Two slices of toast? That’ll be £4 please
...but it IS buttered, ‘hand cut’ and served by ‘lovely staff’, says beach cafe’s manager
IT’S not just any old toast. It’s made with freshly baked bread from a local bakery. What’s more, it is cut doorstep thick and served with proper salted butter by charming staff.
And that justifies charging £4 for two slices, claims seaside cafe Remo’s – that, and the lovely views over Aberavon beach in Port Talbot, South Wales.
The cafe yesterday defended its prices after visitors branded the £4 charge for toast ‘mad’ and ‘ridiculous’, with one saying: ‘Wow! Rip-off expensive prices – this is Port Talbot!’
Remo’s manager Tony Difrancesco said the price rise – set out in a new menu last week – was not about ‘getting rich’, but to compensate for soaring electricity, food and wage bills.
‘It is indeed £4 for two slices of toast (£2 for one), but we serve only hand-cut doorstep slices of fresh bread from a local bakery that have been toasted and buttered only with real salted butter and delivered to you by one of our extremely lovely staff members,’ he said.
‘This toast can be enjoyed while admiring the beautiful Aberavon beach. We definitely could cut costs if we wanted, but we would have to cut quality, and that is something (we) are all unwilling to do.’
Port Talbot is among the most deprived areas in Wales, with average weekly earnings of £534 – around £8 less than the Welsh average. Aberavon ward, where the cafe is located, is among the top 25 per cent most deprived in Wales.
A latte at the cafe costs £4.10, a cup of tea £3.10 and a pint of lager £6.80. An English breakfast is £11.
Mr Difrancesco said the Government’s recent decision to increase the minimum wage had impacted on the business, which employs more than 50 staff, at a time when small independent outfits were already struggling for survival.
‘We never want to increase prices if we don’t have to, but running a cafe is both expensive and extremely difficult in today’s climate,’ he added.
‘We have recently seen the largest increase in cost of energy, huge increases in the cost of food, equipment, and ingredients, and this year the largest single increase in wages there ever has been in the UK.
‘In a business where approximately 40 per cent of turnover is used to pay for our 50-plus staff, it follows that we have to increase prices accordingly.’
Writing on Facebook, Nigel Harris was supportive of the cafe, saying £4 was the ‘going rate’ for local bakery doorstep toast in other parts of Wales, such as Cardiff and Barry.
But others said the prices were ‘scandalous’. Andrew Chetwynd said: ‘When no one turns up because of their exorbitant prices, they won’t be able to pay the electricity bill.’