Yes, really. The Jaques Coffee Plantation in Mareeba in Far North Queensland did the call out last week after discovered it was running low on precious loo roll at its café-restaurant – and its suppliers were out of stock.
“It was a pretty crappy situation when the staff informed me, they’d contacted three or four of our local suppliers and they’re all sold out of toilet paper as well,” general manager Jason Jaques told the ABC.
“This is wholesale suppliers too, not just supermarkets which I’ve sort of been laughing at.”
Mr Jaques posted a message on social media, offering to exchange a takeaway coffee for three rolls of toilet paper or a $42 one-kilogram bag of coffee beans for a pack of 36 rolls.
“We were starting to look at newspapers, paperbark trees or even coffee leaves – that’s how comical it became,” he said.
But despite the tempting offer, there was a tense 24-hour wait before some customers from nearby school camp site Camp Paterson swapped nine rolls for three takeaway coffees.
More people have since come forward willing to trade their loo roll for a caffeine hit, and Mr Jaques says he can see the funny side of the situation.
“It’s like toilet paper’s a commodity in Australia now – that’s how ridiculous it’s got,” he said.
Toilet paper as currency? Sounds like the new bog standard.
