Museum Cafe Question

[BestZebbie]

Vegans!

1. What would you expect to eat in a museum tea room (yourself, personally)?
2. What would you like to eat in a museum tea room?

(Yes this is informal pre-focus-group "research" to inform an actual museum cafe)

I would expect maybe chips, a jacket potato with beans and green tea. I would like to eat:

• a few different sandwich options
• a sweet treat (or two) that I could enjoy
• options of different plant milks for drinks

Hi.
Expectations: not a lot. JP with beans if lucky... Failing that a slice of dry toast and an apple. Maybe even a bag of ready salted crisps.
What would be nice: a sandwich option, a sweet treat option for those who like it. And plant milk for hot drinks!

I'd just want simple/cheap options. I've been in too many museum cafes with my young sun only to be faced with only very expensive "fancy" options from their cafe clearly trying to emulate some kind of "posh" restaurant. I'd want to pay £3 for a sandwich not a tenner! Basic soups, basic sandwich range, chips, jacket potatoes, bacon/sausage buns, salads, scones with jam/cream, range of cakes/biscuits.

Definitely a sandwich option! It's not hard is it, a plant milk other than Soya, and a sweet treat option.

I think my expectations are too high and I'm continously disappointed. Yesterday dh and I ended up having a packet of crisps and a coffee at a NT property for our lunch as there wasn't any other option! It was a fairly disappointing mothers day lunch as far as they go

What kind of museum is it? If it's a busy family friendly one, then you need to have plenty of cheap, quick and simple options for all the family - a kind of pile it high, sell it cheap sort of cafeteria.

If it's more "high brow" with fewer customers with higher incomes then you can go up-market to a more posh coffee shop style with slower service, quality hand made food/drinks etc.

The last thing you want to do is the latter when you have lots of families passing through. The worst example I've seen was at the Manchester science museum when it took over half an hour to get your food/drinks despite a very short queue of only 10 people or so, not to mention the ridiculous pricing of a slice of pizza! York's railway museum is a bit better but still takes far too long to be served, far too expensive, for food that is simply too good for what most of the punters want.

Definitely a plant milk other than soya, eg oat which is fine in tea and coffee.
A couple of soup options - using veg stock which the staff know was used!
Jacket potato with beans/a vegan cheese/
Chilli.
All of the above are cheap to buy and make and therefore sell at a reasonable price.

A big mug or pot of tea and a gluten free cake (ideally not a brownie as they are ubiquitous!).

Other than that baked pots can be good if well cooked, scones are always popular, or possibly toasted tea cakes, soup/ beans/ sandwiches would depend what kind of museum and therefore what kind of age/ income of customers.

Toast or a toasted tea cake (today I was directed in a cafe towards a cheese and ham toastie when I asked if they did toast).

A cake that is not gluten free (or if it is, not small and dense!)

And yes, soup, a sandwich option, and a crisp option (sometimes the only options for crisps are cheese and something or meat and something, or a chili that randomly has some milk in it).

Would love a fruit scone and, as others have said, milk other than soya milk. And soup and a couple of salad options.

I know this is an old thread, but I used to work in the cafe in an Art Gallery and we usually had at least on vegan salad, at least one soup, there were baked potatoes, option of soy milk. sometimes cake of some description (although more often gluten free)