Most of those places want you to order coffee, preferably with friends (more people per one table) drink it in some reasonable amount of time (<30 minutes), and

Most of those places want you to order coffee, preferably with friends (more people per one table) drink it in some reasonable amount of time (<30 minutes), and then leave the table to the next group of guests. A few laptopers hogging a table for half a day in an otherwise crowded coffeeshop can costs them hundreds of euros/dollars in lost sales. But i guess this creates a maket for shared workespaces, where you could lease a desk per hour.