On top of Mt Coot-tha in the leafy western suburbs of Brisbane, Kuta Cafe is one of the most-popular cafes in Queensland with tourists flocking day and night to witness the magnificent panoramic views of Brisbane.
But at $4.90 for a single ice cream cone, Kuta Cafe is engaging in a consumer ripoff which deserves an immediate place in the Guinness Book of Records.
With a markup - including the average looking cone - estimated at 2000%, the operators of Kuta Cafe are creating a very poor impression particularly for our foreign and Australian tourists.
Brisbane City Council leases the Kuta Cafe and it's about time the next lease places some price controls on the operator to stop this embarrassing international ripoff.
In Aboriginal, the word "kuta" or its anglicised version of "coot-tha" means "place of honey".
For the operators of Kuta Cafe, it undoubtedly means the "land of milk and honey" - based on their great ice cream ripoff, possibly the greatest ripoff of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
Consumer Watch spokesman Paul Tully said prices charged by operators in tourist areas should protect Australia's international reputation.
"Ripoff prices particularly those charged by operators with no immediate competition are embarrassing to all fair-minded Australians."
Kuta Cafe is more than welcome to publicly justify their prices. Their response is just an email click away.
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Do you know of a bigger ice cream ripoff than the one being perpetrated by Brisbane's Kuta Cafe? Email full details to QueenslandConsumerWatch@gmail.com
