Office politics at the local coffee shops
boston.com
boston.com
That's coworking: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coworking
San Francisco coworking spaces include Citizen Space in SOMA near South Park: http://citizenspace.us/
And the Hat Factory in Potrero: http://hatfactory.net/
But these places have their limitations, and everyone thinks they can do one better. In fact, Digg founder Kevin Rose likes to say that when he cashes out, he'll start a teashop, but he once fantasized to me about starting a tech artists collective. I even encouraged him to try it, but I have a feeling it'll never happen.
Because to be honest, running a co-working space for people too cheap to find their own offices, going full-service without the high margins of a high-volume walk-in cafe, dealing with customers with serious entitlement issues, is not nearly as fun as all the other businesses a talented tech professional could start in SF or Silicon Valley.
If it were structured as a joint ownership, and all customers had to be members, you might also avoid certain licensing requirements aimed at a place open to the public. Think along the lines of the Gentlemen's Clubs of Victorian London, or a Freemason's lodge.
If I were to join, I'd like for a back room or upstairs attic or something to be designated the "Diogenes Club" were no talking or phone usage was allowed.
If they're gonna sit in there anyway, buy one cup and generate animosity, you may as well turn it into a good thing instead. The goodwill created by offering such an environment may attract many customers that do not loiter as well as food and other sales for those that do.
There is no denying good wifi access (fast and preferably "free") and comfortable surroundings brings more customers. But I've seen one business for sale that was always packed full of customers but never really turned a profit..everyone bought like $2-3 worth of coffee and snacks and then sat down at one of the roughly thirty desks with their laptops for a couple hours at the minimum, never again getting up to buy something else. Customers that just wanted to have a seat to wait or sit for a few minutes never got a chance anywhere: all the desks/chairs, sofas, bar stools and all the patio seats outside were always occupied. It was truly bizarre...a haven for anyone wanting to use their laptop outside, but completely awful for all other customers.
There must also be something said about how a busy cafe can bring in more customers, but those customers will typically be turned off by the inability to find any seating that isn't the floor if they wanted to eat(rather, drink)-in.
That being said, I've visited theOffice once down in Santa Monica near me, which is a nice little place for working. I think a day pass there was $40, which at that point I think is overpriced (see below)..but they have memberships that make it as cheap as a few bucks a day to get free beverages and wifi and power and a place to chill quietly. No noises of grinding and banging and customers walking in and out and names being yelled out. I also know of blankspaces which provides more amenities (i.e. conference rooms), but they are just as expensive.
I must mention my reasoning for the $20-not-enough/$40-too-much: coffee shops are usually located where space is at a premium. Workspaces like theOffice and others can be located, frankly, anywhere where there is commercial real estate. They don't need to be located at a prime area of a mall or at a busy intersection, they can be hidden in a little side street office building where rent is typically cheaper. That alone is probably enough to make a huge difference in cost and services that can be provided.
I think the best solution is to have each receipt carry a bar code for a certain amount of minutes of Internet based on the price of the bill, that way people have to keep buying food or get out. Frequent customers can have their credit card linked to their MAC address.
This is a joke, right?