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Comment by yroc92 | Hacker News Reader

In my local college town, there was a trendy cafe/restaurant in the middle of the newest, hottest apartment complex. They were so desperate for customers, it was almost palpable. They would badger you about their latest deals if you sat in there. There was tons of space for hanging out, but it was always vacant.

Fast forward to after a new business moved in (a trendy soda shop). They encouraged people to hang out there with game nights, open mic, etc. Suddenly the same location with the same design was the coolest place in town and always packed with paying customers.

I'm not sure why everyone wouldn't think this is the best route, especially at an eatery.

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I think the large reason is that many people are not at all reflective. They are not trying their best to objectively evaluate their situation and the problems they have.

When you are an owner of a business this is really dangerous situation to be in, because there is no external oversight and no easy way to get feedback. I think this create this delusional type of business owner we can sometimes observe say in Hell's Kitchen. These are real people.

This can work the other way though. There was a bar near me that ran weekly trivia with a different host each week of the month. One host would hold the “needy trivia” which was fun and always very well attended, to the point the bar was packed with nerdy folks. Except nerdy folks aren’t the biggest drinkers, most just had water or nothing at all so despite its popularity it was bad for business.

I've heard this anecdotally about some bands. They pack the house with people who don't drink anything but well whiskey and the cheapest canned beer in the bar.

There’s a bar near an old apartment of mine that started as a steampunk bar but pivoted in to a more generic sci-fi themed nerd bar (though it kept a lot of the original steampunk fixtures). I asked the bartender about it once, and he basically said “it turns out that steampunk people don’t really drink much, but sci-fi nerds drink like fish, especially if the cocktails are themed”

I think it depends on the business and its characteristics. You can have a high-turnover restaurant (cheap Chinese, cheap Mexican) or a low volume expensive restaurant (could be Peking Chinese, or heute Mexican). The former will be very annoyed of you overstay beyond eating. The latter are used to long dinners extending into long convos, enjoying the high margin extras.

For some businesses having loiterers may be good for business in creating a "hang out" like '30s soda shops, others may have a clientele which wants a more relaxed atmosphere.

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