Author: Nellie Bowles / Source: New York Times
SAN FRANCISCO — The bar at the Elite Cafe here was packed, but not a drink was being poured. The champagne stand sat empty and warm.
The tap was covered in plastic wrap.Instead, the restaurant was flooded with the low din of typing. That’s because the Elite Cafe, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every weekday, is not exactly a restaurant anymore and certainly not a bar. It is a co-working space.
Everything is now a co-working space, one of those shared offices that are popular among freelancers, small companies and other workers who want a change of scenery. Coffee shops are co-working spaces. Gyms are co-working spaces. Social clubs are co-working spaces. And now restaurants — but only before dinnertime.
The company that laid the extension cords and power strips across Elite Cafe’s copper tables is called Spacious. Since it was started two years ago, Spacious has converted 25 upscale restaurants in New York and San Francisco into weekday work spaces. Membership, which allows entry into any location, is $99 a month for a year, or $129 by the month. With $9 million in venture capital it received in May, Spacious plans to expand this year to up to 100 spaces.
A restaurant makes for the perfect conversion, the Spacious team argues. Bars become standing desks. Booths become conference rooms. The lighting tends to be nicer, less harsh and fluorescent, than an office, and the music makes for a nice ambience.
Originally, the founders of Spacious thought they would have to sell restaurateurs on the idea. Instead, restaurants, struggling to pay rent and wages and frustrated with disappointing lunch traffic, are coming to them, eager to strike deals for a slice of the membership dues. Only 5 percent have made the cut to become Spacious spaces, said the company, which is unprofitable.
Spacious is part of a broader debate over how to use spaces in cities as people increasingly buy items online instead of in stores and as labor costs make restaurants an even more challenging proposition. A membership model is the future for bricks-and-mortar spots, according to the Spacious team, and restaurants are the easiest first step.
“Actively consuming isn’t what we want to do with the space in our neighborhoods anymore,” said Chris Smothers, 30, a Spacious co-founder and its chief technology officer. “Retail spaces are designed for you to come in, make a transaction and get out, and that’s why you feel weird in a coffee shop all day, because all of these spaces are designed for you to leave.”
The zoning implications of what Spacious is doing are unclear. Can a restaurant just become an office during the day?
“Somebody would have to make the case that we are an office — and I think that’s a pretty heavy burden of proof,” said Preston Pesek, 39, a co-founder and the chief executive of Spacious, who previously worked in commercial real estate investing. “What really is the definition of an office? A business conversation can happen anywhere. A phone is a computer.”
He is hoping some linguistic adjustments help. “We’re trying not to use the word co-working because of some of the zoning issues,” Mr. Pesek said. “We prefer the term drop-in work space.”
Andrew Rudansky, a spokesman for New York City’s Department…
The post Sorry, Power-Lunchers. These Tables Are Reserved for Drop-In Workers. appeared first on FeedBox.