By William Isau
SIBU, Nov 26: Certain coffee shops here have increased their beverage prices while more are contemplating doing so due to costlier ingredients and goods.
The public now has to pay 10 sen more for the price of tea and coffee. This comes as some coffee shop operators said the prices of condensed and evaporated milk, as well as sugar, have soared recently.
Sibu Coffeeshop and Restaurant Owners Association chairman Tong Ing Kok acknowledged that some coffee shops had hiked the price of beverages while others are looking into it.
“I have received queries from operators who asked whether they should raise the price of their beverages and by how much,” he said.
Tong said the association is in a dilemma as it needs to adhere to the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act before responding to the queries.
“As we are also affected by this Act, the association has to refrain itself from telling operators what to do,” he said,
However, due to the costlier price of ingredients and goods, the association cannot keep quiet either.
“Should coffee shop owners increase the price of beverages? We can’t give a definite answer. But if they have no choice, we can only tell them not to push up their prices too high but at a reasonable level. Maybe they can follow their old rate of increase,” he said.
Tong said what is important is for them to display their price list on their premises so that customers will know better about the new price of beverages. — DayakDaily
