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A new app launching in New York promises coffee connoisseurs the opportunity to enjoy limitless coffee for $45/month. We already know of the health benefits from drinking coffee so now you can save your wallet whilst you save yourself.
The app offers access to a half dozen independent coffee shops to begin with but this is likely to expand over time. Don't want to commit to $45/month? They also offer pre-paid 10-25 cup plans.
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(Score: 1) by urza9814 on Friday April 18 2014, @12:43AM
Oh of course. Isn't that how these things always work though? They'll tell the potential customers: "Buy all the coffee you want!" while telling the coffee shop owners "Our metrics show an average purchase of one cup a day" or something.
True. Maybe just $1/cup. Or maybe the service could be ad supported. Maybe a fixed cost per month. I dunno, I didn't RTFA ;)
True, I did think about that, but that's largely a fixed cost. They're already paying this. That's kind of where my mind was going when I mentioned that I think this will largely attract the Starbucks crowd -- so unless they get a HUGE influx of customers, it's practically free money, because they're sure as hell not gonna hire more employees for it otherwise. Could hurt very bad though if a bunch of their regulars start taking advantage of this though. That may depend on how it's advertised -- as well as who and how regular their regulars are.
That seems a very different issue. It's not about the cost of the Wi-fi, it's about being overrun by people sitting on their laptops, not buying anything and driving off potential actual customers by occupying all the tables.
Oh yeah, that seems quite likely to me as well. But I don't think it will be because the coffee shops abandon it; rather I bet it will fail due to a stagnant and declining user base making the provider decide it's not worth it anymore.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by N3Roaster on Friday April 18 2014, @01:24AM
On the surface it seems like a different issue, but it really isn't. Some places can't support such an offering and shouldn't, and these places have made the decision to just not do it or have gone out of business. Other places can manage it just fine and can clearly see the business case for it. Then there are a lot of places that have some other problem that they need to fix but they get hung up on the technology and fail to see what problem they should be addressing. But if it's not people on laptops using the WiFi it's students doing homework or groups holding meetings or... And in most places these people aren't a problem, they're an opportunity. (Full disclosure: my "WiFi squatters" actually bring in a lot of business but YMMV) Sorry, I'm just tired of all the misguided whining I see about it. So I can easily see this as having the same perception problem, but this is easier to drop because, especially if they're able to convert these people into regulars, they're seeing the discount instead of the full price on every one of those drinks. It's a little more tangible.
Typica - Free software for coffee roasting professionals. [typica.us]
(Score: 1) by urza9814 on Friday April 18 2014, @01:45AM
I don't really disagree with you on that not being the real (or at least full) issue. Of course you can do 'one hour free wifi with a drink' type schemes (I think Panera does this?) or figure out other ways to manage it. That requires some technical skill though that small independent shops may not have. And of course not offering it can be a business strategy too -- apparently there have been some coffee shops banning electronics entirely as part of their marketing strategy/ambiance. That only works if you're the only one doing it though.
But I still think this is different. Free wifi, people holding meetings, whatever it is -- all of that can provide marketing, but it doesn't *directly* provide revenue. This does.
(Score: 1) by N3Roaster on Friday April 18 2014, @02:11AM
Disagree that those things don't provide revenue. Few will take a table without buying anything. It's more about turning the tables over (though if the place isn't packed, what's the harm?) or getting people to buy enough and the solution to that could be as simple as harder chairs or louder music. Or it could be taking the time to ask the one person with stuff spread out over the largest table if he wouldn't mind moving to a smaller table or share with the one person with stuff spread out over the other big table to make some room for the group that just came in. A little polite conversation often does wonders to train customers to be more considerate of each other without giving the impression that you're trying to chase anybody off. Where I see the similarity, and where I was really going with this is that both are likely to be problems of false perception rather than a rational evaluation based on in depth observation of reality.
Typica - Free software for coffee roasting professionals. [typica.us]