Pablo & Rusty’s CEO Abdullah Ramay discusses what the results of the roaster’s recent Australian customer survey on coffee value means to the café industry.
We’ve all heard it, standing in the queue or scrolling through comments online: “Five dollars for a coffee? It’s getting ridiculous.” It’s a sentiment that can put any café owner on the back foot. But it often comes from a place of misunderstanding, not malice.
We were curious about what Australians really think, so we did something that’s never been done before in terms of testing the power of education on coffee prices and value. We conducted a national survey of more than 850 people to get to the bottom of what they believe is a fair price for their daily cup and how education can change that.
The results were fascinating.
The information gap: what we don’t know, we don’t know
One of the first things we discovered was a simple yet crucial information gap. Most Australians, when asked to guess the price of coffee in other global cities, anchored their guess to their local experience: somewhere between AU$4.00 and AU$5.50. This isn’t a criticism: it’s a reflection that most of us live in our own economic context. But, what happens if we widened that perspective?
The education effect: a single sentence changes everything
So, we ran a simple experiment. We told them one fact: “in some major international cities, a small regular cafe coffee can cost between AU$9.00 and AU$10.00, and in some cases, up to AU$15.00.”
No persuasion. Just one sentence of context.
The result was immediate and profound. The moment they had this single piece of information, their entire perception of value shifted. Before learning the actual global price, the maximum price consumers were willing to pay for a small coffee was AU$5.18. Afterwards, that number jumped to AU$7.69. The optimal price they were willing to pay for a small coffee jumped by a massive 37 per cent.
Let that sink in. The price consumers are willing to pay is not fixed. It’s flexible and it’s directly influenced by knowledge.
The opportunity: turning price conversations into value conversations
This is the most exciting finding from our entire study. It proves that the conversation around price doesn’t have to be a defensive one. It can be an educational one. It shows our customers are reasonable. When they understand the context, the story of the coffee, the skill of the barista, the costs of running a business, or even just how our prices stack up globally, their appreciation for what’s in the cup grows.
This is a powerful opportunity to be seized, as Australian cafés and specialty coffee culture will not survive without closing this value gap.
For every café that obsesses over experience, this is your invitation to become an educator. Share the story of your coffee. Talk about the farm, the roast, the craft. Help your customers see the incredible value they get with every cup.
When we empower our customers with knowledge, we build a stronger, more appreciative community. We create space for cafés to thrive, we foster respect for the craft, and we ensure the vibrant coffee culture we all love continues to flourish.
Article written by Abdullah Ramay, CEO of Pablo & Rusty’s Coffee Roasters. Abdullah is a purpose-driven leader and technology enthusiast, uniting business strategy, leadership, and innovation to create meaningful impact in the specialty coffee industry.
Article originally published on the Pablo & Rusty’s website. For more information, click here.
