Opinion with Pia Richardson: The reality of rising costs and how it’s affecting the chat around coffee

As a cafe owner, I find myself feeling the need to have a voice in the “coffee conversation”. While I can’t speak for all business owners, I imagine many will share my sentiments. It seems that while people are able to begrudgingly accept that things are getting more costly, they are somewhat struggling to accept that coffee should do the same. In the past 12 months our cost of goods to serve a coffee has increased significantly — by more than 30 per cent in fact. Our beans alone are $40 a kilo and alternate milk costs are nearly triple the price of the full cream variety. Yet sadly, most of the cafes I know have been lucky to pass on a 10 per cent increase to the customer because we know how important this little luxury is — especially in this economy. But the thing is, it directly impacts our profit, and profit is not a dirty word. It is what drives our businesses. Profit is what enables us to grow and to contribute to our community. Contrary to popular belief, most small business owners aren’t sitting in their luxury homes and cars taking profit at all costs — naturally the goal is to build a better life for themselves and their families, but it’s often at personal cost. And when you buy your morning cup of coffee (or your lunchtime one, or your 3 o’clock one), you’re not just paying for some coffee and milk and a cup — you’re paying for insurances and wages, super and training, rent, power, water and even pest control and city health inspections — in other words — all of the costs of doing business. And, when the businesses continues to absorb costs in order to stay out of “the coffee conversation”, well, it’s just not sustainable. It doesn’t help the business and it doesn’t help the community. So next time you buy a coffee, think about the staff you keep in jobs, the school fees you are helping to pay, the wholesalers and coffee roasters and tradies and hard working business owners who all benefit. We are not out there trying to fleece you out of your hard earned dollars, we are simply trying to provide a service that will hopefully make a meaningful contribution to you, to our future and to our community. Pia Richardson runs Soul Food Cafe and Teahouse