[IP] Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users
June 13, 2005
Some Cafe Owners Pull the Plug on Lingering Wi-Fi Users
By GLENN FLEISHMAN
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.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company Home Privacy Policy Search
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