to think £3.50 for a kids' meal cheese on toast is a bit steep?

[BettyButterknife]

I am thoroughly aware I sound a bit like I'm writing to Points of View, but I genuinely would like to know if my expectations are too high re: eating out in a cafe at lunchtime with DS. So here goes...

Went for lunch with friends today, and I suppose it's my own fault for being a. vegetarian and b. pregnant, but I couldn't actually see anything on the menu I could order - the panini had goats' cheese, so I asked whether they could make me one up with some other kind of cheese, eg cheddar. They said they couldn't but they could make me a normal cheese sandwich, for which they were going to charge me £4.25, and if I wanted chips too that's another £2.95. NOT £1 as with the panini 'deal'. So a total of £7.20 for a cheese sandwich and chips.

I then realised I could order a side Greek salad for £3.95 so ordered that plus chips. The cheapest thing on the kids' menu was cheese on toast, at a whopping £3.50. I asked whether I could have some bread too. They said I could but had to order the bread and oils from the menu at £3.50.

I said I couldn't believe how pricey a very basic lunch for me and a toddler had ended up, to which the waitress replied 'yeah, prices have just gone up but people pay it so you can't really complain'. Thing is, I'm thinking of doing just that.

But perhaps IABU in which case I'll suck it up and never go there again!

I think the cheese on toast is steep. I pay £1.85 for two organic poached eggs on posh toast for my daughter at our local lovely cafe.

I live in very poncetastic part of London and no cafe round here would charge £3.50 for a childs portion of cheese on toast. Yanbu.

overpriced tbh, I would have taken a look at the menu before being seated and walked out.

yikes,that is pricey.i once got charged £3.50 for "eggy" "bread" eg french toast

Our park cafe charges £3.60 for half a slice of crappy bread, toasted and buttered, two tablespoons of beans and possibly 1/3 of an egg scrambled. I have no idea how they stay in business.

That's more expensive than the "Greengrocer's Gaff" down here deep in DFL Land. Which is saying something! It's the inflexibility that'd bother me more than the price though. Why can't someone have bread without oils? Poncetastic in the extreme!

Whilst the price might seem steep - the cost of their overheads, making it and serving it ie. the waitress is factored into how much they charge.

I think YABU. You didn't have to eat there.

thisisyesterday, I'd love to start the exact same type of cafe!

All the people saying "why didn't you walk out" and "you didn't have to eat there" have overlooked the OP saying that she was there with friends. You can hardly demand everyone else leaves because you are feeling ripped off can you? Especially if one of your friends chose the venue.

I love pasta but I never have it when I go out as we all know it costs next to nothing - I can't bear to pay £7.95 for something that cost 70p to produce.

undomestichousewife, where doy ou live??? i wanna mofve there!!!

It might be helpful if you consider the factors that go into pricing.

Generally the cost of an end dish is calculated at by one quarter being the cost price, and the other three quarters covering, as others have said, overheads and staff wages.

So lets say you have a sandwich at £4.

50p will cover the cost of the ingredients
£1 will cover your overheads (fuel, rent, insurance)
£2 will cover staff costs

which might leave you 50p profit. Fantastic! Except then you have to pay tax on that profit, so you might end up with 30p profit.

Its why catering is such a hard business, because the profit margins are tiny! And small businesses do not have the luxury of big purchase discounts like the chains.....

thisisyesterday, I live in NI I don't mind taking the kids for their breakfast there for a fry, no horrible sausages all the meat is from their farm so it's yummy!

There is a pub around here that does a Carvery roast - Choice of 3 meats (or slice of each), yorkshire pudding, stuffing then self-service roast & new potatoes, choice of 5 veg, gravy/mustard/horseradish sauce, etc. for £3.59.