At Scone.nz, we’re all about the important things in life. So that’s why we’ve decided to write a State of the Scone report. We’ll pull this together annually, and maybe even every quarter as time goes on.
For this edition in July 2026, we’ve put together everything you’ve told us. Every cafe you’ve added to the map, every rating, every price you’ve logged.
This report is what that data actually says about the state of the New Zealand scone right now.
The headline number is the Semi-Official Average Scone Price of New Zealand. It’s not a government stat or a supermarket duopoly based survey. It’s actual crowdsourced data from you, the New Zealand public. It includes real prices from real cafes and collected from people who actually have been there.
This year, that number rose too, along with the general cost of living(!).
So, on with the report… or you can download it officially here:
Butter had a big year
Prices are up more than 60 percent in twelve months, and every cafe in the country making scones felt the effects.
Some passed the cost on and by the looks of it, some didn’t.
A few just started using less butter and hoped nobody would notice but it turns out that our crowdsourced data took that into consideration.
Prices, Prices, Prices
The Semi-Official Average Scone Price of New Zealand currently sits at $5.50. That’s the going rate for any scone submitted to the site. It doesn’t take into consideration the flavour, serving size, or ingredients.
It’s not a huge jump compared to butter, but in 2025, the price was sitting at $5.35 across the country, so we’ve had an increase. But given what’s happened to general prices of goods this year (including butter), it probably should have moved more.
This tells us that our beloved scone makers and cafe owners are simply sucking this price increase up and absorbing the pain rather than pushing it onto our prices… for now at least.
The Crowdsourced Map
We’ve now had 202 individual scone locations now submitted to the site. However, we are deeply missing any insights in Auckland.
It does still keeps growing every month, and we need your help to find out more! This is a crowdsourced map and the public have built it. So if you’re reading this and have eaten a scone somewhere, please submit your latest to us and we’ll put it on the map.
Your highest rated scones
One cafe per city rose above the rest this year.
Christchurch: Sign of the Kiwi. Also home to the highest rated item on the entire map, their date scone. Not a flavour we expected to top the charts, but the data doesn’t lie.
We are however sad to hear that the owner of the cafe recently passed away suddenly, so we want to pay our respects to Eric and his whanau for creating a post-quake scone location like no other.
Auckland: Foundation on George.
Wellington: Pravda Cafe.
Dunedin: Ebb Cafe.
Squeezing the Butter
We’ve all been feeling the squeeze, and the scones have too.
We’ve noted what people are saying and generally, scone sizes have been decreasing. Whether that’s due to the butter and ingredient prices, we’re not sure, but we’ve had submissions to tell us that people think they are getting smaller.
The dollop of butter has also been quietly shrinking at a good number of cafes this year. It’s one packed or slice rather than two – and thanks to you all who have noticed this on the country’s behalf.
Second, cheese scones are getting harder to find. Cheese prices climbed alongside butter – and add that to the Iranian oil crisis… it looks like a few menus quietly swapped cheese scones out in favour of plain. This is totally understandable from a margin point of view and a sad loss from a scone point of view. There are however, lots of cheese scones still out there in cities – so keep your eyes peeled!
Cost of living is going up, and we’ve noted that in the submissions.
The Scone Summary
Butter went up over 60 percent and the average scone price only marginally increased (3%). That’s hundreds of small cafes deciding a $5.50 scone matters more than ‘creaming it’ 🙂 .
Most cost of living stories end with prices going up but with cafe owners quietly absorbing the cost (even though some have reduced the portion sizes) we’re hopeful that we won’t see another major increase towards the end of 2026.
What’s next…
We’re going to keep out eyes on the good index pricing and also the crowdsourced data and will give you another report at the end of the year – just in time for summer!
We’re hopful that 202 listings turns into 300 by the time we do this again.
So please keep adding pins, keep rating date scones higher than we expected and enjoy all the buttery goodness that life can bring.
Until the next report!
Buttering out for now,
Mat & The Scone.NZ team.
