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No Such Thing as a Free Cup of Coffee Now at Historic Pantry Restaurant
Photo by AlonsoP via Flickr
As of July 1, patrons of the Original Pantry restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles have been asked to pay for a cup of coffee with their breakfasts for the firs time in the cafe's 87-year history. Now the cuppa joe runs 50 cents, says the L.A. Times, a price change "ordered by the Original Pantry's current owner, former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, to offset increased food costs."
Apparently few have complained--or even realized their freebie was off the menu. The Pantry manager was worried about angry backlash during breakfast, when a cup of coffee used to be an automatic free pour, but "only three or four customers have commented on the change. And none them complained." He estimates two-thirds of the customers hadn't even realized there was no charge for the coffee until this month.
During the rest of the day, the Pantry charges $1.95 for the coffee--which is much closer to the $2 and up many of us pay for a cup at Starbucks or other big coffeehouse chains. Of course, nothing beats free, but 50 cents for a cup of coffee is still a pretty great deal.
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