I have been a remote worker for more than 10 years and I love coffee shops. Here in Brazil, coffee is a big part of our culture, so much that we don't even think about it very much as it is a part of our lives since we're young (note: yes, all generalization is wrong and of course there are many Brazilians who don't drink coffee but on average we do).
Coffee shops has always been my favorite working places. Here in Niterói (sister city of Rio), I know basically all the coffee shops in walking distance from my home and their owners. We became friends after spending long long hours in their shops to the point that they routinely reach out to me and other frequent customers for opinions and health checks about their business.
I try to occupy a two-seat table if possible but in cases where none is available I will move to a larger table. I always buy coffee and usually something to eat, if I stay long hours, I try to keep ordering stuff every now and then. Sometimes I don't but since I go there multiple times a week, my orders average out as being a good customer they want to keep.
On my favorite place, which has the amazing name of "Dice'n'Roll Coffee Tales", they are a different kind of coffee shop. They have board games and comics, two of my passions, and attract a lot of "geek" crowd. They have a "pass" you need to buy if you're going to play games, there are multiple types of "passes" depending on if the game is theirs or yours, and if you pay a bit extra, all that amount of money is converted into food and drinks of your choice, so basically it is a commitment to buy food and drinks.
During weekends and Fridays, which are the times when the house is usually at full capacity, they ask that the remote workers also buy passes and if possible, group together in tables instead of one on each table. Mostly recurring clients are OK with this approach, those who are not, usually don't come back, but I have seen this happening only once. The pass we all buy costs USD 8 per day and all that becomes credit to buy stuff, so with that money, I usually get a couple coffees and one ice tea. Usually we all end up spending more than USD 8 at the end of the day and being grouped together on weekends makes for great networking (also every now and then, we pick a game to play).
All that story to tell one thing, that some coffee shops are about building community and getting people together. Not all places subscribe to the notion that you need $X customers per hour paying $M or we go bankrupt. I see these articles about coffee shops in New York that reduce everything to math. Let me tell everyone one advise, "if you do the math, you'd never open a coffee shop", those are really hard to maintain and keep afloat. I've seen dozen shops come and go, the ones that remain open are the ones that will make people welcome and cater to the remote workers, or groups of friends, or whoever wants to make those shops a part of their lives.