coffee

the backlash against working from coffee shops is in full force

i would loooove for people to start cafes specifically targeted towards working. have wifi. charge differently. embrace coworking and make it fun. guaranteed you can foster a great vibe if you lean into it

sadly co-working cafes almost always shut down. however SoHo House style spaces continue to do well, but they need HUGE amounts of cash upfront to exist.

however what i think might be interesting is “working events” at coffee shops: ex certain times where the space is set up slightly differently and experience is different, catering to a working crowd.

yes to both

to the first point, coffee shop ticket price is really low, so people staying too long is a drain on the business. asking people to pay for a co-working space and also charging for coffee is a losing strategy. subscription models for coffee shops notoriously do pretty bad across the board 

to the second, it’s pretty hard to be a combination of things. you typically need to do one thing well - so coffee OR co-working space. co-working spaces need to be pretty large to work. no one wants to pay $$ a month to work in what is effectively a single room with a barista.

curious why co-working cafes do worse than normal ones? is it just less sales / seat? or terrible vibes?