DO you want to know why coffee is so expensive in Perth?
We run a small café in Kensington and are fed up with the increasing fees and charges that we don't pass on.
The price of leg ham has gone up, real smoked bacon has gone up, plus the price of chicken that we get from a small ethical grower has gone up, and milk and coffee beans have all gone up.
The council has now decided that we have to pay $225 each year from now on to have our business licensed.
We already pay an exorbitant amount above a residential property in council rates.
Then the water authority sent us a new bill for drainage.
They base it on 90 per cent of the water that comes into the café.
They already charge extra rates (because we are a business) then add an “Industrial Waste” certificate fee.
Most of the water that we use goes down people's throats or onto our garden.
We use an efficient dishwasher that recycles, water, and we survive on the minimum toilets allowed by their rules.
We already pay for water use like everybody else.
Insurance is also loaded for reasons the insurers choose not to explain. Workers compensation, public liability and basic equipment insurance push the cost higher.
Then we have staff that we pay above-award rates because they are good.
So keeping the prices down is hard when you get slammed left, right and centre by Government greedy hands.
And people wonder why coffee is so expensive in Perth!