A café was shocked to receive a poison pen letter slating the price of their £2.20 cuppas as 'unaffordable to OAPS' - but the writer ironically spent almost as much on the stamp to tell them.
Claire and Paul Wright opened Toast Cafe and Deli in Wrexham city centre in June 2022 after taking a 'leap of faith' to pursue their dreams. The 53-year-olds were shocked to come back to the café last week after a couple of days off for Claire's birthday to discover a letter on the doorstep from an anonymous elderly couple.
The letter, from customers who had travelled 15 miles to the cafe from Hoole, Chester, bemoaned their price of £2.20 per cup of tea as 'shocking' before stating 'no wonder OAPS cannot go out'. However, Claire says she was most shocked by the fact that the couple were prepared to spend 85p on a second class stamp plus the cost of the letter to tell her the £2.20 tea was too expensive.
As the OAPS didn't leave an address for cafe owners to respond, Claire took to social media to share to highlight the 'hidden costs' of running a café as she wanted people to know it is more than 'pouring hot water on a tea bag'. Despite having never been in hospitality before, their small business has won awards including the Best Café in Wales award late last year.
Claire, from Wrexham, said: "We had a couple of days off for my birthday and when we came back in to prep for the following day, I noticed there was a posted letter on the doorstep. When we opened it, it had a name but it didn't have a full address. They started off and said it's a nice café.
"Then they said that they'd come with their husband and they were shocked that the price of tea was £2.20 per cup, so £4.40 in total. They finished the letter saying 'no wonder OAPS can't afford to go out'.
"It does make you feel like 'why are we bothering to try and run a nice café for the community to come to?' We were a bit shocked and disappointed by it because we've been open just over two years and on the whole we've had really positive feedback.
"We've won awards and things like that. To get a negative letter like that was a bit upsetting. What got me was that they were complaining about the price of a £2.20 tea but then spent 85 pence on a postage stamp. I'd rather they'd have kept the 85p and put it towards what they thought was an expensive cup of tea."
Claire revealed the letter led her to doubt their current prices but, after researching tea prices among competitors, discovered the average price in Wrexham cafe's was 22p higher than theirs. The café owner and her husband, who works as the chef, described how they not only have to pay for raw materials such as water and the teabag but that their prices cover the 'overheads to have a business' including electricity and telephone bills, accounting and licensing fees, and kitchen equipment.
Claire said: "As a business owner you do doubt yourself and think 'maybe I do need to price check, are we more expensive?' as you do try to keep an eye on your competitors. When I did a little bit of research looking at similar cafes in Wrexham, I found we were actually cheaper than our competitors.
"Would they have done the same in any of those establishments as well? It's not just about pouring hot water on a tea bag, we have many many expenses to deal with. We had lots and lots of positive comments on social media. I did the post to highlight the costs to customers about running a cafe, hopefully to help other independents as well.
"It is still a difficult time with rising costs and trying not to pass those costs onto the customer as well. I kind of did it on behalf of other independents as well."
Since opening in June 2022, the cafe has won an award for Best Café in Wales and prides itself on providing Welsh produce. Claire said: "My husband and I had never been in hospitality before so it was a big leap of faith. It was something that I'd wanted to do for many years. In the first eight months we won the best café in Wales.
"We do a lot of toasted items as the name suggests and try to use as many Welsh products and produce as possible both in the café and the deli. We're proud to be Welsh and we have fabulous produce on our doorstep which is what we try to promote."
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