Hi Have to agree with everything that Andreas M said, particularly with the huge raft of increases that most cafe owners have had to absorb in the last 12 months. There really is no fair price, simply what people are willing to pay. The price of food and coffee is determined by a lot of variables such as rent, cost of goods and staff. By that I mean, a cafe which uses a premium boutique blend, employs a competent skilled barista and paying premium rent has to charge more than a cafe which uses a $18.00/kg blend, with a coffee maker who also doubles as the sandwich hand and grill cook in a small surburban shopping centre. In the city of Sydney, the price of coffee seems to buck the trend (charging between $2.50 and $3.00 for an 8 oz) simply due to the massive amount of competition there is. Everywhere you turn there is an espresso bar or cafe. Despite the huge rents they are paying, they are able to charge less simply due to the huge volumes they are doing, and if they don't follow suit, they will lose patronage. My cafe is in a very affluent suburb in Sydney. For the last 2 years, we have been charging: $3.00 8 oz takeaway $3.50 cup sit in $3.50 12 oz takeaway $4.00 mug sit in No one even bats an eyelid, and we have increased usage from 28kgs/week to 40kgs/week in that time. At the start of this year, we began charging for extra shots and soy which we hadn't before. Once again, no reaction as people simply love the coffee we serve. I note that the franchises such as Michels and GJ's are charging more than us, so we feel justified. The price of making a cup of coffee will continue to rise as the cost of milk, coffee and staff increases. Rule of thumb is that a cafe must make a profit of 300 to 400% on their cost of sales in order to make a decent living (to justify the 60 hour weeks we do). As it stands the cost of making a cup of coffee is now running at about $1.10, so $3.50 does seem like a fair price. Assuming that we make an average of 70 cups of coffee (small and large) to a kg of coffee: Barista @ $22.00/hour average $0.30c per cup Coffee beans @ $24.00/kg $0.35c per cup Milk (average of reg. and skim price) $0.30c per cup Cost of cup and lid $0.15c per cup Rgds L2L
