I wouldn't be surprised at this cost- it seems in line with most cafes now. Doesn't mean it isn't hugely expensive for what it is.

I used to go out to a cafe or pub 4 or 5 days a week. Now maybe once a week or fortnight and I'd probably only get a hot drink now- rather than a cake and sandwich too. I can afford it, I just don't bloody want to!!

Cafes are more expensive than they used to be, simply because the cost of everything has gone up. It's about what I'd expect for what you ordered.

3 of us (2 adults and a child) played 2 games of bowling: £48!!!!

This was in the Metrocentre in Newcastle. Local bowling in Scotland was only £25 for 2 games for the 3 of us

Eating out/coffee etc is such a rip off...I try and meet up with friends at my local Wetherspoons...its 5 mins walk from my house and pretty good value...
I really begrudge paying stupid money in a cafe for a tiny baked potato or toasted sandwich.

Alleyrose

I'm so shocked how cheap that toasted panini is at £4.50

It's £9.50 for one in the cafe round the corner from me (they're bloody massive though I think)

How can you not already know this?

Cafes have always been expensive for very basic food, which is why I almost never use them. I understand why they charge the prices they do, but that doesn't mean I have to pay them.

If I wanted soup, cake and coffee to eat in my desk, I'd have gone to the Co-op, Tesco Metro or similar and got a can of soup, coffee from the Costa machine and whatever sweet thing I fancied, likely cost, under a fiver.

As a teenager I was always really embarrassed by my mother unwrapping homemade sandwiches and flasks of tea on train journeys.

Guess what I do now...? 😆

I think expecting soup to be 3 quid is a bit naive, these days that probably barely covers the gas bill to heat it up.

Last year met a friend and bought two smoothies in Joe and the Juice for £19 😲
I don’t even like smoothies.

Ha. About 15 years ago I went to a posh new cafe near me in London. They charged me £7 for a black coffee. I never went back.

This morning in Cambridge (which tends to be expensive) I paid £10.40 for a latte and a bacon brioche - both were absolutely delicious, I don't mind paying a bit more when it's good so choose very carefully where I go

I nearly fainted at Five Guys when burgers and fries and milkshakes for two adults and two kids came to over £70!! It did taste good but given I had to collect like I do at macdonalds and it wasn’t like a table service meal I was expecting a bit cheaper!!

Sadly that's a pretty average price just how things are now.