How To Deal With Customers Who Say Your Coffee Is Expensive

In Cambodia you can buy iced (condensed) milk coffees from local street vendors for less than 2,000 riel (0,5 US dollars). However, at your hipster cafe, possibly in a gentrified area that may be described as ‘quaint’ by foreign tourists, sensible hipsters expect your coffees to be priced from 8,000 riel (2 US dollars) or more per cup. But how and what do you respond when customers glance at your menu, contort their faces with disgust and scoff, “Your coffee is expensive”?

Well, there’s 3 main ways you can go about it depending on how you feel.

Stern & Sassy

If you have enough charisma and attitude, you may roll up your sleeves and defend your hipster cafe. If applicable, you may emphasise your coffees are priced higher because:

  • the quality of your beans are greater (freshness, flavour profile, etc)
  • your beans are ethically sourced and fair trade (farmers and workers are compensated fairly)
  • your beans are imported from abroad
  • your coffee equipment, plus its maintenance, is costly

If you actually pay taxes, insurance, work visas and permits, or pay your staff above minimum wage instead of exploiting volunteers, family members or children for low-cost or free labour, please feel welcomed to mention those too. Finally, and just as importantly, please feel welcomed to mention sky-high rent by greedy landlords and cost of electricity paired with your air conditioner(s) running endlessly.

Polite & Patient

If you’re a monk or a person who can remain calm amidst confrontation, fix a warm, gentle smile on your face and express yourself politely and patiently. When the customer complains, nod and say “oh, I see”—without sarcasm. Refrain yourself from apologising (“oh, I’m sorry”). If you apologise, you assign fault to yourself and invite the customer to blame you or innocent members of your hipster cafe.

With this method, your goal is to pacify the customer by acknowledging their conflicted feelings: they really want to buy coffee but also hate capitalistic exploitation. In other words, they think you’re getting stinky, filthy rich from selling coffee but in fact your hipster cafe is struggling financially because you didn’t account for numerous problems including how often suppliers deliver incorrect items and staff not showing up to work because of rain.

After pacifying the customer, if you feel they’re open to conversation you may attempt to reason with them and explain (see points in Stern & Sassy).

Quick & Confident

The easiest way to subdue an upset customer is to respond quickly, with confidence and brevity, and follow up with solutions to distract them.

“Your coffee is expensive!”

“Yeah, it can feel that way. We use higher quality coffee beans from Guatemala. Would you like to try our cheaper cold brews, or get a packet of NescafĂ© from our old Cambodian neighbour instead?”

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