Coffee discounts and happy hours in Melbourne and Sydney

With many cafes in Sydney and Melbourne charging $6 or more for a flat white with specialty milk, some are bucking the trend by offering coffee for under $4 every day, hosting coffee “happy hours” or offering a flat price for all milk types.

Mile End Bagel Shop Both Melbourne stores are offering $3 coffee (valid on any order) to early birds before 9am on weekdays.

At its peak, the deal could bring 300 extra coffee sales a day to the Hawthorn store in Mile End, according to co-founder Ben Vaughan.

Hawthorn (and most recently Brunswick) has introduced happy hour pricing to promote early store openings.

“We’re not making any money, which is good; it’s just a marketing tool now,” Vaughn said.

“It’s no different than paying to promote a post on Instagram. We just want people to give it a try.”

Piccolo Me’s 42 cafes across Sydney always have happy hour deals. Deals vary from location to location, but most cafes offer afternoon specials, with discounted coffee and iced lattes.

Co-founder Charlie El Hachem said the daily discounts are a way to keep customers coming back. It also encourages customers to buy other things in the store, like muffins.

“Ask any café owner: if you don’t have enough coffee, nothing else can work,” Genoa Coffee Roasters.

His family’s cafe in Alexandria, Sydney, has a standing espresso bar, just like in Italy, where you can get an espresso or macchiato for $2. Italian cafes usually charge more for coffee if you sit at a table. While it’s more about the experience than the price, Genovese admits it’s a good deal.

“It’s a really good deal compared to the $2 coffees you’ll find elsewhere on the market, but it’s very well made.”

Cheap coffee has been a selling point for 7-Eleven for more than a decade, but the convenience store is trying to attract more coffee lovers by launching $2 soy and almond milk coffees.

Currently, more than 300 stores in Victoria and New South Wales have dedicated milk dispensers. 7-Eleven plans to roll out these dispensers to 400 stores in both states by the end of 2024.

The price ($2 for a regular size) is the same as a dairy coffee at 7-Eleven.

It is estimated 25% to 40% In Australia, where people order or buy plant-based milk — a cup of plant-based coffee costs 50 cents to $1 more than dairy — the machines are attracting a lot of interest.

“We’ve found that soy and oat milks are almost as popular as milk-based coffee in many stores,” a 7-Eleven spokesperson said in a statement.

Melbourne cafe and coffee roaster Other Side has kept its regular coffee price at $3.40, even as rivals’ prices creep closer to $5 and $6. It also doesn’t charge extra for alternative milks or extra drinks. Other Side has opened two new cafes this year, with a third opening soon.

How companies like Other Side and 7-Eleven can afford this cost is a big question.

Cafe owners interviewed by CNN Business said alternative milks still cost more than dairy products, especially barista-made almond, oat and soy milks, which contain specific fats and sugars to make them foamy.

“It is difficult for traders to accept the price of alternative milk. It is still about twice as expensive as cow’s milk,” El Hachem said.

However, 7-Eleven appears to be absorbing these costs across its entire business.

A 7-Eleven spokesperson said: “Our pricing structure is that all coffees have one standard price based on their volume, so that customers don’t have to pay extra for different styles of coffee or different types of milk.”

Their machines also use one of the cheaper brands of almond milk and soy milk.

Coffee vending machine They are becoming more common in Sydney and Melbourne, and are competitively priced because they don’t pay for labour. There are 50 Flying Turtle machines in Australia, with prices starting at $3.50 for a latte.

Adam Genovese doesn’t think happy hours and discounts will necessarily lower coffee prices in the long run. Instead, he sees them as just another form of loyalty program.

The best way to save on a cup of coffee is still the most obvious: Make it at homeWith the proliferation of specialty coffee beans in supermarkets, most consumers can make better coffee than ever before in their home machines. St Ali is the latest roaster to hit the shelves, following in the footsteps of Campos, DC and others.