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I was brainstorming with a friend about creating an alternative social environment to replace restaurants for fasters, but couldn't come up with any good ideas.

by Gatsky 7y ago

agumonkey 7y ago
restingrants, a place to sit quietly and vent
Robotbeat 7y ago
La Croix bar?
coldtea 7y ago
We call the cafes. They can serve coffee, tea, etc, have people talk, listen to music, etc.
- tabula 7y ago
  I’d love to see a cafe (in my area at least) with a very social “hacker” vibe. Used books on all walls, electronic parts to build with, chess sets, events and meetups. A place a kid could come with $15 bucks and find a good tutor maybe (corkboard for community postings, jobs, clubs) I was reading about how back in the day original coffee houses were a meeting place for socialites and thinkers alike to share ideas. I’d love to see that sense of community nowadays,I feel like it’s missing in the US and would be celebrated, but maybe it’s just my nerdy idealization.
  - coldtea 7y ago
    >I was reading about how back in the day original coffee houses were a meeting place for socialites and thinkers alike to share ideas. Some still are in Europe at least. But they're closing down here as victims of modern lifestyles. We had (until the 80s) 4-5 cafes here where everybody who was everybody in culture frequented -- including different generations (20+ to 70+ year old people). Some problems: 1) real estate prices in city center makes it impossible to keep renting for such a purpose or (if the cafe owner also owns the building) more profitable to sell the place and have it be made into a clothes shop or similar. 2) rising rents or (in other cases) deterioration of city centers, means that many intellectuals, playwrights, musicians, writers, academics, etc chose to move in other neighbours, which makes it more difficult (especially with added traffic) to frequent the same city center cafe anymore. 3) some owners just die and their kids are either clueless and turn the place into some "trendy" BS losing the clientele, or want to sell it and move on, or they simply don't have kids to pass it on, and nobody gets the legacy they've created (though sometimes new people step it who respect the original vision -- sometimes even after a few years of the shop being closed).
    - tabula 7y ago
      Yeah that makes perfect sense, it is a bit sad to hear that even Europe is losing this part of the culture. We change with the times, of course... I do agree with your point about influencers moving out of city centers and towards more affluent suburbs, it would be interesting to see if there is a market for this after all closer to these areas. Nowadays as you said though, it’s not likely the ROI would surpass that of a retail location or well established franchise sadly.
goblin89 7y ago
Are there any study cafes/coworking places where you live? Those usually charge for time. That’d be the primary competition, as well as possible reference business model.
DailyHN 7y ago
Yes, that would be great. This is a real problem for me. Especially because I don't drink coffee, either.
wirrbel 7y ago
Sauna-like locations, specifically something like tepidāria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepidarium https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepidarium would be my idea. Warm rooms, water and salts being offered.
dennisgorelik 7y ago
> replace restaurants for fasters A "restaurant for fasters" is called "buffet": fasters need to eat a lot in between their fasts (assuming that fasts are frequent).

I was brainstorming with a friend about creating an alternative social environment to replace restaurants for fasters, but couldn't come up with any good ideas.

by Gatsky 7y ago

I was brainstorming with a friend about creating an alternative social environment to replace restaurants for fasters, but couldn't come up with any good ideas.

agumonkey 7y ago

restingrants, a place to sit quietly and vent

Robotbeat 7y ago

La Croix bar?

coldtea 7y ago

We call the cafes. They can serve coffee, tea, etc, have people talk, listen to music, etc.

tabula 7y ago
I’d love to see a cafe (in my area at least) with a very social “hacker” vibe. Used books on all walls, electronic parts to build with, chess sets, events and meetups. A place a kid could come with $15 bucks and find a good tutor maybe (corkboard for community postings, jobs, clubs) I was reading about how back in the day original coffee houses were a meeting place for socialites and thinkers alike to share ideas. I’d love to see that sense of community nowadays,I feel like it’s missing in the US and would be celebrated, but maybe it’s just my nerdy idealization.
- coldtea 7y ago
  >I was reading about how back in the day original coffee houses were a meeting place for socialites and thinkers alike to share ideas. Some still are in Europe at least. But they're closing down here as victims of modern lifestyles. We had (until the 80s) 4-5 cafes here where everybody who was everybody in culture frequented -- including different generations (20+ to 70+ year old people). Some problems: 1) real estate prices in city center makes it impossible to keep renting for such a purpose or (if the cafe owner also owns the building) more profitable to sell the place and have it be made into a clothes shop or similar. 2) rising rents or (in other cases) deterioration of city centers, means that many intellectuals, playwrights, musicians, writers, academics, etc chose to move in other neighbours, which makes it more difficult (especially with added traffic) to frequent the same city center cafe anymore. 3) some owners just die and their kids are either clueless and turn the place into some "trendy" BS losing the clientele, or want to sell it and move on, or they simply don't have kids to pass it on, and nobody gets the legacy they've created (though sometimes new people step it who respect the original vision -- sometimes even after a few years of the shop being closed).
  - tabula 7y ago
    Yeah that makes perfect sense, it is a bit sad to hear that even Europe is losing this part of the culture. We change with the times, of course... I do agree with your point about influencers moving out of city centers and towards more affluent suburbs, it would be interesting to see if there is a market for this after all closer to these areas. Nowadays as you said though, it’s not likely the ROI would surpass that of a retail location or well established franchise sadly.

goblin89 7y ago

Are there any study cafes/coworking places where you live? Those usually charge for time. That’d be the primary competition, as well as possible reference business model.

DailyHN 7y ago

Yes, that would be great. This is a real problem for me. Especially because I don't drink coffee, either.

wirrbel 7y ago

Sauna-like locations, specifically something like tepidāria https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepidarium https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tepidarium would be my idea. Warm rooms, water and salts being offered.

dennisgorelik 7y ago

> replace restaurants for fasters A "restaurant for fasters" is called "buffet": fasters need to eat a lot in between their fasts (assuming that fasts are frequent).