151–160 of 233 posts
[1] https://tedpiotrowski.svbtle.com/free-geoip-api-with-cloudfl...
Honest question: How do cafe owners make the best of workers using their cafe as a work place? I've heard it referred to as the "laptop hobo" problem: customers that come and buy a small coffee and take up a table for 4+ hours. How have you seen cafe owners handle this well so that they sustain the business and avoid the freeloader problem? Sometimes I see "No Laptops" signs in cafes, but I'm sure there are better ap…
Coffee shop I used to work at made the conscious choice not to have any customer-accessible power outlets, so people were limited by their laptop batteries. I was told when they built the place, they debated between offering free wifi, or having plugs in the cafe. They ended up offering wifi, but no plugs. Seemed to work pretty well, I don't remember there being a huge crowd of people staying long. Although it was al…
> Although, that plan is faulty now, given that I could easily get 6-8 hours of work out of my Macbook, thanks to the M1 chips.
Heh, I was going to say, the other day I was able to use my M1 Pro laptop for nearly 8 hours and it still had around 30% battery remaining.
Also, "Near me" doesn't seem to work. It finds nothing, even though when I manually search my city there are plenty of options. Might be useful to explain how it determines what's "Near you" and attempt to expand the radius or suggest a search if it finds nothing.
I've found libraries to be superior to cafes for working -- dead quiet. Funded by the taxpayer, so zero financial worries, just a public space. Free WiFi, Printer, etc. Nice chairs too
My library has fiber internet...but it only allows browsing. No ssh, no git, no vpn...
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This [0] cafe in Berlin charges you by the hour. And the first drink is included. Worked really well for me when I was in Berlin. No subscription needed. [0] https://kleinmein.gr/en/coworking-space/
This is brilliant! I wonder how they police it? Is it simply a limited time access to the internet? Important to note that the second feature they list is: "comfy seats." It seems that many coffee shops try to fight the over use problem with uncomfortable seating.
This is cool. Reminds me.. I have always liked the idea of opening a cafe (who hasn't !?) but I'd struggle with the modern behaviour of peeps sitting for hours taking up a plug + wifi in exchange for ~£$4. Hugely uneconomical for independents. Good-faith customers aware of the economic burden of their behaviour are a VERY rare breed.. So I quite like (/ethically hate) the idea of creating scarcities in order to influ…
Not your fault, frizkyK, but perhaps it's something to chew on. Maybe crawl some maps data to locate "potential" candidates and offer value to a user for evaluating them?
Edit: I see that it's actually already a feature that you've disabled for stability reasons. Interested to see how it behaves once that's resolved.
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most folks here are overthinking/armchairing the problem. coffee shop owners have their economics figured out or they wouldn't stay in business. cafes (like the dozens near me) are perfectly capable of sustaining their business with a blend of folks grabbing coffee to go and others sitting for hours. you don't need to institute limits, subscriptions, nudges, or any other customer-hostile action. just price well, and…
I think you're armchairing the problem by stating coffee shops exist therefore there is no problem. Many coffee shops do impose user hostile actions like loud music, small uncomfortable seating, etc. The others are big chains that have efficiencies (e.g. lower prices, more efficient workforce, better analytics) that are not available to smaller shops. In most competitive markets you cannot compete (i.e. not lose mone…
Starbucks did what you’re suggesting to increase turnover and profit at stores — but the opposite happened: sales dramatically dropped, even though the time to serve a single customer and the average customer stay both dropped.
The issue is that Starbucks doesn’t just sell coffee — they’re a cafe. And cafes are in the business of selling thirdspace, where you create fun memories with friends and family. So when they provided a substantially worse version of that product, it sullied their brand and lowered their overall profit, because people no longer associated coffee at their chain with good times.
Similarly, the owner of a small cafe I used to work from loved the three or four regulars who would come near open and stay all morning — us being visibly chatty in the large storefront windows would draw in more of the nearby joggers than if the store was empty. We were a free living ad that getting coffee there was a fun time and popular with locals.
I think you’re ignoring a lot of ecosystem complexity with your “optimization”.
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as an avid cafe-goer, i've looked into the economics of cafes and talk regularly with the coffee shop owners around me. competition is almost never a concern for most small/independent cafes. starbucks doesn't matter competitively because their prices aren't appreciably lower and they cater to a different segment than independent cafe owners. the biggest problem is almost always reaching their target segment--like th…
"Marketing" usually means getting people to know about your product or service and getting them through the door. If the owner has people sitting there and wants them to purchase more, that's more increasing average revenue per user which is limited. How much coffee can someone drink? If someone drinks a plain coffee, getting them to upgrade to a higher margin sugary drink is hard. You can push food and snacks, but t…