Anti-café

An anti-café (sometimes called a pay-per-minute café or a time club) is a venue that offers working space, food and drink, where customers only pay for the amount of time they spend in the establishment. Anti-cafés became popular around 2011 in Russia and some CIS countries, with further independent anti-cafés opening across the world. Anti-cafés include the Ziferblat chain, founded by Russian writer Ivan Mitin in December 2010 in Moscow,[1] the "Slow Time" cafe in Wiesbaden opened in 2013,[2] and "Dialogues" in Bangalore.[3]

Ziferblat, an anti-café in Moscow

The anti-cafe concept mostly targets entrepreneurs, digital nomads, students, and creatives who need a cheap and convenient place to get their work done and meet other professionals.[4] Spaces can also be used by companies as a place to organize presentations and press conferences at low cost.

Operation
Kaliningrad Creative Library Laboratory in 2012

Customers at an anti-café do not pay directly for what they drink and eat, instead paying for the time they spend in the space, typically on a pay-per-minute basis. They may help themselves to coffee and tea, snacks, and desserts in that time. As well as food and drink, anti-cafés may offer board games, libraries of books, coworking facilities, wireless Internet access, films, and video game consoles.[5] Services vary according to spaces, with some offering lunch or brunch meals.[6]

be'kech in Berlin

Although all anti-cafes work on the "pay for your time" basis, pricing systems vary. L'Anticafé in Paris operates on a pay-per-hour basis where customers are asked to pay 4€ for the first hour and 3€ for every subsequent hour, or 14€ for an entiree day.[7][8] Others adapt a pay-per-minute method – be'kech[9] charges 5 cents per minute that includes a selection of drinks and lunch, or an entire day for 15€. An anti-café in Bordeaux uses a hybrid model of charging a fixed fee for the first hour and by the minute beyond that.[10]

See also

References
  1. Bert van Pool (24 October 2014). "A Trend in European Cities: The Anti-Cafe". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  2. "'Time is money' in new Wiesbaden café". 27 May 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  3. "We Tried Out The New Bangalore Cafe Where You Pay Only For The Time - OfficeChai". officechai.com. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  4. "We Tried Out The New Bangalore Cafe Where You Pay Only For The Time - OfficeChai". officechai.com. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  5. Poll, Bart van (2014-10-24). "A Trend in European Cities: The Anti-Cafe". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  6. "be'kech - Berlin's First Anti-Cafe and Coworking Space". be'kech. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  7. "Paris: AntiCafé offers coffee and Wi-Fi for €4 | EuroCheapo". EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  8. "'Time is money' in new Wiesbaden café". 27 May 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  9. King, Megan. "Berlin's First Anti-Café Opens Its Doors". Culture Trip. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  10. France, Connexion. "New cafe charges customers by the hour..." www.connexionfrance.com. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
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