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Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

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Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#181

Post by danans »

Back in the the dotcom days, "Internet Cafes" were special places in SF, where people would hack, surf, eat not-so-great pastries and equally dodgy coffee.

Today, as far as I can tell, there is only one cafe left in SF that calls itself an "Internet Cafe": http://orderquetzalinternetcafe.com

I'm not sure if it's a vestige of the past or some kind of retro themed branding, but it's interesting nonetheless.

Perhaps these are still more common in other countries where home and mobile internet isn't as widespread or reliable?

Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#182

Post by mhitza »

padolsey wrote: post #14

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…

I can't find the one research study I wanted to link to now, but with a search on Google Scholar you'll find papers on this topic.

The one I wanted to link to raised up the same concerns from coffee shop owners, and those that embraced a coffee shop/coworking space model, had their plugs + comfy chairs in the back where they could also offer a less noisy environment (without an actual separating wall or anything like that). If I recall correctly they also had one-day type of passes that included a couple of drinks/snacks.

That specific paper was about this model during the pandemic period, a followup study would be interesting now once everything is opened/opening up.

The inverse of this is that you want to have "stiff" chairs if you don't want people to linger for too long when they get a coffee.

Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#185

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

edouard-harris wrote: post #94
padolsey wrote: post #14

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…

This is going to depend a lot on location. Coffee chains are able to support this sort of behavior because the many customers that drop $4 in one minute on their morning commute, are subsidizing the few customers that pay $4 for six hours of seating and wifi. Assuming you open your cafe on a viable commuter path, you can take advantage of this subsidy and your economics can work out. You can improve your economics ev…

> only 1-2 customer-accessible wall sockets,

Before I got an M1 laptop, this was a real issue for me. Now, it really doesn't matter. My battery will easily last the entire time I am in the cafe without really thinking about it.

Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#186

Post by jrib »

padolsey wrote: post #14

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…

If there are empty seats, I don't feel guilty at all.

I'll usually get up multiple times to order something. And the atmosphere of feeling welcomed makes me come back every week.

Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#187

Post by debesyla »

mattjaynes wrote: post #74

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…

My local caffee that I often visit with a laptop usually just plainly asks to leave if you are at the table for more than 1 hour without ordering anything :-D I have no problem with that and it doesn't seem like there is a lack of laptop-users and study-groups in the caffee, I guess other people are understanding too :-D

Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#188

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

mikebowman wrote: post #138
mattjaynes wrote: post #74

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…

The people who try to order a single black coffee and plop down for 8 hours (the aforementioned "laptop hobos") are almost assuredly going to be using an older laptop with a beat up battery.

People who can afford a latest gen MacBook with great battery life are also the people who can afford fancier drinks every couple hours.

Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#189

Post by CodinM »

Nice, but I specifically don't want this tool. I work from cafes a few days a week. I'm aware that this is not what cafes are for, so I generally try to consume as much as I can (multiple espressos and water bottles that I'd honestly normally get) to offset that, and also tip generously. I also try to get the most undesirable and/or smaller table, and so far the people appreciated and understood what I'm doing. But then again, I know people are different. So I'm not looking forward for a lot of people to fill cafes and sit there for 4 hours on a 2$ bill, it's just going to hurt me as someone that tries to be mindful of someone's business, and the business owner as someone who'll have to kick out a hobo with a Macbook for sipping an espresso for 5 hours while working for more than the coffee shop makes in a day/week.

Re: Show HN: I built a website to find nearby cafes to work remotely from

#190

Post by loceng »

edouard-harris wrote: post #94
padolsey wrote: post #14

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…

This is going to depend a lot on location. Coffee chains are able to support this sort of behavior because the many customers that drop $4 in one minute on their morning commute, are subsidizing the few customers that pay $4 for six hours of seating and wifi. Assuming you open your cafe on a viable commuter path, you can take advantage of this subsidy and your economics can work out. You can improve your economics ev…

A busy cafe with seated people also psychologically has an impact on people just stopping in for takeout.
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