30/09/2026
Tell me you hate small business without telling me you hate small business.
We have NEVER charged our customers card surcharges at Whisk & Dish.
We made the choice to absorb those costs ourselves - just another cost of doing business that comes out of our bottom line.
And we’re hardly alone. According to government figures, only around 16% of Australian businesses were adding card surcharges.
Yet once again, when the cost of living is discussed, somehow the humble cup of coffee becomes the poster child.
My concern now is that when cafés and other small businesses inevitably have to review their prices because their actual costs keep increasing, people will assume it’s because card surcharges have been banned.
Meanwhile, small businesses are dealing with the cost of fuel, electricity and gas, insurance, wages, ingredients, rent, rates, merchant fees and just about everything else going through the roof.
Why does the conversation so often come back to the price of a coffee?
How about we have a serious conversation about ALL of the pressures driving up the cost of doing business and the cost of living. Ridiculous fuel prices, rate hikes, gas profits going overseas - and the decisions made by successive governments that have contributed to the economic climate we’re operating in?
Small businesses aren’t the enemy.
Most of us are simply trying to keep the doors open, employ people, pay our bills and offer our customers a fair price.
And some of us were already absorbing card fees long before anyone decided to make a political announcement about the price of your morning coffee.
