Why a photo of this receipt from a cafe has sparked outrage: ‘This is robbery’

By NICK WILSON FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 05:12 BST, 29 April 2025 | Updated: 05:12 BST, 29 April 2025

A customer has been left fuming after paying an outrageous amount of money for a simple order at a cafe. 

The man shared a photograph of his receipt from a Melbourne cafe revealing he had forked out nearly $50 for three simple items. 

‘This is f***ing robbery,’ he wrote on Reddit.

The receipt showed he paid $15 for a Stone & Wood Pacific Ale, $8.50 for a large latte with almond milk and $16.50 for a toasted sandwich. 

The café also applied a $6 public holiday surcharge, bringing the total to $46.58. 

While social media users agreed the items were overvalued, it was the charge of $2.50 for an additional slice of tomato on his ham-and-cheese toastie that caused the greatest concern. 

Several pointed out an entire kilogram of tomatoes would only cost a few dollars more from the supermarket, while another said: ‘How much could a tomato cost, $10?’ 

When one user blamed the cost on the labour involved in slicing a tomato, another replied: ‘$2.50 for 30 seconds is some lawyer s***.’

The customer went viral after posting the receipt showing he paid nearly $50 for a toastie, coffee and a beer 

Social media users were divided when it came to the $7.50 price of the large latte. 

Most agreed the price was prohibitively high, though one, who claimed to work at a café, said the price was reasonable given the business conditions faced by café owners.  

‘Pricing is pretty difficult at the moment because you don’t want to seem like you’re overcharging and have to charge something like $8 for a small coffee to actually make a fair bit of profit,’ they wrote. 

‘This café is taking the piss charging $2.50 for the tomato… but with the current cost of coffee beans, the coffee seems like a fair price.’

Others were less forgiving about the price-tag. 

‘I’m all about best value for money when eating out, if a coffee was gunna be $8 there’s no way I’m buying that crap,’ one wrote.  

‘[And] a can of standard beer for $15? Get f***ed.’ 

Coffee aside, even the most forgiving users were hard-pressed to defend the $2.50 tomato slice.

Australian coffee prices are low by international standards, having failed to keep up with rising input costs in recent decades (stock)

‘No matter the reasoning, no matter how you spin it, $2.50 for a slice of tomato is ridiculous,’ one user concluded. 

Though the customer took pains to conceal the name of the venue, many users speculated the prices suggested it operated within an airport. 

‘This order screams airport to me,’ one user wrote. 

‘You know when you go to the airport, you will get ripped off,’ another said.

‘Eat before you go or go to the airport Maccas, but don’t moan about it.’

‘Anywhere else, that’s a huge rip off,’ a third said. 

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Why a photo of this receipt from a cafe has sparked outrage: ‘This is robbery’

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