Café forced to change menu after customers complain of “unacceptable” sauce charge
Eating out is a luxury that many Australians are finding harder to afford and now, one café has been criticised for a pricing decision that has been described as “un-Australian”.
Café 101 in Sydney is receiving backlash after charging customers $6 for sauce.
The criticism was so severe that the café owner told news.com.au that he has changed his menu, accepting that the decision to charge customers so much for sauce was a “big mistake”.
On the café’s menu, customers are given the option to add either, pepper, garlic, mushroom or gravy to their “premium 60-day grain-fed” scotch fillet 260g steak ($23.90) or grilled chicken breast fillet ($21.90).
Both meals come with fries, but to add sauce, manager Eli Farrah expected customers to pay an extra $6.
“It’s absolutely outrageous and un-Australian to charge that much for sauce,” said Connor Watson, who stumbled across the café after shopping.
“To be fair, I don’t think $23 is bad for a steak and chips — especially in the inner-west where everything is expensive. But, they know that you’re going to want some sauce with it so it’s just a rip.
“I mean, it’s got to the point where you just expect prices to be high for almost anything in Sydney but $6 for a bit of sauce on your meat is a step too far.”
The café received negative feedback after a disgruntled customer uploaded a picture of the price of the sauce on social media.
Mr Farrah said the sauce is freshly made and comes in a big bowl so that customers can share and dip their chips, but he did admit that it was a mistake to charge so much.
“We are very sorry and we realised we have made a mistake,” he told news.com.au. “The thing that customers probably didn’t realise is that this sauce is fresh and we understand that we didn’t make this clear.
“So now we are charging $3 for it (the fresh sauce) and we are taking it off the menu in two weeks time,” he said.
“We’ll be adding different sauces to the menu, but customers can still order the fresh sauce if they want it.
“We are always listening to feedback and learning from our customers every day. Sometimes you make mistakes.”