With the cost of living biting hard, local independent cafes are being forced to put up their prices.
Local chef Marty McAdam, owner of The Street Kitchen and Paget Lane in Enniskillen is defending their prices believing they are ‘fair’ and ‘necessary.’
This comes after comments underneath a story on The Herald’s Facebook page about new Enniskillen café The Toastery claimed that the price of a toastie and a cup of tea or coffee was ‘too expensive.’
One person wrote, “Too expensive £10 for a toastie and tea or coffee ridiculous.”
Another person commented, “Tenner for a toastie and a cuppa, expensive? 3.50 for a toastie in most cafés about town.”
Marty said, “People don’t understand that when you pay a tenner for a toastie and a tea or coffee £2 of that goes directly to the government, that goes down to £8 pound, then there is tax, that goes down to £7 pound, then you have your produce, that goes down to £5, then you have your energy costs such as electricity, heating and also staff wages, and your tenner profit, very quickly becomes 50p.”
He continued, “The price of everything has just gone up and that just brings the cost of everything up. Would I love to sell the street kebab at £4 and make some sort of a profit on it? Of course I would but it is just not viable.”
Marty explained that many of the local coffee shops also use local produce and certain ingredients which are more expensive.
He said, “A lot of the coffee shops in the town use Joe the Bakers bread which is probably a bit more expensive to buy but it is a quality ingredient. I know The Toastery use ham hoc and cotija cheese which are expensive products and that is what makes it not just another toastie, it makes it more special.”
“Of course every business wants to turn a profit but I think for most of these local businesses and cafes it is more of a way of life, it’s not about being a millionaire and making a massive fortune, it’s about surviving and having enough to pay your staff and pay your suppliers,” he said.
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