
Ask HN: Coffee shop managers/owners, does removing free WiFi increase revenue? - nodesocket
This infuriates me in San Francisco. Makes zero sense. Obviously I am going to buy coffee while I am there.<p>I am willing to bet that removing free WiFi actually reduces monthly revenue.
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dangrossman
How many coffee shop owners do you think read HN?

> I am willing to bet that removing free WiFi actually reduces monthly
> revenue.

"That's why Whalen decided there'd be no more screens. It was a gradual move.
She started by shutting down the Wi-Fi two years ago. Then, the cafe banned
screens during lunch."

"A lot of people were disappointed," Whalen says. "But we actually saw our
sales increase."

[http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/04/10/300...](http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2014/04/10/300518819/no-
laptops-no-wi-fi-how-one-cafe-fired-up-sales)

I think you owe someone a coffee.

~~~
closeparen
These articles are extremely grating.

You didn't make your customers more social, you ejected your introverted
customers and banished them back to their homes. If you do that and stay in
business, then it's tautologically true that 100% of your remaining customers
are extroverts.

You aren't strengthening the human community, you're kicking its more
vulnerable members out of public space and making them even more isolated.
That's your right as a business owner, but the pompously self-righteous
moralizing tone is uncalled for.

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foobarbazetc
It increases revenue significantly if the place sells food.

Most people on laptops/wifi pay $2-3 for a house drip and camp out for hours.

A cafe doesn't owe you work space.

~~~
e59d134d
I used to camp out at various coffeeshops near my university back in
mid-2000s. As poor student, I was not only trying to use free wifi but also
save on power by not staying in my apartment a whole lot.

I used to rotate between various coffee shops. Many of those were independent.
Starbucks was corporate evil coffeeshop where I rarely bought anything but
camped out for hours.

The problem was Starbucks was the most welcoming. In some of independent
coffeeshops, owners or managers would hint indirectly that I needed to buy
something or they hate people on laptops.

Eventually, I would go to Starbucks by default unless I had enough money to
get something more than a coffee. Hey gotta support independent coffeeshops.

Here is the funny thing now I am professional who loves coffeeshops. Starbucks
is my default option still. I don't work from Starbuck anymore but easily
spend about $150 there a month.

(It is kind of sad because I am sure there are independent coffeeshops that
would have tolerate broke students but then those are probably near campuses
and students graduate and new broke students move in. So they will never get
customers for life if they are not a chain.)

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nickthemagicman
Yeah. How is this even a question? I leave coffeeshops all the time because
all the tables are full and the place loses my sale.

~~~
closeparen
This is baffling to me: there are actually people in the world who would
happily go to a coffee shop, buy some coffee, and leave?

That's an extremely poor value proposition and I've been working to eliminate
this particularly egregious form of waste from my budget. If all I want is
coffee, I can make it myself.

The whole point is getting to spend some time in a pleasant place other than
your home. Certainly some people can take "some time" too far, but I have no
reason to be a customer at all if I'm expected to leave immediately.

~~~
richardknop
You pay for time saving. You don't have to shop for coffee/milk, deal with
logistics of storage of ingredients and making sure you have supply
continuously, no need to make the coffee, wash cups afterwards.

Also you get a standard quality of coffee which you can rely on. If you do it
yourself, quality can vary and you might make good coffee some times but other
times you will make terrible coffee.

It depends but for some people it might be a good value proposition. The time
savings and consistent quality could be more valuable then couple of bucks for
coffee twice a day.

~~~
cafard
My quality control is worse than Starbucks? Not in my experience, no. Yes,
there is a minor time savings--though when there are ten persons in line ahead
of me, most buying complicated drinks, that savings decreases.

~~~
richardknop
It depends on person. Personally I can't make a good coffee on consistent
basis so I'd rather buy it from coffee shop so I know I will get the same
standard of quality I am used to.

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pseingatl
Once upon a time, people who needed to work on their laptops (or pads of
paper, but not typewriters) went to the public library. Unfortunately,
homeless shelters don't let their guests remain in the shelters during the
day. The result is that libraries are full of homeless people. Theft is an
issue--theft is an issue in coffeeshops as well, but it's worse in libraries.
And the tables are just as full. You can usually purchase reference privileges
at a university library for a nominal sum, and government depository libraries
have to let you in for free. This is an alternative to the coffeeshop
freeloaders and the poor homeless with no place to go.

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sgentle
I've always wondered why there aren't more hybrid cafe/coworking spaces. Seems
like the traffic patterns could be complementary, so you'd get higher
utilisation and more reliable revenue. Maybe customers pay to use the space
and get discounted food & drink, or pay for the food & drink and get
discounted use of the space.

The cost would be more than just camping out in a cafe, but I think people
might be willing to pay more to feel like they're not leeching and get a more
tailored service, ie reliable wifi, power, printing etc.

~~~
allwein
There are a few around. 21st Street Coffee in Pittsburgh is one example
([http://21streetcoffee.com/](http://21streetcoffee.com/)). Their main area on
the 1st floor is for regular customers, but they have a large upstairs loft
outfitted with your typical coworking desks, chairs, couches, etc and access
to wifi. I think it's something like $10/day for the coworking space and that
also gives you a 20%(?) discount on coffee, etc.

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jaypaulynice
If your place seems to be buzzing, it could attract more customers right? If
it's empty, then less people will come for sure. Ever walked in an empty
coffee shop and thinking what happened? You could print the password on the
receipt. Why not just try it out one day/week/month?

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brudgers
I'm curious why tethering off a cell phone isn't a solution.

