Everyone lies to reporters
In a recent front page article of the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, Dan Fost wrote a really interesting article about the emergence of neo-nomadic worker culture, describing the new breed of workers that is starting businesses in coffee shops of cities like San Francisco. Jessica Guynn, another writer for the Chronicle who interviewed me about dotherightthing for her upcoming article about us, knew that I fit into this group and referred Dan to speak with me about my experiences as an entrepreneur who reeks of coffee at the end of each long workday (coincidently, I am writing this post as my clothes soak in coffee bean fumes at Espresso Roma Cafe). This was my first article in the traditional media that I actually got to speak to the reporter before seeing it in published form. I lived to talk about it, but the experience unfolded an interesting lesson, which I would like to share with you.
The article features Kevin Burton and Niall Kennedy, who have worked to popularize the term “bedouins” to describe members of this emerging army of laptop carrying coffee shop entrepreneurs. These guys are two of the hundreds of people in San Francisco who know every coffee chop with free Wi-Fi within a couple mile radius, as well as the operating hours, clientèle (a.k.a. scenery), food/coffee quality and prices, and internet connection quality of each cafe. Fost concludes the article with a section discussing the obligation of bedouins to purchase. “Almost every mobile worker interviewed said they try to buy something at least every hour.” Then, the article turns to me, the only interviewee who allegedly doesn’t make a purchase every hour:
But not everyone.
Ryan Mickle, 26, moved to San Francisco last month to run a Web site he co-founded, DoTheRightThing.com, which lets users rate companies on their social value. But Mickle can’t always afford to do the right thing himself.
“We’re bootstrapping entrepreneurs. We don’t have any funds,” he said. His Web site is not yet bringing in any money. “I’m reluctant to pay $9 for the overpriced food that tends to be in the cafe,” he said. “It’s the Wi-Fi user’s dilemma. … It’s a mind game I play with myself: How many coffees is fair? I need to be sure to invest in them as a consumer or they’re not going to last very long.”
While every interviewee for the article lied about their purchasing habits, I was singled out for honestly describing mine, which are no different from virtually all coffee shop patrons. I buy based on the price and quality of the food and coffee (and often when quality is low and prices are high, in order to support a cafe that is serving as my temporary office that day), and in my significant experience I am not alone–few people ever return to the cafe counter to purchase a second cup of coffee, snack, or meal, and the majority tend to stay for periods of 3 hours or more.
The Starbucks experience sells, but so does their coffee
Offering free Wi-Fi to customers is part of providing customers with a great cafe experience. Yet, not all cafes offer free access to the internet, since it does typically attract those who will stare uninterruptedly into their laptop screens for hours (but will buy at least some coffee and food, regardless of quality and price). I often frequent Royal Grounds, which offers mediocre coffee, priced higher than Starbucks’, average-tasting $7 sandwiches, and is actually pretty dirty. Yet, (more importantly) it offers free Wi-Fi and lots of tables and power outlets and receives a steady flow of business as a result. Depending on bedouins to drive the sales of a cafe, however, is not the best model. I was recently made aware that one of my favorite cafes, Canvas Cafe, a large, open cafe, filled unmatched chairs and tables, sofas, and a constantly-changing gallery of local artists’ paintings on the walls, is closing at the end of this month. This cafe reminds me of why I moved to San Francisco–the venue and its patrons are of an eccentric, intelligent breed, and it is located across the street from the Golden Gate park, in case you’d like to search for inspiration in over a thousand acres of beautiful trees and gardens. Unfortunately, despite the great coffee and food (which, of course, aren’t sold cheap), Canvas hasn’t been able to generate enough foot traffic to provide its owner with any substantial returns on his or her investment. The not uncommon mistake made by the Canvas Cafe’ s owner was losing sight of focus on sales that create the highest returns. If my goal is to maximize my return on a cafe, should I attend more to the physical experience of the cafe itself (which I offer free to customers to compliment the coffee and food I sell), or to the coffee and food itself? When was the last time a car salesperson took you to the dealership lobby to offer you a cup of great, free coffee, and maybe a donut, but never once asked if she could help you with your next car purchase? Cafes are businesses, and it is irresponsible for their owners to expect their products to sell like crazy if they don’t work to create an environment in which their sales are maximized. The owner of a business is responsible for “tweaking” this model, finding a balance between creating an experience for those who will stay for a few hours, and those who will buy only to walk right out the door, and to keep people buying (at the Grove, which makes up for its lack of free Wi-Fi with its “scenery” and great food, busboys proactively ask customers if they’d like anything else, and we often do, because the food and drinks are great, however overpriced). If you are a cafe owner, sell your coffee, not just the experience.
Part of starting a business is making mistakes along the way and learning from those experiences. I don’t condone lying–it’s much more effective to earn the respect of people through honesty. Instead, be mindful of what you do share, especially with reporters, who only have limited time to get to know you and whose opinion will be read by thousands of other strangers, and assume that everyone else is going to lie their pants off to make themselves look good. Be careful. Everyone lies to reporters.