Takeout Cups
We went to compostable cups about three years ago. We love the idea. Still, questions are still out there. What IS the ecological footprint of one of these cups as opposed to a regular paper cup, styrofoam, mason jar or whatever.
I found this blog: http://www.sustainabilityissexy.com/blog/?p=9
Now, we sell an amazing travel mug made by Thermos. It is truly leak-proof, and will hold a coffee HOT for two hours. We do not sell these to make our fortune! At $29.95, they are between $6 and $10 less than I have ever seen, or heard of, elsewhere. We sell about 48 every 18 - 24 months!
On principle, we refuse to carry cheap travel mugs - you know the kind. They are often plastic-lined (don’t retain heat. give of gases and chemicals), thin-lined stainless, (not heat efficient and leak). They often sell for under $15, giving the owners a 75% to 100% markup.
We are not only business people. Our conscience plays a big part in what we do so we pay $22.95 per mug (purchasing in small quantities is expensive), and charge $29.95. Don’t do this at home! You cannot make a living this way… you have to sell a lot of other stuff as well - at a price that compensates for the mugs.
Anyway, this all started in my mind because of my week-long efforts to tackle the increased costs of doing business. I stumbled on raising coffee prices. (Beans cost us about 15% more now than the last time we raised prices in Feb. 2010. Milk and cream are up about the same amount). We have been charging 15¢ for a compostable takeout cup that cost us nearly double the price of a regular paper cup. Now we have a new supplier and we are saving substantially so we will start to charge only 10¢.
However, the bigger issue is the environment. Really, the best thing we can all do is buy ourselves a travel mug from wherever and use it! All the time.
On another note: we cannot truly match the price of coffee beverages of cafes that roast their own beans. We can only deduce that roasters pay between 50 and 60% less for their beans than we do. Roasting probably costs another chunk which brings their total cost to about 60-65% of our cost. I am guessing here but I KNOW that for every dollar we pay, they MUST be holding their total costs at 65¢ or less. otherwise, they could not make a living.
Given equal overhead buried in variable and fixed cost as a percentage of goods sold, we have to make up the difference by charging more. Our other products are priced in the more traditional sense: we aim for approximately 33% for material, 33% for labour (we run between 38 and 42) and the rest pays for overhead and, hopefully, profit.
Now, that is the longest piece I have written in years. Thanks for reading. Feedback (gentle, please) is appreciated!
