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 pay only for the time they spend there. 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" café in Wiesbaden opened in 2013,[2] and "Dialogues" in Bangalore.[3]

Ziferblat, an anti-café in Moscow

Anti-cafés mostly target entrepreneurs, digital nomads, students, and creatives who need a cheap and convenient place to get their work done and meet other professionals.[3] They can also be used by companies as a place to give 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, but for the time they spend there, typically charged by the minute. They may help themselves to coffee, tea, snacks, and sweets. As well as food and drink, anti-cafés may offer board games, libraries of books, coworking facilities, Wi-Fi, films, and video game consoles.[4] Services vary according to spaces, with some offering lunch or brunch meals.[5]

Although all anti-cafés charge for time, pricing strategies vary. L'Anticafé in Paris charges by the hour, but customers can also pay a cheaper whole-day rate.[6][7] Others such as Be'kech in Berlin have the option to pay by the minute.[8] An anti-café in Bordeaux uses a hybrid model of charging a fixed fee for the first hour and by the minute beyond that.[9]

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. 15 June 2016.
  4. Poll, Bart van (2014-10-24). "A Trend in European Cities: The Anti-Cafe". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2017-07-11.
  5. "be'kech - Berlin's First Anti-Cafe and Coworking Space". be'kech. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  6. "Paris: AntiCafé offers coffee and Wi-Fi for €4 | EuroCheapo". EuroCheapo's Budget Travel Blog. 30 June 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  7. "'Time is money' in new Wiesbaden café". 27 May 2013. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  8. King, Megan (14 June 2017). "Berlin's First Anti-Café Opens Its Doors". Culture Trip.
  9. "New cafe charges customers by the hour..." The Connexion - French news and views. 12 September 2017.
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