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Thread: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

  1. #1
    Be the ball Roy Tucker's Avatar
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    NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Interesting dilemma for the business owners. I've got a friend that owns a coffee cafe (an independent, not a franchise) and he has this problem.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/13/te...y/13wifi.html?

    Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    By GLENN FLEISHMAN
    Published: June 13, 2005

    SEATTLE, June 12 - The staff at Victrola Café & Art is sick of talking about Wi-Fi. Given the opportunity, as at a recent cupping in the back of the store to smell and taste the latest in-house roasts, the group prefers to talk about cafe culture, or how to create a nuanced light roasted coffee.

    But lately, the subject of Wi-Fi - specifically, the cafe's move to cut back on the free Wi-Fi connection it provides for patrons' Internet use - has been impossible to avoid. "It's distracting," said Jen Strongin, a co-owner.

    Victrola started providing free wireless access two years ago after customers asked for it. As in hundreds of other cafes, the owners hoped it would encourage regulars and infrequent patrons to buy more food and drinks. But there was also a disadvantage, staff members said: the cafe filled with laptop users each weekend, often one to a table meant for four. Some would sit for six to eight hours purchasing a single drink, or nothing at all.

    Even worse, when lingerers were confronted, they were bellicose. "We get yelled at by people who feel it's their right" to use Victrola's Wi-Fi without making a purchase, Ms. Strongin said. Tony Konecny, the shop's head roaster, added, "It's rarely a pleasant interaction."

    But Ms. Strongin and her staff said they were more concerned that the cafe, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, had turned into a place devoid of sound except the light clack of keys, not the focus of lively interaction that she and her husband, Chris Sharp, had intended.

    So last month the cafe discontinued the free service on Saturdays and Sundays - and so far it has proved to be a sound business move. Weekend revenue is up and more seats are filled.

    Victrola is part of the emerging expectation that cafes will provide Wi-Fi, free or for a fee. In the United States, more than 8,500 cafes offer Wi-Fi, based on online listings of Wi-Fi locations; 3,500 provide it at no charge, according to MetroFreeFi.com, a site devoted to free wireless access. Those offering it free include chains like Panera Bread as well as independent stores; others, like Starbucks, provide the service for a fee through T-Mobile or other providers.

    Some of Victrola's customers were in a slight state of disbelief when the Wi-Fi was disconnected. One regular customer repeated over and over, "That just doesn't work for me," Ms. Strongin said.

    Where some see a curse, others see a blessing. A Victrola competitor, the Zoka Roasting Company, which has two branches that offer free Wi-Fi, is doubling its store near the University of Washington, adding 1,400 square feet to accommodate 45 more seats.

    "Students and young people are the majority of people who hang out at coffee shops, and they all use Internet and computers as a major part of the day," said Jeff Babcock, Zoka's owner. "And I'm not going to exclude that. If it gets too busy and packed, I'll build another one."

    Independent cafes have experienced mixed results with free Wi-Fi, however, according to many cafes and hotspot operators. A cafe's nature can be classified as "office," "social," or a hybrid, according to research by Sean Savage, who recently earned his master's degree from the University of California, Berkeley. His thesis focused on the intersection of technology and society in cafes.

    In his work, Mr. Savage found that an office cafe discouraged conversation and was filled with people who came alone and were focused on their work. Social cafes have customers who arrive in groups. "If you come into a place like that and it's a particularly busy time, you get dirty looks if you open a laptop and start zoning out," Mr. Savage said. But the hybrid cafes were more complicated. Many of these hybrid cafes, like the Canvas Gallery in San Francisco, are a "different place at different times of day," he said.

    Canvas Gallery is a bar, art gallery, music performance space and coffee shop that has tried several methods to throttle free Wi-Fi use in response to some awkward situations, like laptop users listening to music on headphones while sitting directly in front of a band that was performing.

    "People are kind of tired of the laptops," said the manager, Jenny Hay. She said Canvas Gallery experimented with no-Wi-Fi weekends, then went back to full-time availability before deciding last week to set hours of use that end at 5 p.m. weekdays and 2 p.m on weekends.

    Ms. Hay said Canvas also tried creating the equivalent of a smoking section for laptop users, but quit after finding that customers moved the signs designating those tables. Ms. Hay said she was still eager to have Wi-Fi users but at appropriate times of day.

    Samovar Tea Lounge, also in San Francisco, tried several strategies to discourage lingerers; it was previously an Internet cafe, and some of the expectations from that time remained, said Jesse Jacobs, a co-owner. "When you show up here and there's row upon row of laptop users, it just kind of kills the mood," he said. The store disabled its electrical outlets at one point, but customers did not like it. Mr. Jacobs also tried turning off the free Wi-Fi at busy times, but that left some customers confused as to when the service was available.

