These stories are really interesting because I think they rarely reflect on the big issues behind hospitality in Australia. www.theguardian.com/food/2025/ju... - ThreadSky

zerogeewhiz.bsky.social • 2 days ago

These stories are really interesting because I think they rarely reflect on the big issues behind hospitality in Australia.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/jun/13/my-one-special-treat-guardian-australia-readers-react-to-rising-costs-of-cafe-coffee

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zerogeewhiz.bsky.social•2 days ago

Paying people properly means things get more expensive. If your coffee is down at a certain price point, it's either crap or the staff are badly-paid.

The sector is rife with wage theft, underpayment and poor treatment, with Calombaris types always blaming wages.

zerogeewhiz.bsky.social•2 days ago

But $7 coffees aren't necessarily made by well-paid people. Most folks in suburban cafes aren't paid better than folks in a proper coffee shop, the kinds of places I quietly insist people should visit because I'm an obnoxious coffee snob.

zerogeewhiz.bsky.social•2 days ago

But the other thing these stories often ignore is that in the burbs, at least in Sydney, $7 coffees are normal while they're still around $4.50-$5 in the CBD. I don't know why this is because most burb coffee is utter swill made by people who don't care and drunk by people who also don't care.

zerogeewhiz.bsky.social•2 days ago

One of Sydney's best coffee places charges $4.50 for a standard milk drink/long black at its flagship Marrickville cafe. It's way better than The Stinky Pig or whatever is around the corner who might charge $6.50 or $7 for burnt, sour coffee made with mid-beans, a dirty machine and watery milk.

zerogeewhiz.bsky.social•2 days ago

To be fair, even if the beans were good, the general quality of burb baristas would mean they'd be butchered anyway, so they may as well buy vacuum packed supermarket beans from Aldi.

Anyway, suburban coffee is crap and a rip-off so stop paying $7 or at least find good coffee if you are paying $7.

zerogeewhiz.bsky.social•2 days ago

TLDR: $7 coffees aren't necessarily good coffees because somebody in the chain has to care and if the customer doesn't care and they're prepared to pay it, then cafes will charge it. I guess my point is, $7 for a coffee may not be too much if everything is done right but it rarely is.

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