The Price of Ice: Paying a Premium for Cold Drinks in Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, most restaurants charge extra money for cold drinks. Such a practice is rarely seen elsewhere. Many people argue that this practice is not reasonable—the drink is basically the same no matter hot or cold, the only difference is more ice cubes in cold drink. Are the restaurant owners being greedy, trying to make the maximum profit from nothing, or is ice genuinely more expensive in Hong Kong?
The origin of the charge is the Bing sutt (冰室; literally “Ice room”), a type of traditional cold drinking house. In 1970s, the ice that Bing sutt brought from ice-production company was not small ice cubes, but rather a large block of ice. The Bing sutt workers needed to crush it to small cubes by hand. Therefore, the price of cold drinks were set higher owing to the labour cost. As times change, most Bing sutt turned into Hong Kong-style cafes called Cha chaan teng (茶餐廳; literally “tea restauraunt”). Ice became cheaper than before, but still, the tradition remained.
One defence of the Cha chaan teng still adopting this differential pricing is that the preparation of cold drink violates the principle of Cha chaan teng. In Cha chaan teng, everything needs to be fast: they earn more money by serving more people. Therefore, they serve easily assembled meals that require little preparation time . Once consumers order, food is almost immediately placed in front of them. As the cold drinks need more time to prepare, it slows down the production. Many owners saw this as losing opportunity to serve more customer. Therefore, they prefer the customers to order less cold drink. Even ifcutomers still want the cold drink, the extra charge compensates their loss. However, the idea that the little time loss equates to HK$2–3 does not seem very reasonable to some people.
Nowadays, the extra charge not only exist in Cha chaan teng but also in almost all kind of restaurant in Hong Kong. It seems counter-intuitive: people do not like the charge, yet they are still willing to pay it. However, on deeper reflection, it can be seen as reasonable. Most people think a cold drink tastes better than a hot one, despite having the same ingredient. People are more willing to pay for a cold drink. In this sense, people value the drink based not only in its price, but also how much they want it. The restaurant owners know it, so they set a higher price accordingly.
Moreover, restaurants having a clean and beautiful environment usually charge comparatviely more for cold drinks, with the tidy venue adding more value to the drink. People are more willing to have meal in a comfortable place, so they pay more instead of having meal in an untidy venue with a lower charge for drinks.
This little piece of Hong Kong food culture shows how the value of an object depends on the desire of people and how merchants can use this concept to maximise their profit.
