Café writes best reply to negative TripAdvisor review

Many of us rely on TripAdvisor for reputable peer reviews on restaurant experiences and some of us even take a few minutes out of our time to comment about our own experiences, good or bad.

This one lady however, may not have thought through her TripAdvisor review regarding her negative experience at a café in York, England.

Hannah C from North Yorkshire left an angry review for Bennett’s Café and Bistro in High Petergate in early December, complaining she was charged £2 (around $4) for a cup of hot water and a slice of lemon.

And we agree, that’s one expensive cuppa tea! But after reading the café's informative reply, the price she paid for a cup of hot water with lemon doesn’t sound very dear at all.

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Since the café’s reply went viral, it has received an overwhelming response, with people commenting in support of Bennett's and traveling from near and far to check the infamous café out for themselves.

This was probably not the response Hannah C was hoping for, in fact quite the opposite!

Here is Bennett’s Café and Bistro's response:

I’m sorry that you feel that you were ripped off and I’ll try to explain why you weren’t. You entered the cafe and the waiter showed you to your seat, gave you a menu, waited for a time and then took your order.

He entered it into the till, collected a cup, saucer and spoon and took them into the kitchen. There, he selected a knife, chopping board, got a lemon from the fridge, cut off a slice and put it in the cup. Then, he returned to the dining room, drew off the necessary hot water and carried the cup to your table.

When you were leaving, he printed off your bill, took it to you, processed your credit card payment and cashed off the till.

After you left, he cleared away your cup, saucer and spoon, took them into the kitchen, washed and dried them, along with the chopping board and knife and put away the lemon.

Then, returning to the dining room he restacked the cup, saucer and spoon, wiped down your table and replaced the menu, awaiting the next customer. That’s at least 2-3 minutes work for the waiter.

The cost of overheads for the business, i.e rent, business rates, electricity costs, bank charges, etc works out at £27.50 per hour of trading. I pay my colleagues a decent living wage and after taking into account holiday pay, national insurance and non-productive time prior to opening and after closing, the waiter who served you costs me £12.50 per hour.

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Therefore, together the cost is £40 per hour or 67p per minute, meaning that the cost of providing you with 2-3 minutes of service was £1.34 £2.00. Then the government add on VAT at 20% which takes the cost of that cup of fruit infusion to between £1.60 and £2.40 irrespective of whether you had a teabag costing one and a half pence or a slice of lemon costing five pence.

I have to pay my suppliers otherwise the facilities won’t be available to other people who use them in the future. I accept that it makes the price of a cuppa in a city centre cafe look expensive compared to the one you make at home, but unfortunately that’s the cruel reality of life.

It’s actually the facilities that cost the money, far more so than the ingredients.

Perhaps, the rudeness that you perceived in me was triggered by the disrespect that I perceived in you by your presumption that you could use our facilities and be waited on for free.

Burrrn!

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