How To Turn Your Café or Restaurant into A Successful Coworking Space

Cafes and restaurants looking to boost their sales and expand reach should look at remote workers and freelancers as a lucrative customer segment. Most are looking for pleasant and comfortable coworking spaces to get away from their mundane and routine home setup.

With the rising popularity of startup culture, coworking spaces have become more popular with entrepreneurs and freelancers. Avoiding a traditional office setup, these people look for spaces that amplify productivity and give a feel of community whilst working.
What are the benefits of providing coworking spaces?

Your space has already been designed to keep guests satisfied. However, from a practical viewpoint, capitalising on the unused spaces can be an additional source of revenue. Here’s how you can take advantage of the slow time periods.
● More people are searching for workspaces, and this number is set to rise. Respond to this need of the hour by offering them elegant and comfortable spaces

● Capitalise on your café’s theme and design, which has already been designed for optimal guest satisfaction. Instead of waiting till rush hours, customers will be around during the lull periods as well.

● Cheaper, quieter places always attract more working customers than loud and crammed options. Especially the younger freelancers desire affordable yet comfortable space options where they can work undisturbed for hours, and will certainly pick a spot that matches these criteria over a busy coffee shop on the corner.
How to make your coworking space profitable?

You already have the amenities favourable for a workspace. You could offer one or more of the following to make it profitable.
● Membership program
Offer reasonable and competitive charges on a monthly or daily basis, so that the user can choose as per his or her requirement. Food/snacks and beverages can be part of the membership or chargeable extra.

● Limited menu including usage of space
Without a monthly membership fee, this might attract more young workers and students, who are looking for more affordable options. You could even have an hourly charge option for this.

● Rewards or special offers
Offer free drinks or snacks for users who stay beyond a certain period of time, to encourage them to stay longer and keep coming back. You could even have early-bird offers or happy hours for customer loyalty and revenue spike.
How to offer an ideal coworking space?

You are converting your existing space into a coworking space, the onus is on capitalising on existing resources while adding a few others required for the same. Below are what you could include in your plan –
● Calm music playlists like instrumental or classical tunes
● Fast and reliable wifi options
● Printer or scanner
● Charging points or stations
● Ample space on tables, remove napkins and cups if required
● Comfortable seating and table set up
● Work-friendly menu with light bites like sandwiches, salads, baked items, breakfast options etc.
● Self-serve beverage refreshment point, for example, water or coffee
● Accessible trash cans

With an aesthetically designed café or restaurant already in hand, you have the benefit of not having to start from scratch, to tap into the potential segment of coworking spaces.