Debate erupts over Brisbane cafe charging extra for dine-in coffee
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A Brisbane customer was left stunned when they were charged extra to have their coffee dine-in as opposed to getting it takeaway.
They took to social media to share their odd experience, having ordered via a QR code to find that while a takeaway cup was free to get, there was a surcharge of 50 cents to have the coffee in a cup while sitting in the store.
Dine in coffees take more effort, the owner said. Getty
The customer thought the surcharge may have been an app malfunction, so they went to order at the counter, only for it to be confirmed by a staff member.
“I have never seen this at another café (both working in cafés and as a customer). I approached the owner of the shop to ask why and they were very defensive and responded with these reasons:
1. It’s easier to just throw away takeaway cups.
2. To cover the cost of somebody washing dishes.
3. When it’s in a cup, the baristas need to make the coffee look presentable.
4. It’s standard practice for cafes these days..?
“Is this charge valid? I ended up going elsewhere as I wanted a ceramic cup and didn’t want to pay the extra fee and normalise this.”
Commenters chimed in with their opinions.
“We should be charging more for takeaway cups to dine in,” said one.
“How disgustingly wasteful.”
“Should be the other way around, for the environment!” another added.
“Doesn’t look like a surcharge. Base price is 6oz, then cup size 8oz 50c more, then mug 12oz $1 more. Bigger the cup the bigger the price,” one added pointedly.
“Definitely NOT standard practice for anywhere I have worked,” said one.
Café owners can’t argue with the logic of charging extra for dining in. nna\gabrielle.oehlmann
But cafe owners can’t argue with the logic of charging extra for dining in.
“As someone who owns a cafe, I can 100% understand the reasoning,” added another business owner, “It was actually like this in a lot of European and Asian countries I visited.
“If you have it in a takeaway cup you’re less likely to a. complain, b. Stay for long periods of time, c. Staff are stupidly expensive and in some cases it is actually cheaper to buy a takeaway cup than pay someone an hourly wage to clear, scrub, wash, dry and reset a cup.
However, the topic has divided the café owner community. Getty Images/iStockphoto
“It’s still weird for me to see, but I understand the logic,” they said defensively.
Another said, “As someone who has owned cafes I don’t agree with it however it’s getting nearly impossible to run profitable cafes/ restaurants especially local, small business run, and if this helped them keep their doors open the I would pay it.”
“Places in Europe charge extra for eating in and whatnot but I have never experienced this in Australia. Nor do I charge extra in my cafe,” shared one cafe owner.
“I’d prefer to wash something up than buy disposable cups constantly and throw them out.”
However, another cafe owner shared, “I can understand that the owner is purely considering finances and not the environmental impact. I have the reverse policy at my cafe purely to incentivise less wasteful practices.”
Instead, they worded it as a discount of 50 cents for a reusable cup.
