Martha & Brothers Coffee Company — Restaurant in San Francisco

I enjoy the caffinated as well as non-caffinated drinks here. Great selection of pastries Wonderful fruit salad!

Here's my only beef, and frankly it is one that I am perplexed and dismayed about:

I am lactose intolerant, also I enjoy milk like substances in my hot drinks (or cold) to cut the acidity of them... I always request a tiny bit of soy milk for my and my significant others beverage (when I say tiny count to 2.5 while pouring one, two, . done) here's the inconsistency:

I always get the soy milk, they don't deny me... however they do unevenly choose to react to my request.

I have been charged anywhere from .50 to .15 cents for my 2.5 second pour of soy milk into my tea/espresso/coffee etc...

I don't have a problem with this if it is the official policy of Martha's, however the problem lies in that it is not everyone who charges me and in fact have even had the same person charge me and then NOT charge me the next day (and they joke about it in Spanish as though I don't understand what they are saying).

All I ask is this: if it's .15 cents post it, or do it every time. if it's .25 cents post it, or do it every time. if it's .50 cents post it, or do it every time.

It's annoyed me enough on principal that I am fine continuing my 24Th street walk up to Starbucks where they don't charge me, or joke in Spanish about me asking for a splash of soy milk for my drink.

The reality is that Soy milk really isn't that much more expensive than regular milk, skim milk, 50/50 etc...

Here is an interesting article on the subject I found by David Stephens:

Now the only problem with their logic is Stocking and Preparation. Soy Milk is good for around 1,000 years (okay I'm exaggerating but it's not perishable like cow's milk). And last time I checked preparation is pretty much exactly the same (cow or soy) for your latte.

So Stocking costs less, not more, and Preparation is a wash. The question is how much more Soy Milk costs for Starbucks mega-corp to buy. For us individuals, the best pricing I could find is around $5.00 per gallon. For comparable milk, $3.50. Let's say the Stocking costs are around 50 cents less per gallon for Soy. So there's a net $1 additional cost per gallon, spread over approximately 40 servings per gallon, or 2.5 cents extra. Starbucks charges 40 cents, or almost 94% margin.

So how about some truth from Starbucks - "We charge extra for soy milk because we can. Its an option that healthy, more affluent people prefer."

Its value-based pricing & has nothing to do with costs. Come clean about what you're doing - and profit without a guilty corporate conscience. Don't blame it on Procurement.

Finally:

i stand by my assertion that overall costs are less for serving soy vs. milk & that Starbucks is pricing due to what the market will bear and enjoys large margins on this "soy tax". I prefer not to think of my post as whining, though... :) it's a simple request for Starbucks to be honest and not come up with fake reasons for the surcharge. let's just call a spade a spade...

by your logic they should introduce different pricing schemes for non-fat, 2% and whole milk since each of these requires different containers...

I love this place because of the people, really. I'm late for the bus and making a mad dash out the door. As I fly by the other coffee places on 24th street with their long lines, I chuckle to myself as I stride towards Martha Bros. Three more minutes. I fly through the front door of Martha's and am always immediately greeted with "Hello; Good Morning! -Medium Coffee?" They've been saying the same thing since the second time I was there. The employees have a mind blowing memory for what all of the customers order there. They fill my refillable coffee mug and I'm creaming my coffee and out the door. I round the corner to the bus stop and... wait. I victoriously sip my coffee with the extra time that I now have waiting for the bus to arrive. This absolutely could never happen at any of the ahemm... big chain... ahemm coffee shops. I love you...

I love this place. They serve good coffee and different kinds of pastries. I love the staff especially the girl named Cristie(?). She's very friendly and noticed she knows almost everyone who came in. During my first visit, I asked her what coffee she recommends based on the taste and type of coffee that I usually like and so she suggested a couple of types and I bought coffee beans to try at home. I loved the coffee she recommended so I went back for a second time and sure enough she remembered me and my name as soon as I walked in.

This is a nice place to just relax, drink coffee and people watch or read a book especially on weekends. It's a nice place and has...