Family-owned Perth café Caffn8 is giving customers 10 per cent off their coffee when they display a receipt for a strawberry purchase they made that day.
The promotion comes after a rash of incidents across Australia of people finding sewing needles inserted into strawberries. The contamination scandal has caused a crisis within the strawberry farming industry, with multiple businesses forced to recall products.
“There are strawberry farms only a few kilometres from where we live and I’ve driven past them many times,” Manager Gavin Wright says. ‘[We’re] just trying to help out a little as this issue has gotten out of control.”
Gavin’s daughter and Caffn8 Assistant Manager, Taylor Wright, says the promotion aims to encourage people to not be afraid of a few isolated incidents.
“We had a couple customers yesterday who said their kids are too afraid to eat fruit now,” Taylor says.
“But I think it will get better. People will realise it’s getting blown up a bit and that there’s no reason to avoid strawberries.”
Though several people have taken advantage of the promotion, Taylor says the true success of the campaign is how it has engaged the community.
“People have had a really positive response to it,” she says. “We’ve had a few people show us their receipts and get the discounts, but [mostly people are] just really encouraging what we’re doing.”
Caffn8 sources its produce and drinks from Western Australian farms and suppliers. Taylor says the café did not expect such a positive response to the promotion and simply wanted to help local farmers.
“Dad likes to support locals and people who are trying hard like him. He’s all about helping people out,” Taylor says.
“If we just do something small it can really help our farmers out.”