This was expensive?

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Local garden center..

2 toasted sandwiches with tiny side salad. The sandwich consisted of 2 pieces of bread with meat/cheese.
2 teas
1 fruit tea
£32 😬 for a quick bite to eat...

Yes that is expensive in my book. But as per another thread going on today, a lot is these days!!

I had a Easter Sunday Brunch at our local Garden Centre /old Barn House / Cafe.

I was shocked at the price, there was no alcohol, and poor service.

I wouldn't pay that for that no.

Why didn't you eat at home or take sandwiches and a flask?

I agree, very expensive.

I assumed they had a price list before you paid that though? How much was a cup of tea?

The ONLY way prices will come down is if people stop paying them. I'd rather go hungry than pay that.

So basically £16 for one sandwich and cup of tea? That is bloody expensive! Thing is everything is going to get even more expensive soon, the cost of America and Israel’s war hasn’t even really hit us yet.

I work in an independent coffee shop - and 2 really good toasties (with crisps/coleslaw) and 3 teas (pots, so several cups each) would cost £25. So yes, I think that's expensive - but we are in a reasonably cheap area, and mid-range price for the area. So I guess £32 isn't completely out there, depending where you are located.

This is interesting. If you work in a business which relies only upon food and beverage sales and the price is less, what’s going on with the garden centre which is supposed to be selling plants?

As a contrast my lab is attached to a production unit and so we can use any excess capacity to test other people’s materials for much lower prices than independent labs who rely solely on subcontract testing.

Considering how little the tea bags cost them, I would say those are crazy prices

Once walked out laughing from a garden centre who's menu included a jacket potato with cheese for 10.99. And the place was heaving...
Idiots those who paid that for a baked spud!!

It will get to a point where people just won’t pay it. I doubt they are trying to go out of business, so I imagine the prices reflect the overheads plus profit, but even with that said if the customers aren’t there the business will fail.

It's a money spinner for the garden centre and it's the main reason many go.
It keeps people in a job and you enjoyed your visit, so I guess you just have to suck it up.

As I said on the other thread, to pay 'out' prices, I expect something that I can't make easily at home.

So I wouldn't eat out and buy a toastie, if I wanted a toastie I'd make it at home. If I wanted or needed to eat out, I'd get something better than a toastie, so it felt more worth it.

I wouldn't have paid that OP.

Cups of tea are a garden centres most profitable product. It's why the cafe areas in new garden centres take up so much floor space.

Garden centre cafes are often very popular. Jokingly, it could well be that the cafe owners set up the garden centre as a way of attracting people willing to pay £15 pp for a toastie and a cup of tea.

But it always puzzles me how there seems to be a never ending supply of people who buy things without looking at prices and then complain how expensive it was, also that they're surprised that cafes charge a lot for basic food.

Sandwiches seem to be around £15 these days, & I’m in rural East Anglia, which isn’t known to be expensive. Obviously, if you get a decent amount of salad &/or other sides with it, that makes it slightly better value. I still think it’s a lot for bread & cheese though.

They need to pay the staff,to cook it, prepare it. Serve it, clean up after, someone to buy the ingredients, the rent and costs of the premises, the heating. That’s why it costs so much.

That is ridiculous! What a rip-off.

We know that. It still doesn't make it any better value to the customer. At some point they're going to decide to do without or wait until they get home.

Ordered a jacket potato in a cafe in a local town. Astonished when it arrived. I take small gloves and it could have fitted neatly into the palm of my hand. I’ve cooked bigger salad potatoes!!
Rip off doesn’t even come close! It wasn’t cheap. Still hungry when I’d eaten it.

It's a lot - I guess the sandwiches are £10 quid each and each tea is £3?

Wow, inflation at its best. That’s insane!!

I was going to guess £25. Although being in a garden centre everything costs a lot more