A cafe owner was stunned to get a formal letter complaining about the cost of a £2.20 cup of tea – even though it cost another 75p to post it.
The anonymous customer aired their grievances with the Toast Cafe and Deli in Wrexham, North Wales after they were ‘shocked’ to pay £4.40 for two cups of tea.
But it cost another 75p for the second class stamp to send the hand-written letter 12 miles to the award-winning cafe.
The disgruntled author of the letter wrote: ‘Myself and my husband called in for a cup of tea.
‘The price was a shock £4.40 for two cups of tea – it is ‘no wonder OAPs cannot go out.’
The cafe posted a photo of the letter on Facebook, with a comparison of its prices and other cafes in Wrexham
The cafe posted a photo of the letter on Facebook, with a comparison of its prices and other cafes in Wrexham.
The post read: ‘Whilst prepping the cafe ready to reopen tomorrow morning from 10am, we received this letter which was posted to us from a customer from Chester!’
Owners Claire and Paul Wright won the Best Café in Wales prize at the Best of Welsh Business Awards in Cardiff – and received the Good Food Blue Ribbon for Delicious Dishes Award 2023.
Claire said: ‘Paul and I feel disappointed and shocked to receive this letter where the customer felt compelled to write to us to complain about the price of a cuppa and also buy a stamp to post it to us.
‘We have always tried to keep our prices in line with other independent cafes and coffee shops in Wrexham City Centre.’
The cafe did some research and discovered some other similar independents in Wrexham are charging anywhere between £2.29 and £2.50 for a cup of tea with the average price being £2.42.
The anonymous customer aired their grievances with the Toast Cafe and Deli in Wrexham, North Wales after they were ‘shocked’ to pay £4.40 for two cups of tea
They added: ‘Did you know when we buy food and drink from a small cafe, it’s hardly even about the cost to cover the ingredients and staff wages to create and serve the food and drink – the majority of the transaction amount is to cover all the overheads to actually just have a business.
‘Advertising and marketing, accounting fees, cleaning products, repairs and maintenance, electricity, wages, kitchen and front of house equipment, licensing, payment processing fees, point of sale software, bank fees, telephone and internet, water, waste removal, rent, loans, delivery fees, subscriptions/ memberships and so on.
‘We know things are hard for everyone at the moment and more so for pensioners and during these difficult times, we are trying not to pass the costs onto our customers but we feel we charge a reasonable price for our food and drink.’
