glassware or just plastic?

[bdepew]

I am kinda confused, do most coffee shops use glass for customers who are stayin in or glass and plastic or just plastic? how do you justify pricing when someone stays in and gets a small glass cup for their espresso beveerage compared to a 12-16oz drink they would take with them.

I would like to offer glass/ceramic cups for customers who arent taking it to go for Latte art and such, and to maybe even let customers keep their mug here at the cafe.

any ideas?

 

[equus007]

glass or plastic

best practice is to keep the cost technically the same for to-go v. dine-in and then offer a discount to those who bring their own mugs. Had a shop where we let people keep their cups in house but it just never really works out. Too much to keep track of and the health department always cringed when they saw my wall of cups.

If you plan on pushing latte art there is a better option...thrift shops. Go out and buy a variety of cups both ceramic and glass and let the customer choose which cup they want. Its always fun when customers bicker over who gets what cup...makes for great atmosphere and brings your customers together which is always good for business. This can also help keep your costs down. Plan on people stealing your cups and breaking them on a regular basis.

Ceramic is prefered but glass allows the custmer to see layering(the Guiness effect). Its a toss up.

 

[Comfy Place]

Glass or Plastic?

As with much else that we are doing in our shop, we want to do things easy, but decent. Keeping that in mind, we have done things in the following manner:

If a customer is having their drink to go, it goes in a paper/plastic cup, with a lid if they want. If a customer is staying in, we ask if they want their hot drink in a ceramic mug; cold drinks, unless they ask, we put in plastic. We don't change the price if they come in with a travel mug, or if they take their drink in ceramic in-house. Everything is the same price to the customer, but we obviously save a bit of cost when they bring in their own or if they use our house ceramic mugs. The difference is not great, but savings is savings.

We have yet to have someone question us about a discount when they bring in their own travel mug. I don't think its as big a deal as some people would make it out to be (although, maybe it just isn't a big deal in my area).

I would urge you to keep things simple, because it makes things easier for you in the long run. But, keep your ear open to your local market, because you might have an anomoly that other places don't have, or you might have an opportunity to get a leg up on any competition that you have. Cheers!

 

[Javamom]

Hey,

The owner of the shop I work in will dicount only people using our travel mugs...and actually told someone he did not to fill another companys cup when he filled it. Needless to say he lost that customer.

But we do allow a refil on coffee for someone staying and offer the ceramic mug. We use glass for juices and plastic for iced lattes and drinks. That refil is for coffee only.

 

[MrBox]

I appreciate when I go to a shop for a drink in and am offered it in a mug.

that makes me feel good.

to many times I get coffee for here in a to go cup.

 

[bdepew]

12-16oz cups

so if you have a 12oz cap and instead you put it in a ceramic italian style cup, 4oz, u charge the same amount?

 

[Comfy Place]

I think you're getting me confused! If a customer orders a 12oz cappuccino (american style, obviously), and they are staying here, we will almost invariably default to putting it into a ceramic mug (ours are 16 and 24 ounces in size). If they are getting espresso only, and they are staying here, we also have the demitasse cups and saucers for them that are specifically for espresso only. In the above 2 cases, if they are to go, then they both get put into our paper cups. And regardless of if they stay or go, the prices are the same.

Does this help answer your question, or have I muddied the waters even more?