Yahoo Finance Café's $27.50 avocado toast divides Aussie diners
The restaurant's breakfast menu has been branded a 'rip off'.
An Aussie café has been called out for its high prices after charging $27.50 for sliced avocado on toast, $18 for eggs, and $28.50 for smashed avo amid a cost-of-living crisis.
Critics claim menu items at the eatery are "overpriced" and "a rip off", catering largely to wealthy diners or Instagram influencers who post photos of the meals on social media.
One Reddit user, who claimed to work in bulk food distribution, said wholesale prices are up 25 per cent across the board since Covid but claimed cafés are "inflating the prices by 200 per cent". He further claimed that despite high overheads "they are ripping people off" and could sell things for lower prices and still make a profit.
The restaurant in question, Melbourne's The Glass Den café, is prolific on social media, posting curated photos of its dishes, which a number of supporters say are worth forking out top dollar for. "Look at the pics of their food on Instagram and their menu items and ingredients and you can see why the prices are what they are," one wrote.
Cafés feeling the pinch as costs rise
A Redditor claiming to be a chef also defended The Glass Den, stating its prices are "pretty fair" considering the ingredients used, including halal bacon, truffle and pomegranate, "which don't come cheap". He also listed the costs a café incurs, including wages for 10-plus staff, food, coffee beans, milk, napkins, rent, printing costs and cleaning costs, among other expenses.
"I could go on but the costs for running even a small café are super high. Weekend surcharges are so we can all skate by on minimum wage, missing out on weekends/nights with family and friends so you can all eat out every day whenever you like," he added.
Hospitality industry under the pump
ANZ Research Senior Economist Adelaide Timbrell told Yahoo News Australia in August that several factors have forced hospitality businesses to raise their prices over the past year. "The price of restaurant meals rose 6.5 per cent year-on-year to the June quarter, while the price of takeaway food rose 9.1 per cent year-on-year over that time," she said.
"This is likely due to a mix of factors in the hospitality sector, including the higher price of inputs like food, electricity and transport, as well as labour shortages which have likely impacted productivity in the sector. Rising wages in the sector may also contribute to the rising cost of dining out, though are one of many factors.
"We also know that dining spending in Australia has been above-trend for some time, and while households are pulling back now, that extra demand may have incentivised businesses to put prices up, particularly those businesses that were not able to increase their output during the 'boom' of dining spending in Australia," Ms Timbrell added.
Yahoo News Australia has contacted The Glass Den for comment.
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