Pulling the plug on laptops
With all the fuss about cafe's in NY not letting customers hang out with laptops http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950421033208823.html, what effect do you think this will have? Will your cafe' go along with this new trend or will you let your customers continue hanging out?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bryan Wray on
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We have a couple different luxuries at my shop. First off, it's huge. If we have 15 people in the shop that are sipping away on the same cup of coffee they have had for the last 2 hours, it's fine because we still have 20-30 tables open, each table being able to hold four people comfortably, along with outdoor seating and smaller 1-2 person tables. We are blessed in this regard and we know it.
The other blessing we have is that we are just real with our customers. When we greet them and ask how they are, they don't reply with the usual, "I'm good. Can I just get a _____" They'll normally start in on how their night was the day before (it's a college town and a college-age geared shop) along with some ridiculous story. When customers ask how we are, we reply honestly... "Tired," "Hungover," "Good, but ready to go home" "Don't ask..." Because we have started a relationship with them where we're just real, we can walk up to someone when we get packed out during mid-terms or finals or whatever and say, "Seriously, dude, you've been sitting here taking up a four top for the past two hours and you haven't bought anything. Please move to a smaller table or share with someone else or just get out." Customers expect this straightforward, no-nonsense, don't cover up how you really feel with political correctness kind of attitude from us and don't mind it because they know we are just being real. Sure, you can say, "Excuse me sir, I'm not sure if you had noticed, but our shop is rather crowded today/tonight and some of our customers were looking for places to sit and unable to find any. Would you mind moving to another table and sharing with someone else so our patrons can have a place to sit?" It sounds great and isn't hard to swallow at all... but the customer knows what you mean, they're translating it in their head... "Dude, buy something or move, preferably both."
Didn't mean to sidetrack so much. I guess it just seems silly to me to take away the use of laptops. Why not charge a fee for Wi-Fi? Then it doesn't matter if they buy a pastry or not, they bought Wi-Fi... Use that system where it prints the Wi-Fi code on the bottom of the receipt and have a $3-$4 dollar minimum purchase to receive the Wi-Fi code. There are so many ways to combat this without "Pulling the plug."
If you must have no laptops at certain times, then just say, "Free Wi-Fi from _______ to _______ everyday," and then set a timer to turn off your router when that time is up. Problem (mostly) solved. You'll still get the people that have their mobile office in your shop and are going to type papers and don't need the internet. They won't even notice when the router goes off. But what about the person that doesn't need the computer at all but still takes up space without buying anything. What about the person that comes in with a friend, sets up a chessboard and never buys anything. The game takes forever... like 3 hours. How is this person any different than the laptop user? How do you combat this type of situation?
I think the problem is more a mindset of the public that they have some "right" to come into any coffee shop anywhere and just be there. Like all cafes are nothing more than free public space and not a business. We, in the industry, are to blame for this just as much as the public. We were the ones offering free Wi-Fi, not kicking out "sitters," etc.
We made this bed, now it's time to sleep, so to speak. Find out what stance it is that you are going to take and be really, really firm about it. I commend the shops that kick out the abusers, we just won't ever be one of those shops, we don't need to be, but I still don't understand the point behind "NO LAPTOPS." Just ask them to buy something... Charge for Wi-Fi at peak business hours, heck charge all the time and spike the price during peak business hours. You can call the cheap Wi-Fi, "Happy Lappy Hour" or something ridiculous. To say no to all laptops doesn't make sense to me though, maybe someone can enlighten me.
-bry
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Permalink Reply by Chadwick Rookstool on
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Totally off subject, BUT...
"Happy Lappy Hour" just made me cry I'm laughing so hard.
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Permalink Reply by Jennifer Vaaler on
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Bryan,
Your cafe' sounds like most of the places I've worked in regard to chatting with the customers.
If a customer has set up shop and not ordered anything, we will make a point to ask them if they would like anything and start recommending a drink or food. Most of the time, they buy something at this point.
If a cafe' is near a college, I think students should be able to have somewhere to study.
For the people who take up a four-person table, or especially booth, they should be ready and be willing to let a stranger sit with them if their aren't anymore empty seats.
When we know ahead of time that a group of people will be coming in, we rent out a certain section of the cafe' if they are staying awhile. This fee covers one drink per person.
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Permalink Reply by Jarred Hoffpauir on
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Well first off why is a handful of horrible business owners who know NOTHING of customer service in NY starting a "trend"?
These guys banning laptops are no different then the ridiculous hippies who have been banning cell phones in their stores for years (screw you Redmill Burger in Seattle). Despite having great burgers when I saw "NO CELL PHONES" on their menu and then someone in front of me was chastised for having a phone, not in use and handing from his belt, I walked out never to return.
Few people understand how to provide customer service. Bryan seems to have a pretty good handle on it from his post, great ideas Bryan.
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Connecting to the internet isn't really a community building activity, actually it's quite the opposite. People usually isolate themselves when they are checking their TwittyFaceSpace. It's an activity that takes away from community in my opinion. Heck, my housemates are downstairs watching movies right now, but I decided to take my laptop to my room to be alone.
Other than sites such as this one and mailing lists, there really isn't a way to build a coffee community using Wi-Fi that I can think of.
I know that isn't the most helpful answer, but Wi-Fi isn't really a social thing. It's kind of like the reference to Cafe Grumpy (towards the end of the article) in the link Jennifer provided.
-bry
Jason Simon said:What are your thoughts on how coffee shops can use their Wi-Fi to connect with customers and build community?
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Jason Simon said:What are your thoughts on how coffee shops can use their Wi-Fi to connect with customers and build community?
Well I think of it this way...You can use a hammer to build a home for a family to love but its only one tool. It takes many tools, quality supplies, thoughtful planning and skilled execution to make that home. The Wi-Fi in a shop is only one tool. You can use that tool along with other elements to build a community. Some thoughts off the top of my head are host events like a "tweet up" or "I love Mac Day" get people talking about their high tech hobbies.
If you have trouble with a laptopper using a large table put up small signs on the table labeling it as community laptop table and welcome fellow laptoppers to share the table. Even put a power strip at that single table. If its easy people will plug in there and not at the power outlet behind the couch. Just mitigate the message with a positive spin and let people know that you are encouraging community while providing them a GREAT service when others would take that service away!
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Jason Simon said:I agree that the Internet is just a tool. For those coffee shops that are considering to pull the plug, my thinking is that they could better utilize their Internet to connect with customers. Have you heard about the coffee shop in Texas that is taking orders via Twitter?
A bit off topic but...There are some great tools like Zingle Twitter and Splickit that people can take advantage of. The beauty of something like Zingle is that it prints out the order on a small ticket when people text their orders. It can also be tied to a twitter account and print out twitter orders.
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Permalink Reply by John P on
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I see Wi-Fi, should you choose to have it, as a benefit for customers, but it shouldn't be why people come, nor why they stay. Nothing will kill the vibe more than a row of Laptops. Customers should engage each other, or engage the coffee...
There is an awesome public library across the street for those who aren't interested in coming here to enjoy a tasty beverage.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Spence on
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Awesome marketing idea - that would be great.
Chadwick Rookstool said:Totally off subject, BUT...
"Happy Lappy Hour" just made me cry I'm laughing so hard.
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It was honestly just a joke... but I guess it could work. I've come to the conclusion that I like Lappy Hour better than Happy Lappy Hour. Should I be going after some sort of copyright/patent? :0)
-bry
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