Coffee chain slashes prices for polite customers

JTA — In Israel, being polite to your barista might not only earn you a smile — it could also save you money.

Café Café, one of the country’s largest coffeehouse chains, is now offering a 25 percent discount to customers at its 157 branches who say “please” and “thank you” when ordering a regular size cup of coffee, Globes reported Wednesday.

A cup of coffee will cost well-behaved patrons only 6 shekels, or $1.66, rather than 8 shekels, or $2.20.

Café Café CEO Noam Zimerman told Globes that he hopes the initiative will “encourage more respectful conversation in Israeli society.”

He also expects it will benefit his company financially: The chain saw a 30 to 40 percent increase in new customers when the price of a cup of coffee was slashed to 8 shekels several years ago from 11 or 12.

Zimerman anticipates a similar increase this time.

“When we cut the price the last time, we didn’t think we’d do it again,” he said. “But we saw it was good for both the franchise holder and for us, so we decided to take it one step further.”