The café sector has begun to diversify rapidly in recent months, with the traditional coffee and cake offering spreading to offer cereals, crisp sandwiches and even alcohol. However, one business has revolutionised not its offering, but its pricing structure, launching a “pay to stay” café in Manchester.
Ziferblat offers consumers the opportunity to enjoy unlimited coffee, an all you can eat food selection, fast Wi-Fi and a wide selection of games, yet instead of paying an upfront fee or for the items consumed customers are charged for the amount of time they spend in the premises. Upon entering, customers are handed an old fashioned alarm clock which they use to “clock out” at the end of their stay, paying a rate of 5 pence per minute – the equivalent of £3 per hour.
The Manchester outlet is only the second commercial property owned by the firm, with the first being located in London’s Shoreditch. It is also the more expensive of the locations, with the Shoreditch outlet charging only 3 pence per minute; an unusual situation given that the cost of living in London is far higher than in the north of the country.
Head of operations at Ziferblat, Gareth Harold, claims to see consumers as “micro tenants” rather than as customers.
He continues; “It completely turns the model on its head.
“When you go into an establishment where you eat or drink, you expect a transaction, you purchase something that enables you to occupy that space for a certain amount of time – here, you can kill time and you don’t actually have to eat or drink at all if you don’t want to, but if you do you can help yourself.
“The idea is you’re paying for the space, you’re not paying for what you consume.”
Each Ziferblat outlet comes in the form of a large warehouse-style space with numerous tables, chairs and sofas for customers to make use of. So far, the Manchester division has proven immensely popular with consumers, especially for self-employed creative types looking for a comfortable and cheap location from which to work.
Obviously the low charge paid by consumers means that the business is not necessarily the most cost effective model in the world, as a consumer could in theory pay just 50 pence for a ten minute stay during which they eat lunch and grab a cup of coffee. However, Mr Harold claims that a high profit margin is not the aim here, and that the concept is more of a social experiment than anything else.
While growth in the business has remained extremely minimal, Ziferblat’s current aim is to establish a pay as you stay café in every university town in the UK. Furthermore, the concept has begun to catch on overseas, with around a dozen similar cafes under the Ziferblat moniker currently operating in Europe.
As consumer preferences continue to change in the wake of numerous technological advancements, it seems that businesses of this type – those pushing the boundaries and exploring our perceptions of the norm – will become ever more important in local economies throughout the UK.
Do you think this is a good idea, or would you prefer to spend your time in a traditional coffee shop?
