"Isn't that factored into your costs of business? Isn't that covered with your pricing?". To a degree, yes, but not everything. Watching compostable ToGo paper cups spill on the floor and be contaminated is heartbreaking when you are already paying 100% more than the regular cafe and the national franchises. The same with coffee beans being spilt everywhere: at double the price, you are losing double the profit. Cups smash, wine glasses shatter and plates chip. Franchises have you sipping out of paper whether you want to or not. That's a huge drain on the environment and unnecessary for those customers staying in. We have a policy of making our customer pay for ToGo cups with a 10c increase on price. This goes to a green charity once a year. The flipside is that anyone who comes in with a travel mug (Thank you!), gets 10c off. Simple.
But back to my gripe about waste: It's a problem everyone has, and minimising these mistakes with clear policy, training and constant reminding are the only solutions for survival and reigning in waste.
Other stuff on my mind...
This week has been an incredibly hard week for Julie and I with poor staff attendance (uncommon at haven). It's getting tougher as we enter Christmas: private parties/ catering functions and sections of the cafe booked up for events - all begin to create complications in the running of the business. Good problems of course and much needed money into the business at a time when Julie & I have been struggling to keep the wage bill down. The end of this month shall be interesting for sure.
A nice surprise today came in the form of Andrew Legg (ex-Transcend Coffee employee) who will hopefully be performing a one-man show of the Christmas Carol on 20th December at our cafe. He's also performing it at Axis, which I encourage you to attend if you're more of a city-bound person. It will give us the Christmas feel I'm looking for at haven. It will also remind me exactly what Christmas is all about (it's easy to forget).
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