    Mr. Jacobs said the strategy most recently adopted for dealing with a lingering Wi-Fi user is to have staff members ask, extremely politely and with increasing frequency, whether the patron needs food or tea. "By connecting with them, it's a rare time that there's a problem," Mr. Jacobs said. Ms. Strongin, the Victrola owner, recognizes she cannot force patrons to be gregarious. "Not everybody wants to talk to someone else in the cafe," she said.
    She used to wake me up with coffee ever morning


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  3. #2
    You know his story Redsland's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    The NY Times spends 1,000 words showing that, if you give people something of value for free, they'll take it.

    Rdsland spends 1 word in reply: Duh.
    Last edited by Redsland; 06-13-2005 at 01:41 PM.
    Makes all the routine posts.

  4. #3
    The Lineups stink. KronoRed's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Just force them to buy stuff, every hour if need be
    Go Gators!

  5. #4
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    It's more than a simple statement that if you provide something for free, they'll take it. obviously the cafe owners knew this.

    What they were hoping for--and which evidently didn't take place--was that the wi-fi users who would sit in the cafe for hours on ened would end up buying multiple beverages, food, or other goodies while they were there. It obviously didn't happen, so I wonder if other similar-style shops will follow the same trend.

  6. #5
    Member ochre's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Quote Originally Posted by registerthis
    It's more than a simple statement that if you provide something for free, they'll take it. obviously the cafe owners knew this.

    What they were hoping for--and which evidently didn't take place--was that the wi-fi users who would sit in the cafe for hours on ened would end up buying multiple beverages, food, or other goodies while they were there. It obviously didn't happen, so I wonder if other similar-style shops will follow the same trend.
    Looks more like a difference between a business men selling coffee (the one that sees the value add of wi-fi as something that is worth expanding his shop for) and coffee connoisseurs that are in it for the love of the craft (that jumped at a market trend without understanding who it would impact their business).
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Quote Originally Posted by ochre
    Looks more like a difference between a business men selling coffee (the one that sees the value add of wi-fi as something that is worth expanding his shop for) and coffee connoisseurs that are in it for the love of the craft (that jumped at a market trend without understanding who it would impact their business).
    The shop should have done more research to see if adding such services DOES increase business. It sounds like their customers were asking for it, and they probably assumed (naively, perhaps) that getting their customers to stay longer would translate into more sales. However, it should be pointed out that the "businessmen" coffee shops (such as Starbucks, Caribou, etc.) can far more afford to have a seat in one of their establishments taken up by a non-paying customer, since their locations are so plentiful. It doesn't noticeably affect their revenue.

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    Member ochre's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Where some see a curse, others see a blessing. A Victrola competitor, the Zoka Roasting Company, which has two branches that offer free Wi-Fi, is doubling its store near the University of Washington, adding 1,400 square feet to accommodate 45 more seats.
    Zoka is no starbucks
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  9. #8
    Puffy's Daddy Red Leader's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Dang, I thought that said Lingerie.
    'When I'm not longer rapping, I want to open up an ice cream parlor and call myself Scoop Dogg.'
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  10. #9
    Member ochre's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Quote Originally Posted by Red Leader
    Dang, I thought that said Lingerie.
    That's an entirely different market.
    4009



  11. #10
    Puffy's Daddy Red Leader's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Quote Originally Posted by ochre
    That's an entirely different market.
    Yea, the one I'm interested in.
    'When I'm not longer rapping, I want to open up an ice cream parlor and call myself Scoop Dogg.'
    -Snoop on his retirement

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  12. #11
    I rig polls REDREAD's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Quote Originally Posted by Red Leader
    Dang, I thought that said Lingerie.
    .. now that idea might work

    I'm no expert, but I assumed that free WiFi would attract people that don't have high speed access at home that would sit for hours downloading stuff.
    Most of them would probably care less if the place was selling coffee, hamburgers, bear traps, or whatever.
    [Phil ] Castellini celebrated the team's farm system and noted the team had promising prospects who would one day be great Reds -- and then joke then they'd be ex-Reds, saying "of course we're going to lose them". #SellTheTeamBob

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  13. #12
    Member ochre's Avatar
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    Re: NY Times: Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users

    Quote Originally Posted by REDREAD
    .. now that idea might work

    I'm no expert, but I assumed that free WiFi would attract people that don't have high speed access at home that would sit for hours downloading stuff.
    Most of them would probably care less if the place was selling coffee, hamburgers, bear traps, or whatever.
    not necessarily. I have High speed at home and a T1 at work. I just like the idea of free wifi. I eat at panera because they have it; I wouldn't otherwise.

    I'm an ihobo.
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